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"Run" is a song by alternative rock band Snow Patrol, released as the second single from their third album, Final Straw on 26 February 2004. It brought the band its first taste of mainstream success, reaching #5 on the UK charts. The song has also been covered by Tre Lux in 2006, by Three Graces in 2008 and Leona Lewis in 2008. The lyrics in the song are about bereavement and believing that they can be seen in heaven.

In Australia, the song was ranked #77 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2004.

Track listing

• 10"

Limited to 500 pressings only.

A: "Run (Jackknife Lee Remix)" – 7:27

B: "Run (Freelance Hellraiser Remix)" – 3:59

The following two formats were released later, on 26 February 2004.

• CD

1. "Run" (video)
2. "Post Punk Progression" – 3:23
3. "Spitting Games (2001 Country Version)" – 4:18

• 7"

A: "Run" – 5:55

B: "Post Punk Progression" – 3:23

• iTunes digital download

1. "Run (Live From Edinburgh)" – 6:01

• UK Promo CD

1. "Run" (Radio Edit) – 4:18

• US Promo CD

1. "Run" (Radio Edit) – 4:18
2. "Run" (Album Version) – 5:55

Appearances in other media

Snow Patrol's original song appeared on the Top Gear: The Ultimate Driving Experience album, as well as the 2005 compilation album Acoustic 05. It is also featured in the movie The Chumscrubber as well as the tenth episode of season two of Rescue Me, the trailer to The Guardian, an episode of Doctor Who Confidential, an episode of Cold Case, the closing scene of the pilot episode of CBS' 2006 series Jericho, an episode of Life as We Know It, the BBC television adaptation of Wide Sargasso Sea and the closing scene of the season 1 finale of One Tree Hill. The song was also used in the trailers for the HBO miniseries Empire Falls. "Run" also appeared on Hear the Year 05, a compilation by Josten's released with the company's yearbooks, containing what they said they thought were the songs of the year.

"Run" is also the background music to a montage of Chelsea F.C.'s highlights over the last four years. It is played on the large screens before most home matches at Stamford Bridge stadium.

Music video

The video was filmed between dusk and dawn in the countryside of Essex. It was directed by video director Paul Gore (New Order, Placebo, Massive Attack, Amy Winehouse a.o.) , produced by Suzie Morton and Ben Smithard as cinematographer. The video was released and aired for the first time in 2003. We see the band in a kind of darkness and autumn atmosphere of a moor/forest landscape. Gary Lightbody sings and pushs forward an old motorbike whilst the scenery shows a blue evening horizon. The atmosphere in the video changes now to a dark one. He walks the motorbike on uneven ways and paths of the moor landscape, along to high grass fields and trees into an atmosphere where darkness dominates the ambiance. Whilst he starts the refrain "Light up, light up" he enlightens the darkness with bright fire from a burning torch. Whilst firelight and smoke surrounds him, he stands in shallow water and his bandmembers sit or stand at a kind of bridge railing and also hold now burning torches in their hands. In the following sequence we see a young man who drives that bike through the forest's thicket of trees and bushes. For a few seconds afterwards we see him sit on the forest ground as he looks anxious and worried through the hood of his jumper. Near the video's end, Nathan Connolly pushes the bike down a hill away into a forest pond, where it sinks down in morass. The video is published by the production company Flynn Productions.

Charts

The song re-entered the UK Singles Chart in 2008, after Leona Lewis' performance on The X Factor.

Personnel

Leona Lewis version

"Run" is a cover of the Snow Patrol song by Leona Lewis on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge on 31 October 2007. She later released the song as a single from Spirit: The Deluxe Edition in November 2008.

The song was released as the final single from her album in the United Kingdom.

Background

Lewis first performed "Run" on the Live Lounge section of The Jo Whiley Show, where artists perform two songs: one song of their own and one by another artist, in an acoustic format. The performance was recorded at the BBC Maida Vale Studios, where Lewis was backed by a 14-piece band. The show's host Jo Whiley said that "people did cry". She referred to it as "the most famous cover" (from her show), stating that it's "always in demand and developed a life of its own." The day after Lewis' version appeared on the Live Lounge, it was requested over 8,000 times in the first 2 minutes of The Chris Moyles Show. As a result, her version was added to Radio 1's A List.

Due to its popularity, Lewis recorded a studio version of the song in September 2008 for the re-release of her album Spirit. It was made available digitally in Ireland on 17 November 2008 and on 30 November 2008 in the United Kingdom.

