Running Away Lyrics – Beetlejuice

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

1. Unreleased workshop number for Lydia and Charles from the show’s D.C. era - the slot later occupied by “Home.”
2. Music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect; performed in development by Sophia Anne Caruso with Adam Dannheisser.
3. Narrative function: Lydia weighs chasing the void vs returning to the living - and finally turns back toward her dad.
4. Survives publicly via demo playlists and fan-captured D.C. videos; not part of the Broadway cast album.
5. Dramaturgy pivot: the creative team moved the catharsis from fantasy-mom to father-daughter reconciliation.

Creation History

Earlier drafts placed a Lydia ballad here under the title “Running Away,” sometimes devised as a duet. Eddie Perfect later detailed how that moment evolved: he and the writers realized the true unification should be between Lydia and her father Charles, which led past an interim duet (“Raise You Up”) to the now-canonical “Home.” The revised choice sharpened the show’s spine - grief turns into connection with the living rather than a chase into the abyss.

Highlights

Text-first writing, bare-bulb intimacy. The lyric stacks tiny vows against the pull of absence - “I’m gonna go back home” lands like a quiet door closing on the void. The piece reads as a blueprint for “Home”: same crossroads, tighter focus, cleaner lift.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

Immediately after a father-daughter breakthrough, Lydia weighs whether to push deeper into the Netherworld to reach her mother or head home and repair what’s left. Charles joins for a brief pledge - say her name, keep her present - which steadies Lydia enough to choose life. In later versions, this arc condenses into “Home.”

Song Meaning

It’s a grief calculus: the romantic pull of reunion vs the messy duty of living. The refrain reframes running away as avoidance - Lydia names it, then stops doing it. The mood starts hushed and conflicted, turns resolved when she realizes she and her father can carry Emily together.

Annotations

“Daddy ran away from his pain”

A clean read on Act I - Charles tried to outrun grief with renovations and denial. (Annotation #1)

“Amazed we’re finally saying your name”

The storytelling beat that unlocks the return: naming loss together breaks the freeze. (Annotation #2)

“I was the invisible girl”

Threads the show’s visibility theme from “Invisible/Prologue” into Lydia’s decision to re-enter the world. (Annotation #3)

Style, context, instrumentation

A lyric-forward pop ballad with light rhythm section and sustained pads. In workshop practice it sat in Lydia’s contemporary belt range, with conversational build to a declarative final button.

Key Facts

• Artist: Original Broadway Cast of Beetlejuice, Adam Dannheisser, Sophia Anne Caruso
• Composer & Lyricist: Eddie Perfect
• Status: Unreleased workshop number; replaced by “Home” on Broadway
• Genre: Musical theatre ballad
• Label: n/a (developmental material)
• Mood: Conflicted, reflective, then resolute
• Length: varies by cut; most circulating captures sit around 3 minutes
• Position (workshop): After “Emily Would” in the D.C. version; the slot later held by “Home”
• Language: English
• Related work: “Home” (final Broadway version of the same story beat)
• Poetic meter: Free conversational verse into refrain

Canonical Entities & Relations

Questions and Answers

Is “Running Away” on the Original Broadway Cast Recording?

No. The show locks the moment with “Home”; “Running Away” survives only in workshop/demo form.

Why was it replaced?

The team chose to center Lydia’s unification with her father rather than a fantasy reunion with her mother; that clarity produced “Home.”

Where can I hear it?

Fan-captured D.C. videos circulate, and Eddie Perfect’s official demo series outlines nearby cut numbers from the same period.

How does it differ from “Home”?

It leans more on direct address to Emily and on the “running away” metaphor; “Home” is tighter, with a more immediate pivot back to life.

Was it ever staged as a full duet?

Yes - versions in development included Charles’ lines; the final show trims that into a short scene before “Home.”

Does the melody recur elsewhere?

Not on the cast album. It functions as a draft idea that fed into the final power ballad.

Any official covers or remixes?

No - the song isn’t in commercial release.

Awards and Chart Positions

This particular draft song has no chart presence. The Broadway production, however, earned multiple 2019 Tony Award nominations including Best Musical and Best Original Score, which helped the score’s broader profile with audiences that season.

Additional Info

Eddie Perfect later curated Beetlejuice: The Demos! The Demos! The Demos! - a trove of early cuts and alternates that documents the show’s evolution. While “Running Away” itself is not a standard commercial track, that release and Perfect’s commentaries sketch the path from exploratory ballads to the clean, album-ready “Home.” According to Playbill’s interview feature, the creative fork here is where the show found its heart.

Sources: Playbill, Ghostlight Records materials and demo rollouts, Apple Music listing for Eddie Perfect’s demo set, YouTube demo/commentary uploads, Tony Awards.