Running Music: Lindisfarne 'Run For Home'

See the list so far here

Next up:

Lindisfarne ‘Run For Home’

When I started regularly going to gigs I decided to keep a list of every band I saw. This was especially useful for music festivals, as I might discover I’d seen one of the big draw main stage acts in one of the smaller tents a couple of years earlier.

A random selection from over a decade of live music includes:

U2 at Wembley Stadium – 1997 (supported by Richard Hawley’s old band the Long Pigs).
The Smashing Pumpkins last UK show before they split in 2000.
AC/DC at Milton Keynes Bowl – 2001
The first person I saw at a music festival was PJ Harvey at Reading in 2001.
Red Hot Chilly Peppers supported by James Brown at Hyde Park – 2004
Muse at the new Wembley and the Rolling Stones at the Isle of Wight Festival – 2007.

Plus, Frank Turner (at last count 13 times but that might not be right), Ash (7 times), Feeder (6 times), Biffy Clyro (5 times) and Iron Maiden (4 times – including headlining Reading and playing Twickenham Stadium).

All this leads to the perhaps surprising news that the first gig I ever went to was?

Seventies Geordie folk rockers
Lindisfarne (Edinburgh Fringe August 1996 in case you were interested in the date). I saw them again in Sheffield in 1998.

Formed as Brethren in 1969, the band developed their sound and line up at a Whitley Bay folk club. Gaining a major record deal in 1970, the name change to Lindisfarne and their debut album under that banner followed soon after.

Thanks to a
novalty version by Paul Gascoigne released in 1990, to some Lindisfarne’s best known song is
‘Fog on the Tyne’, the title track from what became the UK’s biggest selling album in 1971.

After splitting for a few years in the mid 70s, Lindisfarne reconvened in 1977. Among the songs to appear from the album which followed was ‘Run For Home’, a top ten hit in the UK and the band’s first chart success in the US.

The song is inspired by life on the road as a touring musician and the feeling created by a home coming. Its signature lyrics are the important bit for a marathon runner:

“Run for home, run as fast, as I can, running man, running for home”.

What running “as fast, as I can” will look and feel like in the last few miles of a marathon remains to be seen.

Lindisfarne were a cracking live band, they’ve long since split again, this time for good. I like every song on this growing list, some more than others, this one being among my favourites.

Running Music: Full List

This page will have the complete list of songs which I write about, updated as the weeks pass.

To recap, the point of this list is, I often get songs stuck in my head while running. More often than not they’re ones I hate, or at best, find irritating.

I’m not in favour of the idea of running to music, not least as the beat could encourage you to run at a pace which you hadn’t planned to. However I am in favour of using music to motivate, clear the mind, relax or anything else that helps your preparation, I might even listen to some of these on the morning of April 17th.

All these songs either relate to running in their title, or have some connection to the story of my first marathon.

And so the list is:

The Clash ‘London Calling’
Blog Post
Youtube Link

Arcade Fire ‘Keep the Car Running’
Blog Post
Arcade Fire original on Youtube
Foo Fighters Cover on Youtube

Iron Maiden ‘The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner’
Blog Post
Youtube Link

Canned Heat ‘Let’s Work Together’
Blog Post
Youtube Link

Tom Petty ‘Runnin’ Down a Dream’
Blog Post
Youtube Link

Spencer Davis Group 'Keep On Running'
Blog Post
Youtube Link

All American Rejects 'Move Along'
Blog post
Youtube Link

Lindisfarne 'Run For Home'
Blog Post
Youtube Link

Thin Lizzy 'Running Back'
Blog Post
Youtube Link

Bruce Springsteen 'Born To Run'
Blog Post
Youtube Link

Neil Young 'Long May You Run'
Blog Post
Youtube Link

Kate Bush 'Running Up That Hill'
Blog Post
Youtube Link

REO Speedwagon 'Take it on the Run'
Blog Post
Youtube Link

Lemonheads 'Outdoor Type
Blog Post
Youtube Link

Jimmy Cliff 'You Can Get It If You Really Want'
Blog post coming soon
Youtube Link