Now come the autumn days with their dark ways a shadow plays on my wall as I sit all alone

First Crucial Track - feels like it should be a real one...

Words in an empty room sound just as sweet as any tune and if these will be my last, they'll be my own

This is one of those songs that just refuses to age...

And all around I see an empty-eyed conspiracy of ignorance, and selfishness, and fear

with way too many lines that keep on staying current...

They're gunning for minds in the land of the free But they haven't got you and they haven't got me

and way too relatable...

They sit there at home with their heads in the sand they'll change how they vote for ten quid in their hand Oh yeah, they got a video, they got a car but they're still in the lottery, they ain't got that far Oh I dream of the day when they see through the con but even if they don't I'll carry on...

I first heard this song in the movie DoppelPack, the German Ruhrpott equivalent to 90s slacker movies, where the writer/director, at the end of film school thought "you're always taught to focus on the crucial parts when telling stories, and cut out the ways in between - let's make a movie that's all in between bits". There's this one scene that's a bit over 2 minutes long, most of it in one shot, where the two protagonists are walking through a park, each one hand on a case of beer they're carrying between them, while one is trying to roll a cigarette with his free hand and the other is failing to crack open a bottle. That's the entire scene. It's like that one shot from Nostalgia, but ridiculous.

I had just moved to Dortmund - the city the movie takes place in - to start film school, so it was both relatable as a (final) film school project and an important insight into the local culture and mindset. I'm only half kidding here - a few months later I would be carrying a case of beer through that same park.

The film opens with And I Won't Run Away, and closes with an Attila The Stockbrocker concert. The instrumental opening of the song is also background to the DVD's main menu, one of those menus you can just leave running for hours...

But none of that is why I connect so much with this song. It has this vibe of "even when shit is dark, and bleak, and hopeless, and there's nothing you can do about it, everything you've tried to do to make a difference in the world has failed: fuck it, stay true to your values."
And keep on going.

So what if life’s too short, to catch every dream that could be caught? I've had more than my share coming true And I won't run away from the things, I believe to be right And I won't walk out now on the things, I've believed all my life I still have a dream, it's there in my head And I'll never go back on a word that I said Come what may I won't run away

Listen elsewhere is a bit sparse on this one, you can also find it on Bandcamp or YouTube.