Runaway Child, Running Wild Lyrics
Runaway Child, Running Wild
You played hookie from school and you can't go out to play, yeahMama said, for the rest of the week, in your room you gotta stay, yeah
Oh ho, now you feel like the whole world's pickin' on you
But deep down inside, you know it ain't true
You're in punishment
'Cause your mother wants to raise you in the right way, yeah
But you don't care
'Cause you already made up your mind you wanna run away yeah
You're on your way, runaway child, running wild
Runaway child running wild
Better go back home where you belong
Roaming through the city going nowhere fast, you're on your own at last
Hey, it's gettin' late, where will you sleep?
You're gettin' kinda hungry, you forgot to bring something to eat
Oh, lost with no money you start to cry
But remember, you left home wantin' to be grown, so dry your weeping eyes
Sirens screamin' down neon lighted streets
You want your mama
Run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run
Are they looking for you?
You're frightened and confused
I want my mama
Run, run, run, run, run, run, run
But she's much too far away, she can't hear a word you say
You've heard some frightening news on the radio
About little boys running away from home
And the parents don't see them no more
You wanna stop to hitch a ride, I know
But your mama told you never trust a stranger
And you don't know which way to go
Streets are dark and deserted, not a sound nor sign of life
Oh how you long to hear your mother's voice, 'cause you're lost and alone
But remember, you made the choice, runaway child, running wild
You better go back home where you belong
He he he, oh, runaway child, running wild
You better go back home where you belong
You're lost in this great big city
Go back home where you belong
Not one familiar face, ain't it a pity
Go back home where you belong
Oh, runaway child running wild
You better go back home where you belong
Oh yeah, my girl
Mama, mama, please, come and sit here by me
Oh but she's much too far away, she can't hear a word you say
Oh, you're frightened and confused, which way will you choose
Song Overview
Review and Highlights
Quick summary
- Work: Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations - jukebox musical biography.
- Songwriters: Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong.
- Where it appears: Act I, early, as the show shifts from scrappy hustle to a darker, sharper sound.
- What this stage cut changes: A long studio sprawl becomes a tight theatre sprint (about 3:30 on the cast album).
- Key takeaway: A cautionary tale that dances like an engine - the groove keeps pulling forward while the lyric scolds, pleads, and watches.
Ain't Too Proud (2019) - stage musical number - non-diegetic, but staged like a live calling-out. In Act I it plays as an early proof that the group can handle Whitfield-era tension: the beat is sleek, the vocal lines trade perspective, and the choreography reads like discipline trying to catch up to impulse.
If you listen closely, the show is not using this number as a simple period marker. It is using it as a dramatic argument: success requires control, and control is exactly what the lyric claims the kid does not have. The band drives a relentless pocket and the staging capitalizes on it - entrances feel like alarms, not flourishes. The Broadway cut also has a practical virtue: it takes a track famous for its album-length wander and turns it into a scene that can finish a point, land a laugh of recognition, and move the story along without breaking muscle.
Creation History
The Temptations released the original single on January 30, 1969 on Gordy, recorded at Hitsville USA in Detroit in late 1968, and credited it to Whitfield and Strong with Whitfield producing. The Cloud Nine era is where Motown starts letting the rhythm section breathe and the arrangements darken; GRAMMY.com has Otis Williams recalling how that experimental stretch reshaped the group, and even notes the album version of this song running past nine minutes. For Broadway, the cast recording was tracked in January 2019 and released in March 2019, with the track listed as Act I, track 2.
Song Meaning and Annotations
Plot
Early in Act I, the number helps define the new stakes. We are not only watching a group learn harmonies and choreography; we are watching a sound shift toward social commentary and pressure. The song lands as a warning shot: the world is changing, the group is changing, and the show is telling you to listen for the consequences inside the beat.
Song Meaning
The narrator addresses a kid who keeps pushing boundaries - skipping school, getting into trouble, testing limits. But the song is not only about one child. It is about a whole environment that makes discipline hard and rebellion seductive. In the musical, that theme mirrors the band story: the Temptations are being coached into polish while temptation (money, ego, exhaustion) keeps tugging at the seams.
Annotations
You played hooky from school and you can't go out to play.
The opening is domestic and plain, almost sitcom-simple. That is a smart setup, because it lets the later intensity feel earned. Theatre likes a clear first beat: we know the rule, so we can watch it get broken.
Runaway child, running wild - you better watch your step.
The title phrase works like a chorus and a verdict. It is not a lullaby, it is a street sign. Onstage, it doubles as choreography fuel: repeated words give the ensemble a rhythmic job, and repetition is how a warning becomes a chant.
Gonna end up in jail or dead, if you don't get some help.
The lyric stops flirting and makes the threat literal. In the show, that bluntness matters because it sets a tone the audience will recognize later, when fame raises the volume of every mistake.
Style fusion and rhythm
This is Whitfield and Strong leaning into psychedelic soul: a tight funk pulse with space for textures (organ, guitar color, and percussive vocal phrasing). The Broadway arrangement keeps the forward drive and trims the long instrumental roaming, turning studio atmosphere into stage propulsion. According to Pitchfork's 2017 rundown of key 1960s albums, this track is a calling card of the era's expanding palette, and you can hear why: the groove does not relax, it stalks.
