"Run (Beautiful Things)"-AWOLNATION
I have to take a moment to brag that I was one of the first to be mesmerized when -- in early 2011 -- I heard the electronic power-ballad "Sail" from the then unknown act AWOLNATION. Finally -- almost two-years later -- the alternative track finally got the notice it deserved, eventually spending an unbelievable total of 79-weeks on the Billboard Hot-100 Singles Charts... second longest run in pop music history.
Earlier this year, AWOLNATION (singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Aaron Bruno) released a follow-up album to Megalithic Symphony. Shortly after latching on to the disc's first single "Woman Woman," I began to obsess over the album's title track, a starkly ominous opening-number titled "Run." The lyrics -- minimal and morose -- feature the often repeated line, "I am a human being, capable of doing terrible things."
Although claiming to be a "human being," to me those words come across as a programmed narrative that could have originated from a science fiction character found in an Isaac Asimov novel with a demeanor somewhere between the HAL 9000 and Gort.
But when Bruno hit the road performing the song live, he decided to make one small alteration to the lyrics. The line "I am a human being capable of doing terrible things" became "capable of doing beautiful things," one-word which changed the track's entire vibe.
Bruno told journalist Amanda Wicks, "I think that everyone can relate to negative feelings and that realization of the dark side to humanity, which unfortunately we see too much of around us at times. But then there’s the other side we find in beauty, positivity and love that is ultimately more powerful. I started to change the lyric during our live shows and it was natural to want to record this new version of the song."
Other than swapping "terrible" for "beautiful," the two takes are identical -- including the electronica/strings beginning to its heavy-metal finish -- separated simply by Bruno's plainly-spoken but concerning one-word warning: "Run."
I've been listening to this AWOLNATION track since early-August and I still find it unconventionally unique and curiously captivating. Don't just take my word for it -- 4 out of 5 cyborgs gave this track a solid (but very monotone) "affirmative."
Your prime directive: Don't walk... "Run."
