August 5, 2007: Too Good for the Running Man?

If there is one song on The Walk that poses any sort of genuine conundrum — and musical conundrums are rare indeed in Hansonland, the chorus of Lonely Again aside — it's Running Man. Here's why: It's really good, and it shouldn't be.

There is something deeply wrong with Running Man, with its obsessively catchy hook and Zac's strangled-cat vocal. It is cheeseball to the point of idiocy, like something Greg would have sung solo into a skinny mic on one of those mysterious episode-ending "variety show performances" on The Brady Bunch. And yet Running Man is possibly the best song on an already strong album, with the qualifier thrown in only because of Something Going 'Round.

So what's the problem here? Isn't Zac Hanson allowed to just write a great song, end of story?

Actually, no. He's not, as he's shown us over and over again with such draggy nonmasterpieces as The Walk and the brain cell-obliterating Fire On the Mountain. Running Man is such an anomaly that I initially convinced myself that Taylor wrote it and then kicked the lead vocal over to baby Zac for some deranged brotherly, religious, or debt-settling reason.

That's clearly not the case, as the liner notes have shown. (There is much to say here about listening to an album roughly 800 times before the liner notes have even made it to the printer, but alas, that is a whole other essay.) Zac wrote Running Man, to be sure, but I was also right to assume that he had help.

Running Man is a co-write with Bleu, the criminally underappreciated, copiously sideburned songster whose springy, melody-loaded albums could teach Zac a thing or seven about keeping things bright and hooky, and it sounds like they did. It's also interesting that a decade plus of collaboration and cohabitation with Jordan Taylor Hanson could not make Zac into an interesting songwriter but a couple of sessions with Bleu could. It's a testament to how good Hanson can be when their music is infused with new, nonrelated blood, but it's also sort of fascinating that Zac had to go outside of his family to be as good as someone in his family.

Posted by That Laura Person | 9:28 AM | 3 comments

Comments:

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aww i'm in love with bleu,( as i want his music not his babies way)

what would i give to get those two in a room anytime soon

By  Anonymous, at August 7, 2007 4:34 PM  

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Just wanted to say that I am so excited you're updating the site again! That particular BAB brand of smart, witty, and hilarious commentary is something that's sorely lacking in the fandom these days. Can't wait to see what's next! :)

By  Kate, at August 8, 2007 11:24 PM  

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No, no, no! Isaac is the one who should be forever banned from song writing. Really though, it's nice. I know that at every concert, I'll have a 4-minute uninterrupted smoke break during the Ike solo.

By  hammie, at November 17, 2008 10:05 PM  

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