Running Free

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"Running Free"
"Running Free" cover
Single by Iron Maiden
from the album Iron Maiden
B-side(s) 1980 single
"Burning Ambition"
1985 live single
"Sanctuary",
"Murders in the Rue Morgue (live)"
Released 8 February 1980
September 13 1985
Recorded 1979
March 11 1985
Genre Heavy metal
Length 3:16
3:28
Label EMI
Writer(s) Steve Harris
Paul Di'Anno
Chart positions

1980 single

  • 44 (UK charts)

1985 live single

  • 19 (UK charts)
Iron Maiden singles chronology
"Running Free"
(1980)
"Sanctuary"
(1980)



"Aces High"
(1984)
"Running Free (live)"
(1985)
"Run to the Hills (live)"
(1985)


1985 live single
1985 live single cover
1985 live single cover

"Running Free" was the first single released by Iron Maiden. It was released on the 8th of February 1980 on the 7" 45 rpm vinyl record format. It was written by Steve Harris and Paul Di'Anno. The song appears as the fourth track on the band's debut album Iron Maiden.

The song is about a troubled 16-year-old boy who runs away on a pick up truck, ends up in a Los Angeles jail and picks up a woman from a bar. The song is known to be one of the band's more traditional rock numbers and is still played at Maiden gigs today with the band members individually named by the lead singer during the long bass-solo.

The single's cover art is also famously known as the first official appearance of the band's mascot Eddie. However in the cover-art his face is obscured because the band didn't want to unveil their mascot until the album's release. Also on the cover is a young metal-head resembling somewhat a young Bruce Dickinson. This should not be considered deliberate, as Dickinson had nothing to do with the band until some time after this.

The B-side "Burning Ambition" is one of Harris' earliest compositions written around the time he was in Gypsy's Kiss. The guitar solo in this song is played by Dave Murray.

In 1985, a live version of the song was released as the first single from the album Live After Death (Maiden's twelfth single).

Contents

[edit] Track listing

[edit] 1980 single

  1. "Running Free" (Paul Di'Anno, Steve Harris) - 3:16
  2. "Burning Ambition" (Harris) - 2:42

[edit] 1985 live single

  1. "Running Free" (Paul Di'Anno, Steve Harris) – 3:28
  2. "Sanctuary (live)" (Iron Maiden) – 4:41
  3. "Murders In The Rue Morgue (live)" (Steve Harris)- 4:33

[edit] Credits

[edit] 1980 single

[edit] 1985 live single


Iron Maiden
Bruce Dickinson | Dave Murray | Janick Gers | Adrian Smith | Steve Harris | Nicko McBrain
List of past and present Iron Maiden members
Discography
Studio albums: Iron Maiden | Killers | The Number of the Beast | Piece of Mind | Powerslave | Somewhere in Time | Seventh Son of a Seventh Son | No Prayer for the Dying | Fear of the Dark | The X Factor | Virtual XI | Brave New World | Dance of Death | A Matter of Life and Death
Live albums: Live After Death | A Real Live One | A Real Dead One | Live at Donington | A Real Live Dead One | Rock in Rio | The BBC Archives | Beast Over Hammersmith | Death on the Road
Compilations and box-sets: The First Ten Years | Best of the Beast | Ed Hunter | Edward the Great | Eddie's Archive | Best of the B'Sides | The Essential Iron Maiden
Videos and DVDs: Live at the Rainbow | Video Pieces | Behind the Iron Curtain | Live After Death | 12 Wasted Years | Maiden England | The First Ten Years: The Videos | From There to Eternity | Donington Live 1992 | Raising Hell | Classic Albums: The Number of the Beast | Rock in Rio | Visions of the Beast | The Early Days | Death on the Road
EPs: The Soundhouse Tapes | Live!! +one | Maiden Japan | No More Lies
Singles
"Running Free" | "Sanctuary" | "Women in Uniform" | "Twilight Zone" | "Purgatory" | "Run to the Hills" | "The Number of the Beast" | "Flight of Icarus" | "The Trooper" | "2 Minutes to Midnight" | "Aces High" | "Running Free (live)" | "Run to the Hills (live '85)" | "Wasted Years" | "Stranger in a Strange Land" | "Can I Play with Madness" | "The Evil That Men Do" | "The Clairvoyant (live)" | "Infinite Dreams" | "Holy Smoke" | "Bring Your Daughter...To the Slaughter" | "Be Quick or Be Dead" | "From Here to Eternity" | "Wasting Love" | "Fear of the Dark (live)" | "Hallowed Be Thy Name (live)" | "Man on the Edge" | "Lord of the Flies" | "Virus" | "The Angel and the Gambler" | "Futureal" | "The Wicker Man" | "Out of the Silent Planet" | "Run to the Hills (live '01)" | "Wildest Dreams" | "Rainmaker" | "The Number of the Beast (2005)" | "The Trooper (live)" | "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg" | "Different World"
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