"Run Baby Run" is a song by American singer-songwriter

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, pop, country, folk, and blues. She has released eleven studio albums, five compilations and three li ...

from her first album, ''

Tuesday Night Music Club ''Tuesday Night Music Club'' is the debut album from American singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow, released on August 3, 1993. The first two singles from the album were not particularly successful. However, the album gained attention after the success ...

'' (1993), released by

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

in September 1993 as her debut single. It failed to chart in the United States but peaked at 86 in Canada, No. 83 in the United Kingdom, and No. 45 in the Netherlands. "Run Baby Run" was released for a third time in the UK after the success of " All I Wanna Do" and " Strong Enough", reaching a new peak of No. 24 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in July 1995.

Background and composition

According to

, the song was written in 1992 after the results of the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

were announced, marking the transition "from conservative

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

to young, unconventional, good-looking

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

." The song describes a young woman born on November 22, 1963, "the day

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxley ...

died" (whom Crow calls a "literary spokesperson of the 1960s"). She grew up in a conservative social structure (where people "talk of better days"), yet her parents are

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

s: her mother experiments with drugs while her father is a political activist. As a result, she feels caught between generations and has learned from her parents' example to run away from problems or from people getting too close to her. Crow has stated that, while the song is not autobiographical, she can relate to certain aspects of the character.

Critical reception

In his weekly UK chart commentary in ''

Dotmusic ''Dotmusic'' was a music webzine that existed as a standalone website from 1 June 1995 to December 2003. Initially intended as the web complement to the UK music industry trade magazine ''Music Week'', the site was relaunched in December 1998 as a ...

'',

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a music writer and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worked on air ...

described "Run Baby Run" as an "anthemic track". Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' wrote, "An impressive debut for Ms Crow on a track that smacks of the

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

' "

Happiness Is a Warm Gun "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 album ''The Beatles'' (also known as "the White Album"). It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The song was co ...

" and "

Old Brown Shoe "Old Brown Shoe" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written by George Harrison, the group's lead guitarist, it was released on a non-album single in May 1969, as the B-side to "The Ballad of John and Yoko". The song was subseque ...

" in parts. Crow, who is possessed of a throaty and distinctive voice, is more likely to become a successful album artist, but this deserves to be heard."

Chart performance

"Run Baby Run" was originally released in 1993 in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia. It did not chart in the United States, but in Canada, it briefly appeared on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' 100 ranking, peaking at No. 86 on January 24, 1994. In 1994, the song was re-released in Europe and debuted at No. 83 on the

, but it dropped out of the top 100 the following week. In late May 1994, it appeared on the Dutch

Single Top 100 The Dutch Single Top 100 or Single Top 100 is a Dutch chart, based on official physical single sales, legal downloads and since July 2013 streaming and composed by Dutch Charts. It is one of the three official charts, the other two being the Du ...

, reaching No. 45 the week after its debut. In Australia, it stalled at No. 156 on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

in June 1994. "Run Baby Run" was again re-issued in Europe in 1995, this time entering the UK top 30 and attaining its peak of No. 24 on July 23. During this charting period, it topped off at No. 95 on the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...

. In January 1996, the track experienced a surge of popularity on Canadian

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

radio, eventually peaking at No. 44 on the ''RPM'' Adult Contemporary chart.

Track listings

1993 release

* UK CD single 1 (580 381-2) #"Run Baby Run" #"

All by Myself "All by Myself" is a song by American singer-songwriter Eric Carmen released in 1975. The verse is based on the second movement (''Adagio sostenuto'') of Sergei Rachmaninoff's circa 1900–1901 '' Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor'', Opus 18. The ...

" #"The Na-Na Song" #"Reach Around Jerk" * UK CD single 2 and European CD single (580 568-2) #"Run Baby Run" (single version) #"

Leaving Las Vegas ''Leaving Las Vegas'' is a 1995 American drama film written and directed by Mike Figgis, and based on the semi-autobiographical 1990 novel of the same name by John O'Brien. Nicolas Cage stars as a suicidal alcoholic in Los Angeles who, having ...

" (acoustic version) * UK 7-inch single (580 380-7) :A. "Run Baby Run" :B. "All by Myself" * Australian, Dutch, and French CD single (580 380-2) #"Run Baby Run" (single version) – 4:28 #"All by Myself"

1994 release

* UK CD single and European maxi-single (580 569-2) #"Run Baby Run" #"Leaving Las Vegas" (acoustic version) #"All by Myself" #"Reach Around Jerk"

1995 release

* UK CD1 (581 147-2) #"Run Baby Run" #"

Can't Cry Anymore "Can't Cry Anymore" is a song by American singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow from her debut album, ''Tuesday Night Music Club'' (1993), released through A&M Records. Released in May 1995, the song reached number 36 on the US '' Billboard'' Hot 100, b ...

" (live in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

) #"Reach Around Jerk" (live in Nashville) #"I Shall Believe" (live in Nashville) * European cassette single (581 146-4) :A. "Run Baby Run" :B. "Leaving Las Vegas" (live in Nashville) * UK CD2 (581 149-2) #"Run Baby Run" #" Strong Enough" (live in Nashville) #"No One Said It Would Be Easy" (live in Nashville) #"The Na-Na Song" (live in Nashville)

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1993 debut singles 1993 songs A&M Records singles Sheryl Crow songs Songs based on actual events Song recordings produced by Bill Bottrell Songs written by Bill Bottrell Songs written by David Baerwald Songs written by Sheryl Crow