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"Run to You" is a rock song written by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance for Adams' fourth studio album, Reckless. It was the first single released from the album and is still one of Adams's most recognizable and popular songs. The song topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song has appeared on all of Adams' compilation albums. The single was certified Gold in Canada in 1985.[1]

Contents[]

 [hide*1 Writing and recording

Writing and recording[edit][]

After a tour in Asia, Adams started the recording for Reckless.[2] The recording for "Run to You" started on March 27, 1984 at Little Mountain SoundVancouverCanada and continued through the summer.[2] It was mixed on September 21 in New York by Jim Vallance.[2] The song, written January 10, 1983, became the last song written for Reckless.[2] Adams and Vallance originally wrote the song for Blue Öyster Cult, but the group turned it down.[3]

Release and reception[edit][]

"Run to You" was released in October 1984 and became one of the most successful songs from Reckless on the American rock charts and arguably one of Adams most recognizable and popular songs.[2] "Run to You" was released worldwide on October 18, 1984.[2] The song reached the top ten on the Mainstream Rock Tracks and was Adams first number one hit on the Mainstream Rock Tracks and number six on the Billboard Hot 100.[4] "Run to You" reached the top twenty on the Canadian singles chart and remained there for seven weeks. "Run to You" reached the highest Canadian chart positions Adams had attained at the time of release and became his second top twenty single in Canada.[5] "Run to You" was released the following month in Ireland and peaked at number 8 and reached number eleven on the UK Singles Chart. It was his second single to chart in Europe.[6][7]

Stewart Mason from Allmusic said "Run to You" was the first of the album's six Top 30 hits, and in retrospect, "one of the weakest of the lot. Although the song has a thundering chorus, the kind that sounds truly excellent blasting through FM speakers, there is quite literally not much else to the song: of the song's nearly four-minute length, over half of the song is devoted to repeats of the chorus and an unimaginative instrumental breakdown that leads into a seemingly endless vamp on the chorus to fade."[8] The long instrumental is indicative of the theme of the music video where the protagonist is serenading his guitar as the object of his affection.

Music video[edit][]

The music video was shot in LondonEngland and later Los Angeles.[9] Directed by Steve Barron, it was nominated for the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards in five different categories: Best Direction, Best Special Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Editing and Best Cinematography. While the song didn't win any of the awards, it has received more MTV Video Music Award nominations than any other of Adams' songs.[10] The English actress Lysette Anthonyappears in the video.

Cover versions[edit][]

"Run to You" has been covered by numerous artists. The first notable cover recording was released as a single by the UK urban dance act Rage in 1992. This version did not meet with the same critical acclaim as Adams' version, but, after having failed to chart when released for the first time in May 1992, the single gained an unexpected boost in popularity due to controversy in the UK music media about the band's name following the release of the single because they shared their name with a German heavy metal band who had been recording under the same since 1984. After changing their name to En-Rage to avoid legal action from the German band, they re-released the single six months later, and this time it peaked at #3 in the UK singles chart (eight spots higher than the original in that country); the following year it was featured on the band's only album, Savior, released back under the name of Rage.

The second was an alternative rock version by Lou Barlow on the 1993 extended play album, Lou Barlow and Friends: Another Collection of Home Recordings. A German band named Novaspace covered "Run to You" on their 2003 album, Cubes which was heavily inspired by Dance and pop music. The Japanese rock band Nil covered "Run to You" on their 2004 cover album "The Covering Inferno". The Norwegian hard rock singer-songwriter Jørn Lande covered "Run to You" on his cover' album Unlocking the Past on the Japanese edition of the album. In 2009 U.K. girl band Bananarama released their own version as a digital pre-order only to their album Viva.

The song appears on Flash FM radio station in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

It has been mashed up with Metallica's "Enter Sandman" on YouTube.[11]

Canadian rock bands Arkells and The Reason covered the song together at both Edgefest and the Festival of Friends.

Personnel[edit][]

Chart positions[edit][]

Chart (1984) Peak

position

Australia (Kent Music Report)[12] 24
Belgium (VRT Top 30 Flanders)[13] 21
Canada (RPM) 4
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[14] 14
Ireland (IRMA) 8
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[15] 14
United Kingdom (The Official Charts Company) 11
US Billboard Hot 100 6
US Billboard Top Rock Tracks 1
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