Run for Your Life

 

"one of the Beatles' most dispensable items".^[8]

Run for Your Life’ I always hated ... John Lennon Lennon Remembers (1971

The first song recorded for Rubber Soul is still the most controversial. Ian MacDonald criticised a 'lazily sexist lyric'. Others have condemned the casual misogyny and violent imagery.

Words

Lennon was not proud of Run For Your Life, which he admitted draws heavily on the old Elvis song 'Baby, Let's Play House'.

There was a line, ‘I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man, ’ so I wrote it around that, but I didn’t think it was that important.”

Recording

Run for Your Life was recorded on October 3 1965 - 'knocked off' (Lennon) in a five-hour session. There were four takes for the backing track. Various vocal and instrumental parts were then overdubbed.

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