Songfacts®:

• "The Runner" is the first song with lyrics on Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 2. The last two tracks on Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1 are set in a world of environmental destruction and social dislocation. Opening with a bombastic guitar riff, this tune's opening lines find Yannis Philippakis determined to keep persevering despite the troubles we are facing. As the singer keeps charging through the embers of this burnt out world, he vows to find a sense of purpose.
  
  Shadow, see how far I go
  Step by step I'll keep it up, I won't slow, I gotta go
  Through the embers, through the rows
  Every shadow step I take, I'll make sure that I won't break.
  
  Philippakis explained to DIY magazine: "'Sunday' and 'I'm Done with the World (& It's Done with Me)' [from ENSWBL Part 1] end in lots of imagery of fire and the world being devastated, and this record exists in the wreckage of everything that came from that."
• The video, which was directed by French visual artist Quentin Deronzier, sees Yannis Philippakis being mercilessly chased by his doppelgänger. The singer's lookalike is played by the Lebanese actor Vincent Heneine.