Emotional arc
The arc moves from scolding to urgency. Verses name behavior, then the refrain stamps the label, and the song escalates toward consequences. Onstage, that escalation is a gift: choreography can grow sharper with each return, like the room is trying harder and harder to keep the kid from bolting.
Technical Information (Quick Facts)
- Song: Runaway Child, Running Wild
- Artist: Original Broadway Cast of Aint Too Proud
- Featured: Principal cast and ensemble (cast recording format)
- Composer: Norman Whitfield; Barrett Strong
- Producer: Cast recording production credited on the album release
- Release Date: March 22, 2019
- Genre: Stage; soul; psychedelic soul
- Instruments: Lead and group vocals; rhythm section; theatre band orchestration
- Label: Universal Music Enterprises
- Mood: Restless; urgent; streetwise
- Length: 3:30
- Track #: 2
- Language: English
- Album: Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
- Music style: Tightened theatrical arrangement of a long-form studio concept track
- Poetic meter: Conversational stress with refrain-driven hooks
Frequently Asked Questions
- Where does the number appear in the musical?
- It is listed in Act I, near the start of the Broadway sequence.
- Who wrote it?
- Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong.
- Why does it feel tougher than the early love-song hits?
- Because it belongs to the Cloud Nine period, when the production style leans into funk tension and longer-form ideas.
- Is the Broadway version the nine-minute album take?
- No. The cast recording runs about three and a half minutes, shaped for theatre pacing.
- What is the main conflict in the lyric?
- An adult voice tries to pull a kid back from danger, while the kid keeps darting toward trouble and freedom.
- Does the song connect to the show theme of discipline?
- Yes. It externalizes the struggle between rules and impulse - a struggle the characters keep facing as fame grows.
- How did it perform on the charts in the original era?
- It hit the Top 10 on the US pop chart and reached number 1 on the US R and B chart.
- What should I listen for in the arrangement?
- Listen for how the rhythm section keeps a steady, insistent pocket, letting vocals land like warnings rather than decoration.
Awards and Chart Positions
The original Temptations single reached number 6 on the US pop chart and number 1 on the US R and B chart in 1969. In the same creative chapter, Motown points to Cloud Nine as the label's first GRAMMY-winning milestone, a reminder of how much the Whitfield-led shift mattered to the industry story as well as the band story.
| Item | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|
| US pop chart (original single) | Peak: 6 | 1969 |
| US R and B chart (original single) | Peak: 1 | 1969 |
| Cast album track listing | Act I, track 2 (3:30) | March 22, 2019 |
How to Sing Runaway Child, Running Wild
For practice metrics, one widely used piano-vocal-guitar edition lists the original published key as D major with a metronome marking of q = 116. Audio-analysis listings for the classic Temptations recording often place the feel around the low 110s BPM and in a minor key center, which is a reminder that performance keys can vary by edition and production. For a stage cut, transposition is normal, but the attitude must stay consistent: controlled urgency, not shouting.
- Tempo: Start at q = 116 and practice the refrain until it sits in your body. Then rehearse with slightly softer volume so you can build intensity without speeding up.
- Diction: Treat it like dialogue. Consonants should be quick and clear, especially on warning phrases, so the lyric lands like a street lecture, not a sermon.
- Breathing: Mark breaths before longer story lines. The number wants forward motion, and gasping will break the illusion of control.
- Flow and rhythm: Lock to the bass-and-hi-hat pulse. If the lead drifts ahead of the pocket, the track loses its stalking tension.
- Accents: Punch the title phrase with rhythmic precision, then relax into the next line. That push-pull is the style.
- Ensemble and doubles: Rehearse entrances like cues in choreography. The call-and-response needs to land as one unit, not scattered ad-libs.
- Mic: Stay closer for verse lines and step back for bigger ensemble hits. Let amplification do the work rather than forcing volume.
- Pitfalls: Do not oversell anger. The strongest choice is focused warning, like someone trying to prevent damage rather than narrate it.
Additional Info
This is one of those tracks where production is part of the plot. GRAMMY.com describes the Cloud Nine period as an experimental pivot, and the long album version of this tune is a perfect example: instrumental space becomes meaning, not filler. On Broadway, that space is converted into choreography and scene mechanics. A doo-wop number can flirt; this one interrogates. It is the show letting you know, early, that the story is not just about matching suits.
Key Contributors
| Entity | Type | Relationship (S-V-O) |
|---|---|---|
| Norman Whitfield | Person | Whitfield wrote and produced the original single. |
| Barrett Strong | Person | Strong co-wrote the song with Whitfield. |
| The Temptations | MusicGroup | The group released the 1969 single tied to the Cloud Nine era. |
| Original Broadway Cast of Aint Too Proud | MusicGroup | The cast recorded a stage-length cut for the 2019 cast album. |
| Universal Music Enterprises | Organization | UMe released the Original Broadway Cast Recording in 2019. |
| Motown (Gordy label) | Organization | Gordy released the original Temptations single in 1969. |
Sources
Sources: Ain't Too Proud musical numbers reference, uDiscoverMusic cast album track list, uDiscover shop track timings, Musicnotes sheet music listing (published key and metronome), GRAMMY.com Cloud Nine at 50 feature, Motown Classic story on Cloud Nine, Pitchfork 200 Best Albums of the 1960s list, YouTube (Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group)