"Fox on the Run" is a song by the
British band
Sweet, first recorded in 1974. It was the first Sweet single written by the band, rather than producers
Nicky Chinn and
Mike Chapman, and was their 14th single overall. The song became the best charting single in Australia in 1975, with six weeks at number one.
[ Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1970 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988.]
Two versions were recorded by Sweet. The original version was produced by Mike Chapman in association with Nicky Chinn on the European version of the 1974 album ''
Desolation Boulevard''. Sweet also recorded and produced a more pop-oriented version as a 7" single in 1975, which is the more familiar version of the song. The 1975 single version was included on the Capitol Records version of ''Desolation Boulevard''.
The song's inclusion in the trailer for ''
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'' led to the song reaching number one on the
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
Rock Chart in late 2016.
Background
"Fox" being slang for an
attractive woman, the lyrics are apparently about one of the band's
groupies;
''
Bomp!'' called the song "a definitive hard-rock bubblegum record" and "one of the last
glitter classics".
Chart performance
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Personnel
*
Brian Connolly – lead vocals
*
Steve Priest
Stephen Norman Priest (23 February 1948 – 4 June 2020) was an English musician who was the bassist (and, later, lead vocalist) of the glam rock band The Sweet.
Biography
Priest was born in Hayes, Middlesex. He made his own bass guitar and be ...
– bass, lead vocal, backing vocals
*
Andy Scott – guitars, synthesizer, backing vocals
*
Mick Tucker – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Scorpions version
"Fuchs geh' voran" is a
German cover version of the song with lyrics about a
fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelv ...
being chased by hunters to
sell its fur. It was released as a single in 1975 by the
German rock band
Scorpions as The Hunters. The
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
also features a German cover version of another Sweet song, "
Action", as "Wenn es richtig losgeht".
Other covers
Many artists and groups have covered this song, including:
*
The Regrettes (for the AV Undercover series)
*
Eric Singer
*
Girlschool
*
Red Hot Chili Peppers
*
You Am I
*
Mad Max
*
Deadsy
*
Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13
*
Ace Frehley
*
Make-Up
Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...
*
The Academy Is...
*
Sweet Savage
Sweet Savage are a heavy metal band from Belfast, Northern Ireland, formed in 1979. Future Dio and Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell was an early member. Since forming in 1979, Sweet Savage have released three studio albums, three single ...
*
Nip Drivers
The Nip Drivers were an American punk rock band formed in 1980 in Torrance, California. The band was the brainchild of lead singer Mike Webber, and for a time included guitarist Kurt Schellenbach, Janus Jones on bass, and Nick Passiglia on drum ...
for the ''
Desperate Teenage Lovedolls
''Desperate Teenage Lovedolls'' is a 1984 low budget underground film, shot on super-8 film by David Markey, about a rock band of teenage runaways. The film was released on DVD in 2003. A sequel, '' Lovedolls Superstar'', was released in 1986.
Pl ...
'' soundtrack.
*A 1986 recording by
The Replacements is featured on the 2017 live album ''
For Sale: Live at Maxwell's 1986''.
Popular culture
*The song appears in numerous films, including: ''
Dazed and Confused'', ''
Detroit Rock City'', ''
When in Rome'', ''
Catch .44
''Catch .44'' is a 2011 American crime thriller film written and directed by Aaron Harvey and starring Forest Whitaker, Bruce Willis, Malin Åkerman, Nikki Reed, Deborah Ann Woll, and Brad Dourif.
Plot
Drug boss Mel sends his associates Tes, D ...
'', ''
Lords of Dogtown'', ''
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard'', and ''
The Black Phone''.
*The song was used in the trailer for ''
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2''
The song was used in the opening credits of the Australian film ''
Kath & Kimderella'' starring Gina Riley and Jane Turner. It was also used in the series "Kath and Kim" in the season 3, episode 7 titled "Foxy on the Run".
See also
*
List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1970s
*
List of number-one hits of 1975 (Germany)
This is a list of the German ''Media Control'' Top100 Singles Chart number-ones of 1975.
See also
*List of number-one hits (Germany)
References
German Singles Chart archives from 1956
{{Germanhits
1975 in West Germany
1975 record charts
1 ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox On The Run
The Sweet songs
1974 songs
1975 singles
Number-one singles in Australia
Number-one singles in Germany
Number-one singles in South Africa
Songs written by Andy Scott (guitarist)
Songs written by Brian Connolly
Songs written by Steve Priest
Songs written by Mick Tucker
Song recordings produced by Mike Chapman
British power pop songs