Running Music: Spencer Davis Group 'Keep On Running'

See the list so far here.

Next up:

Spencer Davis Group ‘Keep On Running’

Yes, I accept this is the most obvious song I could pick, but if I thought it was rubbish then I’d have left it out.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard this at running events, as well as other sports. The guy on the PA at Brentford does like a sixties classic or two. I’ll be surprised if I don’t hear it on April 17 while running the streets of London.

This song always reminds me of the
Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002. I expect I did know it before then, but this is the first time it stuck in my head, massively helped by the somewhat limited musical choices on offer.

I know the organisers of
London 2012 will have rather bigger issues to resolve at the moment, but I hope someone is being delegated to bring a slightly bigger record collection than just five songs.

All we heard throughout the Athletics competition at the City of Manchester Stadium were:

Tina Turner ‘Simply the Best’
Queen ‘We Are the Champions’
Monty Python ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’

One other which escapes my memory at the moment, and the Spencer Davis Group. Not a Manc classic from
The Smiths or Stone Roses to be heard anywhere.

These five songs would be played throughout the evening session of the athletics, and is one of my abiding memories of that week. Another being the rather odd, lucky seat competition which I only heard from the warm up track, never actually saw it in action.

Jon Ridgeon would ask the crowd to stand up. Then, everyone except those in one stand were told to sit down. Next, everyone apart from one row were asked to be seated. Lastly, a seat number was called out and, hopefully, one lucky prize winner would be the last person standing.

Since this would happen before the first race, I always thought this was asking for the chosen seat to be without its occupant and something of an anti-climax. Even if the winners were selected from people that had entered the stadium, there’s every chance they’d be in the queue for a beer, burger or the bog before settling in for their evening’s entertainment.

The Spencer Davis Group are as well known for being the launch pad for the career of Steve Winwood as any other aspect of their CV.

‘Keep On Running’ reached number 1 in the UK in 1966, and is a cover of the
reggae track by Jackie Edwards. (Note, I found two versions by Jackie Edwards on Youtube)