Running Man

Album: 24 Carrots (1980)
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  • Before the phone hits the receiver
    You're halfway to the door
    The voice said 'get out while you can,
    There's just 1O minutes, nothing more'

    Time only for the essentials
    Better gather them and run
    The false name inside the passport,
    The gold bars and the gun

    And once again they've come out of the past
    And though your mind is cool your heart is beating fast
    You've been through it all before
    Each time you wish a little more that you could ask

    "What do you want from me?
    What do you need from me?
    There's no rest for the running man
    Why can't you let him be?'

    It's a long and twisting journey
    From the sweeping northern plains
    To the outcrops of the jungle
    Bowed beneath the tropic rains

    In the customs hall the officer
    Takes you to one side
    And his eyes reveal no feeling
    As you hand over the bribe

    And once again you've bought a little time
    And once again you're fading out of sight
    Still the fox is growing older
    As he calls over his shoulder to the night:

    "What do you want from me?
    What do you need from me?
    There's no rest for the running man
    Why can't you let him be?"

    Here, come over here
    Beneath a sympathetic moon
    We'll sit and talk over old times without a fear
    Another beer, from the cafes of the night

    The tumbling rhythms of guitars ring loud and clear
    One by one they've nailed the others
    But you always got away
    What it is that keeps you just that step ahead

    No one can say
    In one last raid the agents
    Of the dawn break down the door
    Of a house where you were standing

    Maybe just an hour before
    And still the thread continues to unwind
    You take the hidden roads that only you can find
    And should they come upon your tracks

    There's just a question hanging back you left behind
    "What do you want from me?
    What do you need from me?
    No rest for the running man

    Why can't you let him be?"
    "What do you want from me?
    What do you need from me? Writer/s: AL STEWART, PETER WHITE
    Publisher: Spirit Music Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 2

  • Todd from Atlanta, GaThe Schwarzenegger movie is based on the Stephen King novel "The Running Man", originally published under King's pseudonym, Richard Bachman. I do not believe the novel and subsequent film are related to Al Stewart's song, but with King you never know...
  • Mark from New Orleans, LaLater made into a movie of the same name, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Except instead of a sadistic Nazi physician, it's a wrongly imprisoned ex-cop. And instead of avoiding capture in South America, he's forced to play a deadly game show in an underground arena. And instead of drowning in Brazil, he escapes the arena, clears his name, and exacts vengeance on the bad guys. Other than these minor changes (fairly typical in Hollywood adaptations of Al Stewart songs), a visual depiction of the music.
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