"Always on the Run" is a song by American rock musician

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. His style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop and folk. Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Roc ...

, released as the first single from his second album, '' Mama Said'' (1991). It features a contribution by

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...

guitarist

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash ...

. Slash had written the music for the song with the original intention of releasing it on a

studio album but since former drummer

Steven Adler Steven Adler (born Michael Coletti; January 22, 1965) is an American musician. He was the drummer and co-songwriter of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s. Adler was fired from Guns N' Roses ...

had difficulty playing the song, he saved it for this eventual collaboration with Kravitz. On June 6, 1992, during

Use Your Illusion Tour The Use Your Illusion Tour was a concert tour by American rock band Guns N' Roses which ran from January 20, 1991, to July 17, 1993. It was not only the band's longest tour, but one of the longest concert tours in rock history, consisting of 19 ...

stop in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, Kravitz joined the band onstage and played guitar and sang vocals for this track. The song is included in the

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

'' Guitar Hero: Aerosmith''. It is also heard in the

Adam Sandler Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1990 to 1995, before going on to star in numerous Hollywood films, those of wh ...

film ''

The Waterboy ''The Waterboy'' is a 1998 American sports comedy film directed by Frank Coraci. It was written by Adam Sandler as well as Tim Herlihy and produced by Robert Simonds and Jack Giarraputo. Sandler also stars as the title character while Kathy Bates ...

'', as well as the film '' Go''.

Background

Slash met up with Kravitz for a vodka fueled songwriting session directly after finishing his European tour. After the last date, he jumped on the concorde and flew from London to New York at nine in the morning. Kravitz recalled to ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', "He had me get a gallon of

vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuritie ...

and a bag of ice and we went into the studio and bang, there it was. The two of us wrote and cut the tune. I played drums; he played guitar; Then I played my guitar, bass and did vocals. I brought the horn players in and it was done. Then he got on a plane the next morning and went to LA. It was a wild day."

Critical reception

In an retrospective review, Carla Hay of AXS stated, "As the first single from his 1991 album, '' Mama Said'', “Always on the Run” further established Kravitz as a powerhouse rocker who expertly blended retro influences with modern sounds." Upon the release, Simon Reynolds from ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' said, "During the rather nifty boogie-

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

.. Kravitz's persona shifts with every vocal phrase —

Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

Sly Stone Sylvester Stewart (born March 15, 1943), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer who is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the ...

/ Costello — and sometimes all at once. I like it, but sometimes you have to be firm." Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' wrote, "Kravitz has always been heavily influenced by '60s artists like

Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

and Hendrix, and this time it is

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

's turn to play godfather, too. The song leans on a strong staccato rhythm guitar and a sharp horn section. Good grooves provided."

Chart performance

"Always on the Run" reached the top ten on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart, peaking at number eight.

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Always on the Run" was directed by

Jesse Dylan Jesse Byron Dylan (born January 6, 1966) is an American film director and production executive. He is the founder of the media production company Wondros and Lybba, a non-profit organization. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relat ...

. It consists of the performance of the song featuring

' band and

, filmed in black and white.

Track listing

#"Always on the Run" #"Butterfly" #"Light Skin Girl from London" #"Always on the Run" (Instrumental)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Covers

"Always on the Run" has been covered by Mark Ronson in the track "On the Run", featuring Mos Def and M.O.P.

References

{{authority control Lenny Kravitz songs Slash (musician) songs 1991 singles Song recordings produced by Lenny Kravitz Songs written by Lenny Kravitz Songs written by Slash (musician) Virgin Records singles 1991 songs