"Run to You" is a song by Swedish pop music duo Roxette, released on 14 November 1994 as the fourth single from their fifth studio albumCrash! Boom! Bang!. The song charted moderately in several territories, peaking at number twenty in Finland, while reaching the top forty in Belgium, Scotland, Switzerland and the UK. It was the duo's final single to chart in the top fifty of the Australian Singles Chart, peaking at number forty-nine.
Composition and style
According to Ultimate Guitar, "Run to You" has a medium tempo of 99 beats per minute. The verse is composed of two repetitions of Bm–A–G–A–Bm–A–G–D–Bm, with the pre-chorusconsisting of two short bars of E–D–C. The first two choruses are made up of two sequences of G–C–E–D–G–C–G–D. The middle 8 consists of an E–Bm–G–Bm–D sequence, followed by an orchestral instrumental refrain of A–D–E–A–D–A–E–Bm–A–E–D. The final chorus and outro are made up of a repeating A–D–E–A–D–A–E pattern. Writer Per Gessle said he is "especially fond of the middle-8. It's not as important in today's pop music as it used to be, but for me the greatest songs always had a fantastic middle-8, taking you somewhere else before building up to the chorus again. It's almost like a song within a song." The single contained one b-side: a demo titled "Don't Believe in Accidents", which was written by Gessle on 29 March 1988 as a way to "learn how to use my new synthesizer. I wrote another one as well, probably the same day... that was "The Look". A decent Tuesday."
Critical reception
Pete Stanton from Smash Hits commented that "Per and Marie have done it again" and added that Roxette are "big Euro-pop-marshmallow-soft-rocking stars". He noted the song's "pleasant guitars frolic with twirling violins and wow, we're in Happy Land."
Music video
The music video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund, and consists of behind-the-stage footage of the band during the "Crash! Boom! Bang! Tour". It features shots of the band travelling and performing during sound-checks, and ends with a scene of the band taking to the stage at the tour's 18 October 1994 date at the Festhalle in Frankfurt, Germany.
Formats and track listings
All songs written by Per Gessle, except "Listen to Your Heart" by Gessle and Mats Persson.