“I Ran (So Far Away)” by A Flock of Seagulls
A Flock of Seagulls’ “I Ran (So Far Away) is based on a rather-unique overall narrative.
The first verse finds the singer ‘meeting a girl’ whose beauty is so mesmerizing that it ‘hypnotizes him through’. However, he is so taken aback by her stunning countenance that he does not have the heart to approach her, so he runs like hell.
But then comes the strange part. Apparently at some point in time he was brave enough to communicate and establish some type of interaction with her. And somewhere along the lines of them being together – to put things succinctly – the song insinuates that she was scooped up by a tractor beam via a spaceship. The singer witnesses this firsthand and states he even made an effort to save her. Yet in the process of doing so, he too is caught up in “a beam of light”.
So the title and chorus of this song allude primarily to the singer making an effort to flee from an extraterrestrial threat. But ultimately, no matter how far and long he “ran”, he could not get away from it.
Conclusion
After all is said and done, we can conclude that the narrator and his love interest have seemingly been kidnapped by space aliens. This is basically what “I Ran” is all about.
What A Flock of Seagulls have said about “I Ran”
According to Mike Score, the track’s singer and co-writer, the dual inspiration for this track was a tune A Flock of Seagulls may have picked up from another band as well as a poster featuring a couple fleeing from a flying saucer and movies along that vein.
Facts about “I Ran (So Far Away)”
- Three different versions of this track exist with three different durations. The longest is on the album (5:07) followed by the video (3:58) and then the radio edit (3:43).
- “I Ran” placed at number 55 on “VH1’s Top 100 Greatest Songs of the ‘80s”.
- A Flock of Seagulls – particularly with this track – are considered to be beneficiaries of the ‘Second British Invasion’. This was a period during the early 1980s in which British bands, largely aided by MTV, were able to make it big in America.
- “I Ran” has been featured in a number of movies since its release. Some of them include: 2016’s La La Land and 2011’s The Hangover Part II.
- “I Ran” was written by Paul Reynolds, Frank Maudsley, Ali Scott and hairdresser-turned-band-leader Mike Score.
- Meanwhile Mike Howlett was responsible for the production of the song.
- “I Ran (So Far Away)” originally came out on 1 March 1982 via Jive Records as the second single from A Flock of Seagulls’ self-titled album. It has since been featured on the soundtracks of the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) and Charlize Theron’s 2017 action movie Atomic Blonde.
Chart Performance
“I Ran” performed impressively in the US, peaking at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Additionally, the song managed to top the charts in Australia. However, it was unable to even crack the top 40 on the UK Singles Chart, with the band actually being from the United Kingdom.
It’s interesting to hear the artists own statement about the inspiration of the song. Knowing the lyrics, but not the additional fact, I just always assumed that the song and theme “I Ran” was about a guy falling so hard for a girl that it scares him, and he attempts to flee his feelings…hence the “I Ran”. Like that feeling, I don’t know if everyone has felt it, but the one where something is so perfect, it terrifies you of how absolutely in love you are…the fear of messing it up, of losing it, of ruining it. Anyways, thank you for the post.
You nailed it David. Thank you for your post. l too ran at one time precisely as you stated here.
I think it’s about a cocaine addiction and how he can’t get away from the drug no matter how far he ran..
Songs mean different things to different people it’s ultimately up to the person as some songs help you get you through a difficult time as this one did for me
You don’t whistle words ok ? It’s THE MELODY MAN
in the bad mood at that time, it was one of the fine bands who winded me up from bad ideas. Thanks.