"Run with the Fox" is a 1981

Christmas song Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...

written, composed, produced, and performed by

Chris Squire Christopher Russell Edward Squire (4March 1948 – 27June 2015) was an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of the progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes. He was the longest-serving original memb ...

and Alan White, with

Peter Sinfield Peter John Sinfield (born 27 December 1943) is an English poet and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder and former lyricist of King Crimson, whose debut album ''In the Court of the Crimson King'' is considered one of the first and mos ...

co-writing lyrics. Both former Yes members, Squire and White recorded the song after a new band ( XYZ with

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

guitarist

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...

) seemed unlikely to happen, and released the single under their own names as a collaborative piece.

Andrew Pryce Jackman Andrew Pryce Jackman (13 July 1946 – 16 August 2003) was an English keyboardist, arranger and composer who worked with many leading figures in British popular music. His most successful project was as the arranger and conductor of the ''Classi ...

, a childhood friend and frequent collaborator of Squire, was in charge of

orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orc ...

and since they had both been boy choristers with

Barry Rose Barry Michael Rose OBE FRAM FRSCM HonFRCO (born 24 May 1934) is a choir trainer and organist. He is best known for founding the choir and the pattern of daily sung worship at the new Guildford Cathedral in 1961, as well as directing the music a ...

at St. Andrew's Church, Kingsbury, they contacted him to provide a boys choir to do the backing. By this time Rose was at

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

, so it is the St Paul's boys who appear on the song. The B-side of the single, "Return of the Fox", is an instrumental variation of "Run with the Fox'. It features

Dave Lawson Dave Lawson (born 25 September 1978) is an Australian comedian, actor, and TV and radio personality. He is a regular performer on the stand up comedy circuit, and at one time participated in a talk back radio segment on the commercial radio st ...

(ex-

Greenslade Greenslade were an English progressive rock band, formed in the autumn of 1972 by keyboard player Dave Greenslade and bassist Tony Reeves, with keyboardist Dave Lawson and drummer Andrew McCulloch. History The band made their live debut at ...

keyboardist) on keyboards, and Squire's then-wife Nikki on backing vocals. Following "Run with the Fox", both musicians collaborated again in the band

Cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

which ultimately led to the reformation of Yes. The song would feature on Squire's festive album '' Chris Squire's Swiss Choir'' with another choir dubbed onto the track, but otherwise remaining the same.

Personnel

– lead vocals, bass guitar,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

* Alan White – drums, piano, keyboards, backing vocals, production * The boys of

– choir * Unknown recorder player * Unknown orchestra - strings *

–

* Nigel Luby –

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

* Gregg Jackman – mixing

References

{{Authority control 1981 singles 1981 songs Atlantic Records singles British Christmas songs Songs written by Chris Squire Songs written by Alan White (Yes drummer) Songs with lyrics by Peter Sinfield