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Released in 1965

Run For Your Life

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Last updated on December 30, 2025

Album This song officially appears on the Rubber Soul (UK Mono) LP.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1965

Master release

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

From Wikipedia:

“Run for Your Life” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1965 album Rubber Soul. It was written primarily by John Lennon, though credited to Lennon–McCartney.

Lyrics

The song’s lyrics establish a threatening tone towards the singer’s unnamed girlfriend (referred to throughout the song as “little girl”), claiming “I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man.” The line was taken from an early Elvis Presley song, “Baby Let’s Play House” (written by Arthur Gunter).

Composition and recording

“Run for Your Life” was the first song recorded for Rubber Soul, on 12 October 1965; “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” was also recorded later that day. The song has only one section, a verse-refrain combination, with the guitar duet introducing a six-bar blues. As with most other songs on Rubber Soul, McCartney sings the higher register of the three-part harmony.

Release and reception

Rubber Soul was released on 3 December 1965, with “Run for Your Life” sequenced as the album’s closing song. Since release, the song has garnered a mixed-to-negative response from music critics. Lennon designated it as his “least favourite Beatles song” in a 1973 interview. He also stated that it was one of George Harrison’s favourites on Rubber Soul at that time, despite Lennon’s dislike of it. Ian MacDonald criticised the vocal performance and added these comments about the guitar: “The guitar-work, some of which is badly out of tune, is similarly rough, the piercingly simplistic blues solo suggesting that the player was not Harrison but Lennon himself.” Thomas Ward of AllMusic similarly criticised the song, calling it “arguably the weakest” on Rubber Soul, and one of the “lesser items in the entire Lennon–McCartney songbook“. Ward further criticised the song’s lyrics, calling them “trite”, and the melody, calling it “bland and uninteresting”. While he did compliment Lennon’s vocal performance and Harrison’s “lovely” guitar part, he nonetheless deemed the song “one of the Beatles most dispensable items“. The Beatles never performed the song live. […

I never liked ‘Run For Your Life’, because it was a song I just knocked off. It was inspired from – this is a very vague connection – ‘Baby Let’s Play House’. There was a line on it: ‘I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man’, so I wrote it around that. I didn’t think it was all that important, but it was always a favourite of George’s.

John Lennon – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

John was always on the run, running for his life. He was married; whereas none of my songs would have ‘catch you with another man’. It was never a concern of mine, at all, because I had a girlfriend and I would go with other girls; it was a perfectly open relationship so I wasn’t as worried about that as John was. A bit of a macho song.

Paul McCartney – From “Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now” by Barry Miles, 1997

From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:

  • [a] mono 9 Nov 1965.
    UK: Parlophone PMC 1267 Rubber Soul 1965.
    US: Capitol T 2442 Rubber Soul 1965.
  • [b] stereo 10 Nov 1965.
    UK: Parlophone PCS 3075 Rubber Soul 1965.
    US: Capitol ST 2442 Rubber Soul 1965.
  • [c] stereo 1987.
    CD: EMI CDP 7 46440 2 Rubber Soul 1987.

A thump during the instrumental break– possibly someone hitting a microphone– has been removed in [c].

Lyrics

Well I'd rather see you dead, little girl

Than to be with another man

You better keep your head, little girl

Or I won't know where I am

You better run for your life if you can, little girl

Hide your head in the sand little girl

Catch you with another man

That's the end, little girl

Well I know that I'm a wicked guy

And I was born with a jealous mind

And I can't spend my whole life

Trying just to make you toe the line

You better run for your life if you can, little girl

Hide your head in the sand little girl

Catch you with another man

That's the end, little girl

Let this be a sermon

I mean everything I've said

Baby, I'm determined

And I'd rather see you dead

You better run for your life if you can, little girl

Hide your head in the sand little girl

I catch you with another man

That's the end, little girl

I'd rather see you dead, little girl

Than to be with another man

You better keep your head, little girl

Or you won't know where I am

You better run for your life if you can, little girl

Hide your head in the sand little girl

Catch you with another man

That's the end, little girl

Na, na, na

Na, na, na

Na, na, na

Na, na, na

Variations

Officially appears on

See all official recordings containing “Run For Your Life”

Bootlegs

See all bootlegs containing “Run For Your Life”

Going further

Paul McCartney writing

Talk more talk, chat more chat

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