BEFORE
THEY MAKE ME RUN
KEITH
RICHARDS
SONGWRITERS:
KEITH RICHARD & MICK JAGGER
COUNTRY:
U. K.
ALBUM: SOME
GIRLS
LABEL: ROLLING
STONES
GENRE: BLUES
ROCK
YEAR: 2009
"Before They Make Me Run" is a song
by the English rock band The
Rolling Stones, featured on their 1978 album Some Girls.
Written by guitarist Keith Richards,
the song is a response to his arrest for heroin possession in Toronto in February 1977. The criminal charges and prospect of a prison
sentence loomed over the Some Girls recording sessions and endangered
the future of the Rolling Stones.
In
the lyrics, Richards reflects unapologetically on his lifestyle up to that
point. The line "it's another goodbye to another good
friend" in the first verse can be interpreted as referring to Gram Parsons,
Richards's close friend who died in 1973 from a drug overdose, and/or to heroin
itself: Richards had sought medical treatment for heroin addiction following
his arrest in Toronto, and his resolution to overcome his addiction would be a
significant factor in his upcoming trial.
Richards recorded the song in five days
without sleeping. Originally entitled "Rotten Roll", the song was
recorded in a Paris studio
in March 1978 during one of Mick
Jagger's absences from the Some Girls sessions.
The completed track - "a high-energy rock & roller"- features
Richards on lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitars and bass; Ronnie Wood on pedal
steel guitar, slide guitar and backing vocals, Charlie
Watts on drums, and Jagger on backing
vocals.
Richards first performed the song in concert
on the New Barbarians' tour of North America in 1979;
it was not until the Steel Wheels Tour in 1989 that it
entered the Rolling Stones' concert repertoire. Like "Happy", the song has become one
of Richards' "signature tunes", performed on most Rolling Stones
tours since 1989; he also played it on the X-Pensive Winos' 1992-93 tours
promoting his album Main Offender.
Live performances of the song are included in
the Stones' 2003 Four Flicks DVD collection and as bonus tracks in their 2013 and 2016 DVD &
Blu-ray sets Sweet
Summer Sun: Hyde Park Live and Havana Moon.
Steve Earle has also performed the song in concert and has recorded it as part
of a split single with the Supersuckers.
Worked in bars and sideshows along the twilight zone
Only a crowd can make you feel so alone
And it really hit home
Booze and pills and powders, you can choose your medicine
Well it's another goodbye to another good friend
After all is said and
done
Gotta move while it's still fun
Let me walk before they make me run
After all is said and done
I gotta move, it's still fun
I'm gonna walk before they make me run
Watched the
taillights fading, there ain't a dry eye in the house
They're laughing and singing
Started dancing and drinking as I left town
Gonna find my way to heaven, `cause I did my time in hell
I wasn't looking too good but I was feeling real well
After all is said and
done
I gotta move I had my fun
Let us walk before they make me run
After all is said and
done
I did alright, I had my fun
I will walk before they make me run.
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