I’ve written before about songs of the last half of the 70s with which I fell in love solely from hearing them a very few times on AT40—tunes that Cincinnati radio never touched (Bram Tchaikovsky’s “Girl of My Dreams” and Sweet’s “Action” come immediately to mind in this regard). This week it’s another nugget from that treasure trove, a song hanging on at its peak of #33 in its fourth and final week on the show. Gotta say that “Run for Home” still sounds amazing to me, especially now that I’m paying attention to the swell of the strings and that oboe line in the chorus.
Being ignorant about British geography back in the day (and still, to be honest), I had virtually no chance of getting the band’s name right from Casey when they debuted on the 11/25 show. (I didn’t know that Lindisfarne is a tiny island rich in history just off the northeastern coast of England, not too far away from Scotland.) Perhaps someday you’ll get to see in a Charts post how I dubbed them “Lindasparn” for one week.
Lindisfarne, the musical endeavor, has been an on-and-off thing for just a little over 50 years now. Their greatest commercial success in the UK was in the early 70s; “Run for Home” was a comeback hit, from the LP they recorded following their first reunion. One original member, guitarist Rod Clements, is still playing with the band (Alan Hull, who sang “Run for Home,” died of a heart attack in 95).
The Music of My Life 