Run Runaway

"Run Runaway" is a hard rock song performed by English band Slade. The song was written by Jim Lea and Noddy Holder and was on their 1983 album The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome. It reached No. 7 in the UK Singles Chart., and proved to be the band's last UK Top 10 hit single.

The album was released, 1984, in the United States with a different track listing under the title Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply. In 1984, the single "Run Runaway" became the band's biggest American hit, benefitting from heavy play on MTV, peaking at No. 20 and spending a total of eight weeks on the Billboard Hot 100's Top 40. It was also number one for two weeks on the Billboard Top Tracks chart.

The single was included on Canada's official 'Top 100 Singles of 1984' chart, where Run Runaway peaked at No. 84.

The melody is inspired by the hymn "There Is a Happy Land". Holder himself summed the song up as "a rocky Scottish jig".

The lyrics memorably concern observing a chameleon.

Dave Thompson, from allmusic described the song as "building on the anthemic power of the earlier "My Oh My" - itself their biggest U.K. single in nine years - "Run Runaway" is raucous chanting, swirling guitars, wild violin, and even a taste of heavy metal bagpipes, helped along by a drum sound that is pure early '80s".

After being asked for his favourite Slade song, vocalist Noddy Holder replied that although "Far Far Away" was his favourite, hearing "Run Runaway" on the radio a few days before the interview really knocked him out.

For the September–December 1986 Slade fan club magazine, Lea was interviewed and was asked to share where he was when he wrote various Slade tracks. For Run Runaway, Lea stated it was written whilst he was holding a conversation with someone.

In a mid-1989 Slade fan club magazine interview, Powell was asked if there was a Slade track that he felt was one of the band's best efforts on record. Powell replied stated that "Standin' On The Corner" from the 1975 album "Slade in Flame" was a favourite. Powell also stated "The 12" version of Run Runaway, I liked doing that one as well."

The single peaked at No. 193 for 1984 on rateyourmusic.

In the September–December 1986 Slade fan club magazine, the poll results were announced for the 1986 opinion poll based on Slade’s material. For the best single of the 80s, Run Runaway placed at No. 2.