Pink Floyd is always classified as a rock and roll band, but, let’s be honest, how many times in their careers did they honestly rock? Their music is more known for sending listeners off into dreamlike trances. But on “Run Like Hell,” Pink Floyd woke everybody up with a heaping slab of in-your-face guitars and drums to prove that they could get gritty with the best of their rocking contemporaries.
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Because Roger Waters belts out the lyrics in a high-pitched screech, you might not know what exactly is going on within “Run Like Hell” beyond those guitars and drums. What is the song about? What did it mean in the context of the album that contained it? And why has it endured as one of Pink Floyd’s most popular anthems? Read on as we explore this somewhat uncharacteristic smash from one of rock’s most beloved bands.
All About the Wall
To truly understand “Run Like Hell,” it helps to know about the album from which it sprang. Furious with the lack of connection between the band and their audience during Pink Floyd’s 1977 tour in support of their album Animals, Roger Waters, who wrote all the band’s lyrics at that point and was also starting to dominate the proceedings in terms of the band’s music as well, imagined what it would be like to play a concert behind a wall.
This idea begat The Wall, Pink Floyd’s 1979 concept double-album. It tells the story of a rock star named Pink who is battered about on all sides, whether by traumatic memories of his youth or hardships in the present day. Waters was partly retelling the story of former Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett, whose struggles with mental illness caused the band to fire him. But Waters also sprinkled in bits of his own history (most notably the father killed in war), as well as a heaping helping of his personal doubts and fears, to construct the narrative.
In the story within the album, Pink, exhausted and disillusioned, eventually endures a kind of psychotic break. He imagines himself playing out the role of a fascist rock star, whose music is used to separate different factions of people instead of uniting them. It’s during this portion of “The Wall” that “Run Like Hell” appears, ostensibly as a warning to all those who aren’t willing to step into line with Pink’s newfound agenda.
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It Keeps on Running
This isn’t the kind of upbeat message you might have expected to hear on rock radio at the dawn of the ‘80s. But “Run Like Hell” had a few things going for it to help it become a staple of the classic rock genre. Because Waters wanted to veer away from the elongated soundscapes for which the band had become known, he was writing more bite-sized song morsels, which made them much easier fits on rock radio.
Another key factor was the involvement on this track of guitarist David Gilmour. Gilmour largely stood back and let Waters run with the music on The Wall, but he intervened with “Run Like Hell.” Waters’ original demo framed the song like a glam-rock ballad. But Gilmour stepped in and juiced up the tempo to make it a stomping piece of defiant rock.
On that note, the song also benefitted from key contributions by all members of the band. Nick Mason delivers with the four-on-the-floor beat that propels the song, while Gilmour’s guitar is everywhere, flickering away at the edges in the verses and then stepping forth for the scintillating main riff. Rick Wright, who was no longer a member of the band by the end of the album’s recording, reels off a stunner of a synthesizer solo to top the whole thing off.
What Is “Run Like Hell” About?
The interesting thing about the way “Run Like Hell” is structured is that you don’t need to know anything about the Pink angle to enjoy it. You can simply hear it as a warning that those who are willing to show empathy and join the human race must be vigilant against opposing forces. Taken in that context, the narrator is actually doing you a favor by insisting that you hustle while there’s time.
The imagery can definitely be harsh. With your nerves in tatters as the cockleshell shatters/And the hammers batter down your door, Waters sings in a frenzied yelp. The second verse suggests that acts of intimacy will only bring punishment: Cause if they catch you in the back seat trying to pick her locks/They’re going to send you back to Mother in a cardboard box.
And yet, the relentless pace and the triumphant guitar chords keep “Run Like Hell” from ever feeling too pessimistic. The undeniable chemistry of the band helps as well. That was ironic, because Pink Floyd was pretty much splintering by that point. If they were in their last gasps as a unit, at least they went out with a ton of fight on this classic track.
Photo by David Redfern/Redferns
