"Run With the Pack," Bad Company
This week marks the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Bad Company's third album, Run With the Pack. (It was released on January 28, 1976 in the U.S., two days after in the U.K.) The title song was the obvious centerpiece of the album. While most of the tracks on this album where straightforward rock and roll (including a cover of the Coasters' "Young Blood"), "Run With the Pack," the song, played like some sort of mini-opera.
"Run With the Pack" is a song about a man whose lady tries to keep him contained and gives him no genuine love and affection, and he vows to leave her and "run with the pack" to get as far as he can go. The song because with an obvious nod to the Beatles ("You never give me my money, you only give me your sympathy") and promises the lady that she can never catch up with him when he leaves ("You won't even see me. no no for dust"). A barroom piano underpins the song through the third chorus, at which point the piano takes on a more classical texture as strings enter the mix. "Run With the Pack" - performed by the entire Bad Company lineup of members Paul Rodgers (piano, vocals, guitar), Mick Ralphs (lead guitar), Boz Burrell (bass) and Simon Kirke (drums) and written by Rodgers, is the most majestic song BadCo ever did.
Run With the Pack peaked at number four on the Billboard album chart at number four. This clip, my Music Video Of the Week, shows Bad Company performing "Run With the Pack," the song, live. Enjoy.
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