Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 12 October 1965
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Released: 3 December 1965 (UK), 6 December 1965 (US)
John Lennon: vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Paul McCartney: harmony vocals, bass
George Harrison: harmony vocals, lead guitar
Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine
Available on:
Rubber Soul
The song with which The Beatles began the Rubber Soul sessions, John Lennon's Run For Your Life was based around a line from an Elvis Presley song.
Baby, Let's Play House, recorded by Presley in 1955, had been written the previous year by a 28-year-old songwriter called Richard Gunther. It was loosely based upon I Want To Play House With You, a 1951 country and western hit for Eddy Arnold, written by Cy Coben.
Now listen to me baby
Try to understand
I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man
Now babyCome back, baby, come
Come back, baby come
Come back, baby
I wanna play house with you
Richard Gunther
Gunther's song was a fairly straightforward statement of desire. Lennon, meanwhile, took the words and turned them into a menacing threat full of possessiveness and jealousy.
I never liked Run For Your Life, because it was a song I just knocked off. It was inspired from - this is a very vague connection - from Baby Let's Play House. There was a line on it - I used to like specific lines from songs - 'I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man' - so I wrote it around that but I didn't think it was that important.
Rolling Stone, 1970
Lennon later expressed his dislike of the song, saying he "always hated" Run For Your Life. In 1973 he described it as his "least favourite Beatles song", although he did claim that it was one of George Harrison's favourites.
The lyrics recall Lennon's previous excursions into misogyny, I'll Cry Instead and You Can't Do That, both from A Hard Day's Night.
John was always on the run, running for his life. He was married; whereas none of my songs would have 'catch you with another man'. It was never a concern of mine, at all, because I had a girlfriend and I would go with other girls; it was a perfectly open relationship so I wasn't as worried about that as John was. A bit of a macho song.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
In the studio
Run For Your Life was recorded on 12 October 1965, the first session for the Rubber Soul album. After four incomplete attempts they recorded the backing track on the fifth take.
Onto this they overdubbed tambourine, acoustic guitar, electric guitars and backing vocals. The session took four and a half hours from start to finish.
Basic Track:
1) acoustic guitar (John), electric guitar (George), bass (Paul),
snare drum and tambourine (Ringo)
Overdubs:
2) lead vocal by John, harmony vocals by Paul and George
3) additional backing vocals by John, Paul and George
4) electric guitars (George, lead for breaks and first ending; John, rhythm; both play on the duet and coda)
For once, I agree with John's criticism of his own work. If not for this song, "Rubber Soul" would be a perfect album. The previous song, "Wait," which (IMO) was the second weakest song on the album, is twice as good as this song...