Runaway (Deee-Lite Song)
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"Runaway" is a song recorded, written and produced by
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
-based group
Deee-Lite Deee-Lite was an American House music, house and Dance music, dance music group formed in New York City. The group's Single (music), single "Groove Is in the Heart", which was released in 1990 from their debut studio album, ''World Clique'' (19 ...
, released on May 28, 1992 by
Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...
as the
lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...
from their second studio album, ''
Infinity Within ''Infinity Within'' is the second studio album by American house and club/dance group Deee-Lite. Released in 1992 on Elektra, the second album, through its lyrical content, instrumentation, and overall tone, showcases the band's political activ ...
'' (1992). It is the group's fourth single to top the US ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
Dance Club Songs The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...
chart. In Europe, the song was a top-10 hit in Greece and a top-20 hit in Finland, as well as peaking at number nine on the
UK Dance Singles Chart The Dance Singles Chart and the Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synth-pop) in record stores ...
and number 12 on the
European Dance Radio Chart The European Dance Radio Chart (also known as European Dance Radio Top 25) was a weekly chart compiled by pan-European magazine ''Music & Media''. After dance music had played a more dominant role on the magazine's Eurochart Hot 100 in the beginni ...
. The music video for "Runaway" was directed by American filmmaker and artist
Gus Van Sant Gus Green Van Sant Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American filmmaker, photographer, painter, and musician. He has earned acclaim as an independent film, independent auteur. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultures. His ...
.


Critical reception

Heather Phares from
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
named the song one of her "Track Picks" from the ''
Infinity Within ''Infinity Within'' is the second studio album by American house and club/dance group Deee-Lite. Released in 1992 on Elektra, the second album, through its lyrical content, instrumentation, and overall tone, showcases the band's political activ ...
'' album.
Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...
from ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' noted that
Lady Miss Kier Kierin Magenta Kirby (born August 15, 1963), known professionally as Lady Miss Kier, is an American singer, songwriter and DJ. Lady Miss Kier was the vocalist for the band Deee-Lite. She is a social, environmental, and human rights activist. Ear ...
"has evolved into a far more confident diva, while cohorts Super DJ Dmitry and Jungle DJ Towa Towa keep an ear to current sounds while maintaining a reverence for retro
funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
and
disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...
." Dave Sholin from the ''
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'' felt it "stays in the uptempo groove with that
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intensity that's sure to make it a club as well as radio favorite." ''
Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...
'' concluded that "Deee-Lite, along with
C&C Music Factory C+C Music Factory was an American musical group formed in 1989 by David Cole and Robert Clivillés. The group is best known for their five hit singles: "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)", "Here We Go (Let's Rock & Roll)", " Things Tha ...
, are still the most up-to-date mainstream American dance act". A reviewer from ''
Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...
'' said, "During their absence another weird trio—
Army of Lovers Army of Lovers is a Swedish dance-pop group which formed in 1987 and had a number of hits in Europe throughout the 1990s. Some of their biggest successes include the song "Crucified", which was a big hit in Europe, charting 31 weeks in the Eu ...
—took over the reins. But now the
dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
loonies are back, although not as odd ball as before and more mainstream." Alan Jones from ''
Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...
'' stated, "Still looking outlandish, Deee-Lite slide closer to the dance mainstream with "Runaway", a hustling
garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicl ...
groover that sounds like it was mixed by either
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or
Joey Negro David Russell Lee (born 18 June 1964) is an English DJ and music producer, formerly known by the stage name Joey Negro, which he retired in July 2020 following the George Floyd protests. He has released music under a variety of pseudonyms ...
, though neither was actually involved." Davydd Chong from the ''
Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...
'' Dance Update described the song as "a reviving breath of fresh air", complimenting its "soothing keyboard riffs" and "candy-encased vocals".
Siân Pattenden Siân Pattenden is an English journalist, author, illustrator and artist. She has worked for British publications like '' The Face'', ''The Guardian'', ''Independent'', ''NME'', '' Select'' and ''Smash Hits''. Pattenden has written six children's ...
from ''
Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...
'' gave it five out of five and named it Best New Single, commenting, "They're back! With a stomping curlicue in the lustrous toupee of pop! Housey backbeat combined with chomping bass and swishy pingy sounds amongst Lady Miss Kier's vocals de gusto". Joe Brown from ''
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'' felt that the "deceptively slight melodic hooks" of "Runaway" "prove infuriatingly tenacious."Brown, Joe (July 17, 1992). "Moving the Feet, Shaking the Mind". ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
''.


Track listing and formats

* German CD maxi-single # "Runaway" (Sampladelic Radio Edit) – 3:52 # "Runaway" (Greyhound Extended Mix) – 5:40 # "Rubber Lover" (Skin Tight Mix) – 4:29 # "Runaway" (
Masters at Work Masters at Work is the American garage house production and remix team of "Little" Louie Vega and Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez. The duo has produced music together under the names MAW, KenLou, Sole Fusion, Hardrive, and Nuyorican Soul. They have bee ...
Dub) – 6:37


Charts


References

{{Deee-Lite 1992 singles 1992 songs Dance-pop songs Deee-Lite songs Elektra Records singles Songs written by Towa Tei