Album: Lazer Guided Melodies
Year: 1992
. . .
I will say this for “Run:” I’m pretty confident that it’s the only song that will ever be recorded that combines a lift from the Velvet Undergound and a lift from a song that I first heard in a cover version by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The cover is “Call Me The Breeze,” a J.J. Cale song that I first heard via Skynyrd’s cover on side three of One More For From The Road, a record that I absolutely adored when I got it way back in 1977. And of course, it’s been covered countless times, but most certainly not in this fashion.
And so over a jaunty bouncy beat augmented by a burbling synth stuck on the “eternity” setting and the usual fuzzy guitar, Pierce starts singing his portmantune:
They call me the breeze
I keep rollin’ down the road
They call me the breeze
I keep rollin’, then I’m gone
I ain’t gotten me nobody
I ain’t carryin’ me no load
The Velvet Underground song is “Run Run Run,” from which “Run” gets its title, its rhythm and kinda sorta its chorus.
Run run run run run run run run now, babe
You better run run run run run run run now, babe
It’s also catchy as hell, and raises more questions than answers. Like, did somebody dare Pierce to write a song that somehow combined J.J. Cale and John Cale? And how come while J.J. Cale gets a co-write credit, Lou Reed doesn’t? Were drugs involved? Well yeah. And if Jason Pierce was going to cover a J.J. Cale song, why not the more lyrically apt “Cocaine”? Is is somehow because of Eric Clapton? And speaking of cocaine, when I looked up the lyrics of Future Certain Song “Run Run Run,” I realized that I got one of the lyrics wrong: I always thought the chorus was “Run run run / Take a drag of toot”, when in reality, it’s “Run run run / Take a drag or two” making it slightly — only slightly — less druggy.
Anyways, regardless of whether or not Lou Reed is credited or not, what puts “Run” over for me is the chorus, especially at the end when Pierce just chants “you better run run run run run run run away” over and over again.
“Run”
“Run” Official Video
“Run” Live in 2004
Did you miss a Certain Song? Follow me on Twitter: @barefootjim
The Certain Songs Database
A filterable, searchable & sortable somewhat up to date database with links to every “Certain Song” post I’ve ever written.
Certain Songs Spotify playlist
(It’s recommended that you listen to this on Spotify as their embed only has 200 songs.)
Support “Certain Songs” with a donation on Patreon
Go to my Patreon page