WHY RUN WHEN YOU CAN HIDE

i never believed it

even when it comes to me

and i don't mean to be so negative

if you ever conceive the thing

that you never thought would come to you

wouldn't you question it too

wouldn't you

so i try to keep the light on

oh you know how hard i try

but when you run too far

and you're looking back

is it the love that you recall 

or that you took a fall

for me

for me

if you're ever to go away 

never to come back to the 

place where you belong

write me a letter 

send me a photograph

tell me what it means to you

i really wanna know

and i'll try to keep a light on

oh you know how hard i try

but when you run too far

and you're looking back

will it be the love that you recall

is it the love

when you run too far

and you're looking back

will it be the love that you recall

or anything at all

or me

come on come on come on

lyrics and music: astrid young & david rotter © SOCAN

vocals: astrid

background vocals: jane wiedlin & victor delorenzo

guitars: joe gore, jane wiedlin, astrid

bass & keyboard: astrid

drums: victor delorenzo

studio: robot recording, san francisco

engineered & mixed by travis kasperbauer

arrangement & production: Victor Delorenzo & Astrid Young

mastered by joao Carvalho

i was living in santa rosa during the harvest season, working in a winery ... david is a friend from the L.A. days, and was living in sebastopol at the time, not far away. david is like a musical savant, he can play anything, and is the only person i know to truly have an eidetic memory ... but i digress ... this song came together one evening in 2002. i was listening to david bowie's 'heathen' a lot at the time, and some of the ideas kind of crept into the lyrics, but the arrangement was mostly david's. when we recorded it at Travis' studio, jane, victor and i played together in the same room. the idea to track this song just came to me when i was trying to think of something to play ... i don't think i'd played the thing since david and i wrote it. when i got in touch with david to tell him it was on the record, he remembered every change, and started firing questions at me about this part and that part ... i couldn't remember, but i sent him the file to listen to, and apparently i got it all right. whew!

joe gore played a resonator on this, what a great sound. the little riff at the beginning is a keyboard, i think the sound was a hammer dulcimer, or a yangqin, and it's part of a riff i would ordinarily play on the guitar at the intro.