Bon Jovi: Runaway Meaning
Song Released: 1983
Runaway Lyrics
Theyre made of lipstick, plastic and paint, a touch of sable in their eyes
All your life all youve asked whens your daddy gonna talk to you
You were living in another world tryin...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:"On the street where you lived..." In the first two lines, "you" refers to both the girl and the father. The girl is emmersed in a culture that values beauty and social relationships above all else.The father is out of touch and has no clue what his daughter is going through. Since barely gives her any attention he he never notices her struggles with her identity and is never able to help her with her unrealistic expectations.
"All your life youve asked...." The girl's peers are artificial but she envys them because they seem to have it all ("sable"). Her father is too busy for her, and as a result, she is left in a world of her own, ("another world") that is distorted by the preassures of her peers and societys perception of wommen.
She had big dreams of finding love "..its only love she hoped to find." and in her mind, those grand dreams were intertwined with "the lights at night and the neon broadway signs". Because of her fathers inattention, her idyllic view of the city goes unchecked and her fantasys are ungrounded in reality.
She longed for her father to explain the world to her. ("whens daddy going to talk to you") From her limited perspective, she didn't understand how life really works, and as a result, when she runs away to the city hoping for adventure and romance she meets harsh reality and is forced to learn the hard way all the things her father could have warned her about if he had taken time for her ("All those things he couldn't say").
In the city, she falls victim to men who, night after night, pick her up and use her. ("a different line every night") She eventually ends up as a prostitute ("call me for a wild time" and "now she works the night away")
Her father meanwhile, had taken her for granted, and realizes his mistakes only after it is far too late. Now that she is gone, he is haunted by the pictures of her he has on his walls, as he realizes that she is gone for good and he will never see her again. ("theres nothing left that you can do, Theres only pictures hung in the shadows left there to look at you.") In this case "you" refers to the father.
Finally thinking about his daughter, he remembers that she likes the lights of the city, and tries to take comfort in the hope that she is happy there. ("you know she likes the lights at night...") Ironically, however, it isn't the lights that mattered to her, but rather her unguided hopes and dreams that lead to her misforturnes. Now, cruel reality has forced her to give up everything she had ever wanted. -
2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:It's about a girl who is abused and neglected as a child and runs away. She eventually becomes a prostitute, as she inspired by the fake, social butterfly girls she saw when she was young.
"All you asked was when's your daddy gonna talk to you", she got neglected by her father and just wanted to spend time with him. Eventually, "Daddy's girl learned fast all the things she couldn't say" because those things would incite her father's abusive rage.
Eventually she gets hooked on drugs "A different line every night, guaranteed to blow your mind" and turns to prostitution after running from her dad ("See you out on the streets, call me for a wild time"). At night she goes back to her apartment and feels like the pictures are staring at her, either from guilt or drugs.
"No one heard a single word she said", i.e. she tried to speak out about the abuse because no one cared/believed her. They should have noticed ("Should've seen it in her eyes what was was going round her head"). -
“On the street where you live girls talk about their social lives, they're made of lipstick, plastic and paint, a touch of sable in their eyes…” - A girl lives in an area full of ‘fake’ or ‘plastic’ girls who are obsessed with being socialites and popular, which we later learn is Broadway. They are all ‘wannabes’ and hide their vulnerability under makeup.
“All your life, all your life all you've asked, when's your daddy gonna talk to you? But you were living in another world tryin' to get your message through...” - As a child the girl was ignored, not given enough attention by her father, nobody listened to her hopes and fears. She needed love, advice and guidance that she never got from him and even now as an adult (all your life is emphasised here) she still wants that love and guidance from her father.
“No one heard a single word you said, they should have seen it in your eyes, what was going around your head..?” - It was obvious (or should have been) that the girl was unhappy and needed help and guidance, but nobody listened to her or noticed she needed it, she appears to have been contemplating making a drastic or desperate decision from a young age.
“Ooh, she's a little runaway, daddy's girl learned fast all those things he couldn't say. Ooh, she's a little runaway...” - The girl runs away, she’s young, she has to learn quickly how to survive on the streets, learn things her father could have warned her about if he had listened to her and noticed her pain/need. This also emphasises that the girl was a ‘daddy’s girl’ and adored her father but this was not requited or perhaps he was absent from her life as a child (things he couldn’t say, he wasn’t there to say them).
“A different line every night guaranteed to blow your mind, I see you out on the streets, call me for a wild time. So you sit home alone 'cause there's nothing left that you can do, there’s only pictures hung in the shadows left that will look at you...” - The girl has found drugs (lines of cocaine), it ‘blows her mind’. She’s ‘out on the streets’ as a prostitute and “call me for a wild time” is her calling card in the pay phone box. She sits home alone because she has no friends, nothing to do and her family and friends from her previous life either have disowned her (cannot look her in the eye, so the pictures on the walls are the only people who will look at her.)