"Run" was expected to be released as a single following Lewis' performance on The X Factor, but the single didn't appear on any online music stores. It was believed that Lewis' record label, Sony, wanted to shift the sales towards the reissue of Spirit, which did return the album to number one. A spokesman for Lewis reported that the song "has never been scheduled for release as a single", but due to "overwhelming public demand", Lewis' management and record label decided to release it in the UK on the 30 November.

Lewis performed "Run" on the fifth series of The X Factor on 15 November, after which Simon Cowell commented that her performance was "absolutely incredible". She also performed the song live on Divas II which aired on ITV1 in the UK on 23 November 2008. Lewis performed the song on the Royal Variety Performance, which aired on 17 December and the Top of the Pops Christmas Special which aired on Christmas Day.

In the U.S, a radio edit of "Run" was released as a digital download on 16 December 2008.

The single has reached number 1 in many countries including UK and Ireland and reached number 2 in China as well.

Reception

The song has been received positively among many although Snow Patrol guitarist Nathan Connolly admitted in November that he still hadn't heard the song: "Nothing against her, but I don't know if I'm going to endorse it either. It is what it is." In December 2008 Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody described Lewis' version of the song as "phenomenal". He told the Scottish newspaper Daily Record: "She obviously studied the song and thought long and hard about how to interpret it. She's stripped it to its bare core. I think she sounds absolutely phenomenal. I'm not a big fan of shows like The X-Factor, but when talent like this comes along, I can't slate it. She's going to be around in 20 years. She's the next Whitney. She takes my breath away."

Music Radar said that "The two versions couldn't be more different. Snow Patrol's rendering is dark and moody, while Leona Lewis's is big-time pop", and quoted Gary Lightbody as saying "That's what you want a song to do ... Different interpretations and meanings. Songs aren't monolithic, at least the good ones aren't. What Leona Lewis has done has touched hearts."

Newsround highly praised Lewis' cover version, stating that "the full gospel choir and orchestra easily match Leona's powerful pipes - and remind listeners why the song made people cry when she first performed it on Radio 1's Live Lounge last year".

"Run" received three stars out of five from Digital Spy, who said that Lewis "wrings every last drop of emotion out of Gary Lightbody's lyrics, channeling her inner Mariah for some almighty warbling at the crescendo".

The Sentinel described the single as "so much better" than Snow Patrol's original song. "It's powerful, painful and the choir behind it takes it on to another level." Radio presenter James Daniels concurred, saying "Leona just takes it to a whole new level, which is a phrase I hate to use – but it's true".

Chart performance

The song reached number one on the Irish Singles Chart in its first week of release, due to download sales alone. "Run" remained on the top position the four weeks in total.

On 7 December 2008, it entered the UK Singles Chart at number one, also on downloads alone, making it her 3rd number one. It had become the fastest selling UK download ever after it sold 69,244 in just two days, a record it held until December 2009. By the end of the first week, download sales had reached 131,593, some eight thousand below the first week sales of "A Moment Like This"., except for the fact that her debut single sold over 500,000 in its first week. The single spent a second week at number one in the United Kingdom, before 2008's The X Factor winner Alexandra Burke charted with "Hallelujah".

On 28 December 2008, the UK Singles Chart listed this at #13 for the year end countdown. The song has sold 530,515 copies (on downloads alone) in the UK as stated by the Official UK Charts Company.

The song also charted in Canada and the United States on iTunes sales alone. "Run" is on Top of the Austrian Top 75 singles charts for 3 weeks now. "Run" was also revealed as The Nation's Favourite Love Song of 2009. The song was not released to radio in the US, but only digitally and later on the re-release of "Spirit".

"Run" re-entered The Official UK Top 40 at 32 on 15 March 2009.

Music video

The music video for "Run" was filmed in South Africa and was directed by Jake Nava. Lewis herself described the setting of the video as "an enchanted, haunted forest. It's picking up on different elements of the song." The video starts out with Lewis alone on a dusty trail, seemingly lost. She enters a dark forest and appears to be stalked by the viewer. In the final chorus, Lewis draws in the sun and the forest literally lights up, matching the lyrics of the song. The music video premiered on Perez Hilton's blog on 25 November 2008.

Release history

Charts

Procession and succession

Other versions

• The song was covered by Tre Lux in 2006 and appears on the album A Strange Gathering.
• The song was covered by the pop classical group the Three Graces in Italian underneath the title "Si Accendera" on their 2008 self titled debut album.

