| "Run Baby Run" | ||||
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| Single by Garbage | ||||
| from the album Bleed Like Me | ||||
| B-side | "Honeybee" "Never Be Free" "Badass" |
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| Released | 10 July 2005 (See release history) |
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| Format | CD maxi | |||
| Recorded | 2003 - 2004 Smart Studios, Madison, Wisconsin |
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| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 3:58 | |||
| Label | A&E Records/Warner Music | |||
| Writer(s) | Garbage | |||
| Producer | Garbage | |||
| Garbage singles chronology | ||||
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"Run Baby Run" was a single released from Garbage's fourth album Bleed Like Me in the summer of 2005 in Europe and Australia. It was released as joint-second single from the album – around the same time the United Kingdom received a parallel release for "Sex Is Not The Enemy" and "Bleed Like Me" was released in the U.S.[1]
Following on from the unexpectedly high chart positions for both the previous single "Why Do You Love Me" and the parent album Bleed Like Me, "Run Baby Run" failed to replicate their success. "Run Baby Run" was to be the third single release from Bleed Like Me in the United Kingdom, scheduled to be released at the same time as the band's UK tour.
After the tour was cancelled, Garbage went on a self-imposed hiatus and the single release was postponed and quietly cancelled.[2] A U.S. single release may also have been considered.[3]
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"Run Baby Run" was first written by the end of 2003 at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.[4] The song began from an idea by guitarist Duke Erikson,[5] and took a lot of work to complete. The band, while happy with the chorus, rebuilt the rest of the song around it; most of the song's original verses, lyrics and melody were re-written. Garbage didn't finish the song until the very end of the album sessions.[5]
Shirley Manson later recalled, ""Run Baby Run" is about trying to engineer your own peace of mind and being unafraid to make changes in your life in order to try and facilitate that. [It's] about escape and engineering your own path in life. We’re all too guilty of thinking that peace, love and healthiness are things that we’re all just given".[6] Erikson added, "Being expected to go through life to behave a certain way; I think "Run Baby Run" is a plea to run from that. Run with your life, take it wherever it takes you. It's about not conforming."[5]
On 25 May, Garbage confirmed a list of fourteen songs being worked on for the record, including "Run",[7] and on 14 December confirmed that the song, now with final title of "Run Baby Run", would be included on the finished album Bleed Like Me.[7]
On 10 April Garbage drummer Butch Vig told fans in Los Angeles that "Run Baby Run" would be the second European single taken from Bleed Like Me;[1] and on 17 April Garbage debuted "Run Baby Run" live at Boston Avalon.[8]
On 15 May, "Run Baby Run" was sent to European radio, and on 20 May was officially confirmed for physical single release.[9] The "Run Baby Run" video was first shown online at the band's website on 10 June,[10] before being sent for airplay on 15 June.[11] The initial European release date was 20 June.[12]
The week "Run Baby Run" was provided to Australian radio, it was the #2 Most Added track;[13] and on 10 July was released on CD maxi.[13] Despite the top 20 success of previous single "Why Do You Love Me", the single debuted at #49.[14]
Garbage were completing European dates; including a show broadcast Europe-wide from Trieste (Isle of MTV),[15] during which "Run Baby Run" was performed[8] prior to the rescheduled 1 August release of the single across Europe. Despite both a maxi and single CD format being planned;[9] only the maxi was ever issued.[16] On 15 August, "Run Baby Run" charted at #97 in the German singles chart.[17]
By 30 June, "Run Baby Run" had received a number of adds to UK radio and TV; and a tentative 12 September issue date.[18] "Run Baby Run" was rescheduled for release in the UK on 24 October; however the single was cancelled after the band's UK tour was pulled.[2] The "Run Baby Run" video was pulled from television; despite adds to music channels.[19]
A 20 March 2006 release date for a reworked version of "Run Baby Run", upfront of a listed Absolute Garbage issue date was rumoured, but did not happen.[20] On 22 May 2007 it was officially confirmed that "Run Baby Run" would not be included on Absolute Garbage.[21]
"Run Baby Run" was backed with b-sides "Honeybee" and "Never Be Free" which had been previously been released on the UK "Sex Is Not The Enemy" single. Both tracks were recorded during the sessions for Bleed Like Me.[7] An acetate of "Never Be Free" leaked from Chrysalis Music Group in 2003, but the track did not end up on the internet.[22] The single also contained a demo version of "Badass" (once titled "Teach Me Tonight"[23]), that had been left unfinished from album sessions in October 2003. Exclusive to the "Run Baby Run" release, "Badass" leaked onto the internet on 13 June 2005, a month before the single was issued.[24]
While Vig describes "Honeybee" as "Neil Young-esque, with a druggy feel",[25] Manson wrote the song was "pretty dark and twisted. It's a lusty, yearning moan".[26] "Honeybee" featured drums performed by Matt Walker, while "Never Be Free" credited John5 with guitar. All three tracks were written and produced by Garbage, although "Never Be Free" may have originally been a John Lowery co-write.[22] Producer James Michael may have also worked on the track at one point.[27]
On the weekend of 31 May,[28] Manson and Muller filmed the video for "Run Baby Run" in London, Paris, Berlin and Istanbul.[29] By 8 June, the video was ready to air,[30] and on 12 June was premiered on Garbage's official web-site.[31]
Locations filmed in include within Charles de Gaulle International Airport and on the Paris Métro (France); outside the Olympiastadion and in Mohrenstraße and Neu-Westend stations on the Berlin U-Bahn (Germany); and around and within Istanbul's Hotel Pera Palas, Haydarpaşa Terminal and over the Bosphorus strait (Turkey). Studio shots were filmed in London.[32]
"Run Baby Run" was generally very well-received by contemporary pop music critics, a number of whom, including NME, commented on the track as part of Bleed Like Me's strong opening half.[33] Rolling Stone felt the song recreated the 80s New Wave sound better than efforts from bands like Kasabian and Bloc Party: "Surrounded by a black forest of power-chord distortion, Manson pleads and prays like Deborah Harry atop a bouncing, throaty guitar riff that New Order would envy."[34] The New York Daily News also picked up on the New Order sound, commenting that the band had given the bass guitar "the best hook".[35] Peter Murphy, of Hot Press, described "Run Baby Run" as one of the band’s most positive songs; "[It] glows with compassion, forgiveness and self-acceptance."[36]
Rolling Stone felt that song's "tender, dreamy verses" brought to mind "Just Like Heaven" by The Cure.[37]
| Release Date | Territory | Record Label | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 15, 2005 | Europe | A&E Records/Warner Music | Airplay |
| Russia | |||
| July 10, 2005 | Australia | FMR | CD maxi |
| August 1, 2005 | Germany | A&E Records/Warner Music |
| Chart (2005) | Peak |
|---|---|
| Australia Singles (ARIA)[14] | 47 |
| Germany Singles (Media Control) [17] | 97 |
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