“You know she likes the lights at night all the neon Broadway signs, she don't really mind, it's only love she hoped to find...” - She was initially drawn to Broadway with aims of finding fame and being loved and this contrasts with her accepting her life now is vastly different from those hopes. This reminds us that she didn’t feel loved as a child in her old life either. She still loves the Broadway lights even though she failed to find adoration and love as they represent hope and excitement of a life she hoped for.
“Ooh, she's a little runaway, daddy's girl learned fast, now she works the night away...” - Re-emphasises that she is a ‘night worker’ (a prostitute) and she is streetwise. -
In "A touch of sable," the sable means an artist brush.
http://www.finedictionary.com/sable.html
So "A touch of sable in their eyes" means that girls putting eye make-up with a sophisticated brush made of sable fur. -
I think "a touch of sable in their eyes" means eyeliner or some kind of cosmetics.
from the start of the lyrics until
"Different line every night
guaranteed to blow your mind
I see you out on the streets
calling for a wild time."
suggests that "you" is a girl who lived in a luxury life, but never get attention from her dad, going to night life to find some "love".
"So you sit home alone
'cause there's nothing left that you can do.
There's only pictures hung in the shadows left there to look at you.
You know she likes the lights at nights
on the neon Broadway signs.
She don't really mind
it's only love she hoped to find."
the "you" here is her father. he can do nothing to stop his daughter. he can only regret what he did, or what he didn't do. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I wouldn't put to much stock in the images in the video. Bon Jovi was probably just trying to earn street cred as a hard rock band as well as trying to keep up with the likes of Def Leppard.
I believe the song is sung strictly toward the girl and not to the father. "On the streets where you live girls talk about the social lives, they're made of lipstick plastic and paint, a touch of sable in their eyes" She grew up in a very controlled environment where her father would not even talk to her. Due to this she had to 'dream' about what the outside world was like. "Daddy's girl learned fast" She quickly realized she was not learning in her current environment and would need to get out to learn more. She developed more than one delusion and became very frustrated. "No one heard a single word she said" She tried to talk to her parents about her frustrations, but it fell on deaf ears. "Should've seen it in her eyes what was going round her head" And as predictable as a sunrise, she ran away.
"now she works the night away" She ran away, living on the streets, and perhaps even taking up prostitution. "theres nothing left that you can do, theres only pictures hung in the shadows left there to look at you." She may or may not regret her decisions, but she does live a fairly hollow life. She ran away to learn about the world and to form a sense of identity, but failed ultimately due to her haste and lack of experience. -
"On the streets where you live girls talk about the social lives, theyre made of lipstick plastic and paint, a touch of sable in their eyes" I think this line refers to the jealousy that the runaway girl had to the street girls, because their social status is way better than her's. Also, their lives are simply better than her's.
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Growing up I used to think that it was a narrative about a girl who had no attention and direction (in the form of role models) and took the rebellious easy way out. Now, however, I am totally confused. The use of both second and third person perspective tells me that he is talking to someone about this runaway girl. I cannot determine who he is talking to though. In some sense, it could be the dad, “Tryin' to get your message through.” Then he says, “See you out on the streets” and “When is your Daddy gonna talk to you”, so maybe another run away?
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"a touch of sable in their eyes" What does mean? Particularly "a touch of sable"
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i think that this song talks about an irradiated girl(look at the youtube video)who didn't know she was irradiated but then found it out (daddy's girl learned fast all the things he couldn't say), and then ran away from home to try to escape reality of her dying, but only ended up taking drugs and becoming a prostitute. after that, when she ended up in a hospital (there's only pictures hung in the shadows left there to look at you) and eventually "ran away" from life,or died.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Never seen the music video but "Now she works the night away" Yeah, i think that's a reference to prostitution
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Its simple. The song is about Mary Ann Vecchio. In the famous picture of the kent state massacre. She was a 14 year old RUNAWAY from Florida. It had a strong meaning for jon and the group so they dedicated the song to her.
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I know the song is about a girl who gets no attention and runs off, hence the title, but there are some parts I'm just guessing at, like:
"Daddy's girl learned fast
All those things he couldn't say."
In the video it shows some papers that say stuff about radiation so maybe the girl in the song found out about her father working for the government or something like that.
Also...
"See you out on the streets, call me for a wild time"
This line could mean something like the girl ran away and had to work as a prostitute or something like that. Also, in the video, it shows a girl dancing, which could imply that.
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