Run Like Hell (7:08)

“Run Like Hell” is a song on the Pink Floyd album The Wall. It is preceded by “In the Flesh” and is followed by “Waiting for the Worms”. The song is from the point of view of anti-hero Pink during a hallucination, in which he becomes a fascist dictator and turns a concert audience into an angry mob. He sends the mob out to raid nearby neighborhoods that are full of minorities.

The music was written by David Gilmour (one of the three songs on The Wall for which Gilmour wrote music), while the lyrics were by Roger Waters alone. On the record, Waters provided the vocals (except for “Run, Run”, in which Gilmour is lead singer). The song features the only keyboard solo on The Wall (although on live performances, “Young Lust” and “Another Brick in the Wall, Part II” would also feature keyboard solos); after the last line of lyrics, a synthesizer apparently takes over Waters’ singing. Also in the song are the sound of the mob’s maniacal laughter, running footsteps, car tires skidding and a loud scream.

This song was originally much longer, however it had to be cut because of the time limitations on the original vinyl record format. Although the lyrics “Run like hell” appear several times in the liner notes, they are never actually heard in the song. Near the end, the same piercing shriek (made by Waters) can be heard, almost identical to that heard during “The Happiest Days of Our Lives” when seguing into “Another Brick in the Wall, Part II”.