Runnin' Away
View on Discogs
View on Wikipedia
Album Summary
"Runnin' Away" is a single released by Sly & The Family Stone in 1972 on Epic Records, lifted from their landmark album "There's a Riot Goin' On." That record — born out of tension, isolation, and the slow unraveling of the Family Stone's communal spirit — was produced by Sly Stone himself, a man who had retreated into Bel Air with a Moog synthesizer and a studio in his living room, layering overdubs where live band energy once lived. The single emerged as one of the more accessible moments from that dark and murky masterpiece, a groove that still carried funk in its bones even as the empire around it was crumbling.
Reception
- "Runnin' Away" reached number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972, giving Sly & The Family Stone a charting single during a turbulent period in the group's history.
- The single also performed on the R&B charts, reflecting the Family Stone's enduring connection to Black radio audiences even as the band's internal cohesion was deteriorating.
- Critics at the time noted the track's deceptively smooth exterior, recognizing it as one of the more radio-friendly offerings from the difficult "There's a Riot Goin' On" sessions.
Significance
- "Runnin' Away" stands as a document of Sly Stone's genius for wrapping profound personal and social unease inside an irresistible funk groove — the man was falling apart and still making hits, and that tension is baked right into the record.
- The B-side "Brave & Strong" rounded out a single that captured the Family Stone at a crossroads, bridging the euphoric communal sound of their late-sixties peak with the darker, more introspective funk they were pioneering for the seventies.
- Together, these two tracks reflect the broader cultural exhaustion following the civil rights movement and the Summer of Love — Sly wasn't running away from nothing; he was running away from everything, and a whole generation felt that in their bones.
Samples
- Runnin' Away — sampled across numerous hip-hop and R&B productions, with its hypnotic groove and vocal hooks proving irresistible to producers mining the early-seventies funk catalog.
- Brave & Strong — sampled by various hip-hop artists drawn to its deep rhythmic foundation, contributing to the broader legacy of Sly Stone's "There's a Riot Goin' On" era as a touchstone for sample-based music.
Tracklist
-
A Runnin' Away 103
2:56
-
B Brave & Strong —
3:27
Artist Details
Sly & The Family Stone burst onto the scene out of San Francisco in 1966, led by the visionary Sylvester Stewart — better known as Sly Stone — and they cooked up a sound so rich and revolutionary it made the whole world get up and dance, blending funk, soul, rock, and psychedelia into something nobody had ever heard before. This group was a trailblazer not just musically but socially, putting together one of the first racially and gender-integrated bands in popular music and delivering anthems like "Everyday People" and "Thank You" that spoke truth to a nation caught in the fire of the Civil Rights Movement and counterculture revolution. Their influence runs so deep it flows through the veins of Prince, Earth Wind & Fire, and Parliament-Funkadelic, and any serious student of soul and funk music knows that without Sly & The Family Stone, the whole landscape of popular music would look and sound completely different.
