Running Music: All American Rejects 'Move Along'

See the list so far here.

Next up:

All American Rejects ‘Move Along’

This is one of those more tenuous choices, included thanks to a combination of lyrics, personal memories and, the deciding factor, because I like it.

I’ve never been one for analysing lyrics, not least because I’m not very good at it. To me, this song appears to be a person speaking to someone that is having a hard time, giving them the “stick at it” speech and offering to be there in the moment of need.

“So a day when you've lost yourself completely
Could be a night when your life ends
Such a heart that will lead you to deceiving
All the pain held in your
Hands are shaking cold
Your hands are mine to hold
Speak to me”

The part of ‘Move Along’ which stood out to me, and which I’m relating to marathon running, is the chorus. So when the person in the song is telling their friend to keep at it, to me their saying “you might be ready to quit, your legs might feel like their on fire, but you can do this, you really can”.

“When all you got to keep is strong
Move along, move along like I know you do
And even when your hope is gone
Move along, move along just to make it through”

I warned you it was tenuous.

The memory relates to the bike challenge I did in 2006, six days from London to Berlin as a fundraiser for Scope, arriving for the opening weekend of the World Cup.

I burnt a load of songs onto a couple of CDs, and this one from All American Rejects was my favourite at the time.

About forty of us met at
Wembley Stadium, or the building site that it was then, early one Sunday morning. We spent the next couple of days getting to Harwich for our ferry crossing. The next four days saw us travelling through Northern Germany, where it struck us how little signs there were that one of the biggest sporting events in the world was about to start. In England flags were everywhere, giving the impression that the competition was in the UK, and we were cycling to Berlin to get away from it. The first football image to be discovered was in Hamburg. One of our party went for a walk and discovered our hostel was on the edge of the red light district, what a careless mistake to make. On one window a person kicking a ball had been drawn.

Day four was a one hundred miler, something I’d done before so wasn’t too concerned about. Many on the trip hadn’t and, with the exception of the Irish bloke that never seemed far from a beer (stereotype ahoy), there was lots of good behaviour on show.

Not unreasonably, the three digits on the milometer was a cause for much celebration for those for whom this was a first time, and of course it would have been rude for the rest of us not to show our support and share in their feeling of achievement.

So for the rest of the distance the trip took on the appearance of a stag week on wheels. Once in Berlin and in free time mode, many of us were up for forty eight hours straight, longer if you include the full day on a coach back to London. The story of that weekend can wait for another day though.

‘Move Along’ is the title track from the All American Rejects second album, released in July 2005. The single didn’t come out until 2006 however.

The song didn’t make the top forty in the UK, but has to date sold over one million downloads in the US.

It has been used in US TV advertising campaigns for coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games, and, more excitingly, Lego!

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