A Flock Of Seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away) [1982]
"I Ran(So Far Away)"
Released:October 1982 (1982-10) (UK)
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I walked along the avenue.
I never thought I'd meet a girl like you;
Meet a girl like you.
With auburn hair and tawny eyes;
The kind of eyes that hypnotize me through;
Hypnotize me through.
And I ran, I ran so far away.
I just ran, I ran all night and day.
I couldn't get away.
A cloud appears above your head;
A beam of light comes shining down on you,
Shining down on you.
The cloud is moving nearer still.
Aurora Borealis comes in view;
Aurora comes in view.
And I ran, I ran so far away.
I just ran, I ran all night and day.
I couldn't get away.
Reached out a hand to touch your face;
You're slowly disappearing from my view;
Disappearing from my view.
Reached out a hand to try again;
I'm floating in a beam of light with you;
A beam of light with you.
And I ran, I ran so far away.
I just ran, I ran all night and day.
And I ran, I ran so far away.
I just ran, I couldn't get away.
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This is the opening song of the album, which is a concept piece about an alien invasion of earth. The song itself describes a person seeing an attractive female - he becomes anxious and wants to run away from his feelings but he can't forget her. Then they are both abducted by the aliens.
The imaginative (for the time) video broke the band in the US during the early days of MTV. The video showed the lead singer Mike Score sporting a distinctive hairstyle resembling a seagull in flight. He is in a room covered from floor to ceiling with aluminum foil and also floor mirrors in which you can see the reflection of the cameras.This was A Flock Of Seagulls biggest hit in the US, but in the UK they enjoyed a bigger hit with "Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)," which reached #10.
A portion of the song was used as the opening for the cartoon Knights of the Zodiac.
Although considered an 80's New Wave classic, the song experienced somewhat of a revival in 2002 as the signature theme for the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City; being played during the game's television commercials and during gameplay as one of the songs in the playlist for radio station Wave 103.
Some ridicules trivia:
Many people have joked about the way Mike Score was playing keyboard in the video. There are some inconsistencies with the video and how the song was actually played. The keyboard we see in the video is a Roland SH-09 synthesizer. At some points, Score is seen playing chords (more than one key pressed) on the keyboard, when the SH-09 is monophonic (only one key can be played at a time). The RS-09 was not used on this track, despite being in the video. The playing style is just for show. The ridiculous one-finger theatrics that can be seen for most of the video are of course also just for show, but he appears to be pressing some of the correct note(s). The gear Mike Score used in reality were a Korg MS-10 and a Korg Delta. The MS-10 (monophonic) was used for the low, droning sounds in the background, and the Delta was used for the higher, string-like sounds that are heard near the beginning of the song.
