This is another song I remember from Good Morning Vietnam. It has so many good songs on it plus is a great movie to me. The soundtrack to that movie is the soundtrack to the sixties. Martha and the Vandellas had a tough edgy sound.
A frightening story was going on at the time. Lamont Dozier said that one of the inspirations was a teenager who was frightened because he was about to go to Vietnam. Lamont threw a party for him but the boy was quiet because he said he would never make it back from Vietnam.
Dozier tried to cheer him up but it didn’t work. The nineteen-year-old didn’t make it back alive, he was killed after only two months. He said he felt trapped with nowhere to run. That really puts an awful spin on that song.
The song peaked at #8 on the Billboard 100 in 1965. The song was written by the songwriting team of Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland.
The backing band on this one was “The Funk Brothers” who were the studio band for Motown at the time. During this session, they used snow chains that went on tires as part of the percussion. They would get inventive at Motown.
This song was a favorite of High School marching bands everywhere because of its sound and chorus.
Lamont Dozier: “His friends asked if I would throw a party for him at my house before he was shipped out. We had the party, but he was very solemn, just sitting with his girlfriend. He had a premonition that he wouldn’t be coming back. I told him to be positive, but he was adamant. I found myself thinking about how he was feeling trapped – nowhere to run. Sure enough, two months later they shipped his body back. I think he stepped on a land mine. Nineteen years old.”
Nowhere to Run
Nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide
Got nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide.
It’s not love, I’m a running from,
It’s the heartbreak I know will come.
‘Cause I know you’re no good for me, but you’ve become a part of me.
Ev’rywhere I go, your face I see, ev’ry step I take, you take with me yeah
Nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide
Got nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide.
I know you’re not good for me, but free of you I’ll never be, no.
Each night as I sleep, into my heart you creep.
I wake up feelin’ sorry I met you, hoping soon that I’ll forget you.
When I look in the mirror to comb my hair
I see your face just a smiling there.
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide from you baby,
Got nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide.
I know you’re no good for me, but you’ve become a part of me,
How can I fight a lover, that shouldn’t be, when it’s so deep,
So deep, deep inside of me
My love reaches so high I can’t get over it
It’s so wide I can’t get around it, no
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide from you baby
Just can’t get away from you baby, no matter how I try to
I know you’re no good for me, but free of you I’ll never be,
Nowhere to run to baby, nowhere to hide, got nowhere to run to baby.
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
Wow…that puts a whole new spin on the song. Sad, but true.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes it does…everytime I hear it I think of Good Morning Vietnam…and now it has become darker.
LikeLike
Other than it being in Motown, I have no clue what a Mustang assembly plant has to do with this song. I knew the meaning about Viet Nam was attached to the song, though not that it was intended. A lot of Black music of the era had a superficial and “safe” meaning with a deeper meaning hidden (sometimes in plain sight) just below that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I didn’t understand the video being there either…although I have to wonder where that Mustang is now. It could be in a landfill or in someone’s garage restored.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Robin Williams made a great DJ in that movie.
LikeLiked by 2 people
He would have made a great morning DJ in real life.
LikeLiked by 2 people
A good song I must say I never paid a lot of attention to, lyrically. Definitely a sad back story to that, knowing about Dozier’s inspiration. Little consolation for the kid’s family, but at least something worthwhile came from his life which was obviously cut far too short.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yea that is a heavy meaning behind it no doubt. Now I will think of that when I hear it. It sure did fit Good Morning Vietnam…. and that era… that reminds me…I want to see that again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve never seen that, believe it or not, though I have seen a fair number of clips from it. Someday I might get around to it. I only watched ‘Gone with the Wind’ for the very first time last week!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! I’ve watched GWTW around 5 times…but this one is a funny movie.
LikeLike
Great song.
This country just can’t stop getting into Vietnams, can it?
LikeLiked by 2 people
You are so correct…over and over again.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Making more veterans to mistreat or ignore.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Always really liked the song but didn’t know a thing about it. Perspective is an amazing thing!
LikeLike
Wow! I did not know the story behind the song. That is awfully sad. I don’t think I’ll listen to this song the same way again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It does make it dark for sure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That does put a very dark and bleak spin on an upbeat song. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to get drafted, shipped off, spend a tour out there praying you get home again- all at nineteen. At that age you should be thinking about chatting up the sweet blonde you saw in the gymnasium trying out for the cheer squad or buying Clearasill, or something as equally ordinary and hum-drum and everyday, not wondering if you’ll even get to the next day.
Nowhere to run to for that poor kid with the premonition.
Sorry, I’m ruining a perfectly good day! Great song, after all that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well I posted it…I ruined it lol.
You know and this doesn’t compare…I’ll say this upfront. When I was around 18 it was a strong rumor that the draft was going to be put back into action. My buddies and I were thinking…Hell…we don’t want to do this. At that time….I saw why many of them took drugs before and especially when they were over there. It was a terrible feeling JUST thinking it could be a chance of it. The real thing? I can’t imagine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, I think looking at it on a personal baking is going to make you think deeply about your life.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I had some friends who got drunk basically and signed up for the reserves in the 80s. Never believing they would be called up…they had to do some time in some conflicts…they were changed forever after that. None of them were seriously hurt…but mentally…it did a number on them.
Sorry for the long comment obbverse…but drafting was never the answer. If someone freezes on the lines…guess what? That could get the entire troop killed.
Now technology is so far ahead…I don’t believe they will ever do it again. It was a terrible situation.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great song! I heard it for the first time during my teenage years back in Germany when I borrowed a cool box-set titled “The Motown Story.” It included 4 or 5 LPs and had short interviews in-between tracks, essentially telling the story of Motown – really neatly done!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is a really cool song…it will always remind me of Good Morning Vietnam….it has a tough edge to it. That sounds like a great set!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve never heard this but it’s really good. Freaky story…
LikeLiked by 1 person