"Run to You" is a song by the Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams. It was released in 1984 as the lead single from his fourth album, Reckless. The track deals with the subject of infidelity, and is sung from the perspective of a man who declares that he will continue to "run to" his seductive mistress over his faithful partner; critic Ira Robbins for CMJ called it a "cheating classic". In the accompanying music video, however, Adams portrays his guitar as the object of desire. The song topped the BillboardTop Rock Tracks chart and peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It has appeared on all of his compilation albums. The single was certified Gold in Canada in 1985. The song was also featured in the 2002 video game on the fictional in-game radio station "Flash FM".
Writing and recording
After a tour in Asia, Adams started the recording for Reckless. The recording for "Run to You" started on 27 March 1984 at Little Mountain Sound, Vancouver, Canada and continued through the summer. It was mixed on 21 September 1984 in New York by Jim Vallance. The song, written 10 January 1983, became the last song written for Reckless. Adams and Vallance originally wrote the song for Blue Öyster Cult, but the group turned it down.
Release and reception
"Run to You" was released in 18 October 1984 and became one of the most successful songs from Reckless on the American rock charts and arguably one of Bryan Adams's most recognizable and popular songs. "Run to You" was released worldwide on 18 October 1984. It was his first number one on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart, a position it held for four weeks, and it spent an additional five weeks at number 2. It also reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Run to You" reached the top twenty on the Canadian singles chart and remained there for seven weeks, peaking at number 4. It held the highest Canadian chart position Adams had attained at the time of release and became his third top twenty single in Canada. It was nominated for a Juno award for song of the year in Canada. "Run to You" was released the following month in Ireland and peaked at number 8 and reached number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. It was his second single to chart in Europe. 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." 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. In 1984 the song was promoted heavily in an episode of the NBC sitcom Double Trouble.
Bryan Adams – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Keith Scott – rhythm guitar, lead guitar, backing vocals
Jim Vallance – percussion
Tommy Mandel – keyboards
Dave Taylor – bass guitar
Mickey Curry – drums
Chart positions
Year-end chart
Rank
US Top Pop Singles
66
Certifications
Rage version
The first notable cover recording was released as a single by English 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 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: 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 in some European countries to avoid legal action from the German band, they re-released the single six months later, and this time it peaked at number 3 in the UK in November 1992.
