Runaways Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Blonde hair blowing in the summer wind
A blue-eyed girl playing in the sand

I'd been on her trail for a little while
But that was the night that she broke down and held my hand
A teenage rush
She said, "Ain't we all just runaways? We got time"

[Pre-Chorus 1]
But that ain't much
We can't wait till tomorrow
You got to know that this is real, baby, why you want to fight it?
It's the one thing you can choose, oh!


[Verse 2]
We got engaged on a Friday night
I swore on the head of our unborn child

That I could take care of the three of us
But I got the tendency to slip when the nights get wild
It's in my blood
She said she might just runaway somewhere else
Someplace good


[Pre-Chorus 2]
We can't wait til tomorrow
You got to know that this is real, baby, why you want to fight it?
It's the one thing you can choose
Let's take a chance baby, we can't lose
[Chorus]
Ain't we all just runaways?
I knew it when I met you, I'm not going to let you runaway
I knew it when I held you, I wasn't letting go!

[Verse 3]
We used to look at the stars and confess our dreams
Hold each other till the morning light
We used to laugh, now we only fight
Baby are you lonesome now?

[Verse 4]
At night I come home after they go to sleep
Like a stumbling ghost, I haunt these halls
There's a picture of us on our wedding day
I recognize the girl but I can't settle in these walls


[Pre-Chorus 3]
We can't wait till tomorrow
Oh, we're caught up in the appeal baby, why you wanna hide it?
It's the last thing on my mind (Why you want to hide it?)
I turn the engine over and my body just comes alive

[Chorus]
Ain't we all just runaways?
I knew it when I met you, I'm not going to let you run away
I knew it when I held you, I wasn't letting go!
[Outro]
Oh! Oh! Oh!

Ain't we all just runaways?
Yeah, runaways

Ain't we all just runaways?
Yeah

How to Format Lyrics:

  • Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus
  • Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines
  • Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc.
  • Use italics (<i>lyric</i>) and bold (<b>lyric</b>) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part
  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

To learn more, check out our transcription guide or visit our transcribers forum

About

Genius Annotation

“Runaways” was released as the lead single off of Battle Born. In it, Flowers sings of the naivete of a young couple in love, and his inability to keep the promises he made.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did The Killers say about "Runaways"?
Genius Answer

It was started on the road. I did a version with Stuart and my solo band, but there was always something missing, so we brought in the freight train – Vanucci, Stoermer, Keuning, Brendan O'Brien and Steve Lilywhite. Another hero on that one is Alan Moulder, and his mixing job. The song wasn’t living up to its full potential until he mixed it, and it was nice having him emerge onto the scene again. If people feel there’s something familiar about it, it’s probably because of that. It’s a powerful song, but it was either brave or stupid of us to let it be the face of the last record – the content isn’t what you normally hear on the radio, and we felt like we were maybe taking a chance, but we made the right choice.

Brandon Flowers writing for NME, November 8, 2013.

Credits
Written By
Mixed By
Recorded At
Battle Born Studios (Winchester, Nevada), Blackbird Studio (Nashville, Tennessee)
Release Date
July 17, 2012
Tags
Comments