Runaway (Bon Jovi song)

"Runaway" is a Bon Jovi song, written in 1980 and originally recorded in 1981 for the so called "Power Station Demos"^[1]. The recordings were primarily done by an ensemble simply known as Jon Bongiovi & The Rest. Lead guitar on the original 1980's track was Bon Jovi's neighbour, Dave Sabo (a.k.a. The Snake), who would later form the group Skid Row. One night after a show, Richie Sambora found Bon Jovi backstage and told him that he should be the guitarist. Bon Jovi wrote him off and did not think much of it but told him to learn the material and show up for rehearsal. Sambora was early and knew the material and Bon Jovi was impressed; in that moment, Sambora became the band's lead guitarist and Bon Jovi was born.

The track released in 1983 was recorded in 1982 by Jon Bon Jovi and a group of studio musicians known as "The All Star Review", which included Hugh McDonald (bass), Tim Pierce (guitar) and Roy Bittan (keyboards). The keyboard intro was written by Mick Seeley, then of John Bongiovi and the Wild One's and later with Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes.

In 1983, local radio station WAPP 103.5FM "The Apple" had a contest, held in conjunction with St. John's University, to search for the best unsigned band. After the song won the contest, it became an instant hit in the summer of 1983.

Runaway was later released as the first song from their debut album Bon Jovi in 1984. It hit the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 at #39 in early 1984 and became the band's first Top 40 hit in US^[2]. In recent live performances, frontman and occasional rhythm guitarist Jon Bon Jovi has been known to do a short guitar solo near the end of the song instead of hitting the usual high notes at the end, something only done in the 1980s. Although on the live album One Wild Night: Live 1985-2001, it features Jon Bon Jovi hitting the high notes at the end of the song.

A dance/club remake of "Runaway" was released in July 2008^[3] by "DJ Freddy Retro featuring Jim Davis Jr." on Casa Records^[4].

The song was featured on a MasterCard television commercial and in the movie Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

After the band attained worldwide stardom in the mid-late 1980s, the band essentially disowned the material from their pre-stardom albums in their live sets in favor of more well known and accomplished material. Despite this fact however, "Runaway" is a song of which they have always been proud. For well over 20 years, it has been the only song from the bands' first two albums that has been performed live on a regular basis. A few others have been played live over the years, most notably during The Circle Tour in 2010, however they were extreme rarities when they appeared and were not regularly performed.

Covers & samples

Rapper Tru-NC released an updated hip-hop version of the song in 2011 with the same title. It tells a story about "Tommy & Gina" getting evicted from their apartment. The song is available to download for free at Tru-NC's Reverbnation page. American rapper Immortal Technique samples the synthesizer in the track Young Lords from his album Martyr (2011).

Chart performance

References