for the guitar and piano

Run (Light Up, Light Up)

This song is originally taken from the album "Final Straw" (2003, on the Fiction/Interscope label), and is written and recorded by Snow Patrol. The naming of the album was apt - for many commentators at the time is was Snow Patrol's last chance, having already recorded two albums with little commercial success and been dropped by their original record label. However, "Run" was to turn all this around, and propel the band into mainstream recognition. It entered the UK charts at No 5, peaking at 3, and went on to gain further success in other countries such as Ireland, Australia and USA.

"Run" was recently re-recorded by X-Factor sensation Leona Lewis in 2008. It instantly became a number one hit in the UK, (becoming the fastest selling UK single download) and scored further chart success in the USA, Canada and Australia. Gary Lightbody (lead singer and guitarist of Snow Patrol) spoke of Leona's interpretation of the skills to the Daily Record (Scottish newspaper):-

"She obviously studied the song and thought long and hard about how to interpret it. She's stripped it to its bare core. I think she sounds absolutely phenomenal."

The song itself is relatively straightforward to play, containing just four chords - Am, G, C and F, with the first section simply moving between Am and G. So for the keyboard player, it's all white notes. If you're playing this on the guitar, then look out for the barred F chord. The opening introduction on the lead guitar starts on a "E" note - see if you can work out the rest! There's also another lead moment later on in the instrumental break, and here the first note is "F".