Personnel

References

1. Single release date
2. http://www.snowpatrol.com/discography/default.aspx?pid=22
3. http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=17994505&s=143441
4. "Run". Snow Patrol. Retrieved 2009-07-15.
5. Snow Patrol video's production datas
6. "Staggered releases - Everyone's a loser". AccessMyLibrary. guardian.co.uk. 27 November 2008. Retrieved 22 November 2009. Appears as: "Incidentally, Snow Patrol's original version of Run re-entered the charts after Lewis's performance."
7. 'Run' charting details
8. http://swisscharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Snow+Patrol&titel=Run&cat=s
9. "Chart Log UK". Zobbel. Retrieved 2009-07-02. Note: Snow Patrol must be searched manually
10. "Top 100 singles chart :: Chart week ending date 21/11/09". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
11. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx
12. Jo Whiley (2007-11-07). "Leona Lewis in the Live Lounge". BBC Radio 1 Blog. BBC. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
13. Mark Savage (2008-11-07). "Leona rounds off an amazing year". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
14. "Jo Whiley talks exclusively to FemaleFirst". FemaleFirst. 2008-11-05. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
15. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=932559&page=2
16. "Spirit deluxe". 16 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
17. "Leona Lewis is born to Run". Daily Star. Northern & Shell. 2008-11-15. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
18. ^ "Leona Lewis robbed of Number One single by own record company?". NME. IPC Media. 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
19. "Leona WILL release Run". The X Factor. ITV. 2008-11-29. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
20. "Leona Lewis 'robbed of chart glory'". NOW magazine. IPC Media. 2008-11-19. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
21. Paul Sexton (2008-11-24). "Leona Lewis back atop U.K. album chart". Billboard. Nielsen Company. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
22. "Leona WILL release Run". X-Factor. 2008-11-29. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
23. "Leona returns!". The X Factor. ITV. 2008-11-14. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
24. ^ "Run (Single Mix) - Single". iTunes Store. Apple Inc. 2008-12-16. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
25. Katherine Field (2008-11-21). "Snow Patrol mixed feelings about Grey's". ninemsn. Microsoft and PBL Media. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
26. Beverley Lyons and Laura Sutherland (2008-12-09). "Exclusive: Snow Patrol to DJ at club Hogmanay party". Daily Record. Retrieved 2008-12-12.
27. Joe Bosso (2008-12-16). "Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody talks Leona Lewis's Run and GarageBand". Music Radar.com. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
28. http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7760000/newsid_7764500/7764525.stm
29. Alex Fletcher (2008-11-30). "Leona Lewis: 'Run'". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi Médias. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
30. Spence, Darren. "Chart Choice with Darren Spence", The Sentinel. 28 November 2008.
31. Daniels, James. "Single of the week – Leona Lewis", Evening Telegraph. 1 December 2008
32. Daniel Kilkelly (2008-11-22). "Leona's 'Run' tops Irish singles chart". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi Médias. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
33. Daniel Kilkelly (2008-11-29). "Leona's 'Run' stays on top in Ireland". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi Médias. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
34. Daniel Kilkelly (2008-12-06). "Third week on top for Leona in Ireland". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi Médias. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
35. Alastair Jamieson (2008-12-04). "Leona Lewis single becomes fastest-selling digital release". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
36. Alan Jones (2008-12-08). "Leona blazes to singles number one". Music Week. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
37. Alan Jones (2008-12-08). "Music sales defy the crunch". Music Week. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
38. Paul Sexton (2008-12-15). "Take That, Leona still strong on U.K. charts". Billboard. Nielsen Company. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
39. "Leona Lewis is on the Run". The Sun. News International. 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
40. Jody Thompson (2008-11-27). "See Leona Lewis behind the scenes on video shoot for new single Run in our film". Daily Mirror. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 2008-11-30. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
41. "Run/2 track Premium". Amazon.de. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
42. swisscharts.com - Leona Lewis "Run"
44. . Billboard.com. Retrieved 15 December 2008.
45. Suomen virallinen lista
46. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/23790/20081220-0000/issue981.pdf

External links

• Music video for "Run" on YouTube

• 2003 singles
• 2008 singles
• Snow Patrol songs
• Leona Lewis songs
• UK Singles Chart number-one singles
• Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
• Rock ballads
• Music videos directed by Jake Nava