‘Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)’ is a song performed by Mike + The Mechanics. Written by Mike Rutherford and B. A. Robertson, it was the first track on the 1985 self-titled debut album of Mike + the Mechanics. It was also released as the band's first single, peaking at number 6 on 8 March 1986 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, where it stayed for five weeks. It reached No. 21 in the band's native United Kingdom.
Paul Carrack, known for his work in Roxy Music, Squeeze and Ace, sang lead on this track. He and Paul Young (from Sad Café, not the guy from ‘Everytime You Go Away’) were the vocalists in the group, as Mike Rutherford learned on his previous solo album, Acting Very Strange, that he couldn't sing very well. Carrack recorded this track during his first Mike + the Mechanics session. The song's original title was simply ‘Silent Running’; the name extension was given when the song was chosen to appear in the 1986 movie On Dangerous Ground, which was titled Choke Canyon in the United States.
Rutherford said that he named the song after the film Silent Running "because I remembered that film so well, and our song had a spacey feel to it." The song was banned by the BBC during the Gulf War due to its address of war, nationalism and religion, as well as a direct reference to weaponry in the line, "There's a gun and ammunition just inside the doorway."
"Silent Running" was one of the first songs to emerge from the Rutherford/Robertson songwriting partnership. It was among a series of songs that the pair wrote in order to test the results of their collaboration. When producer Christopher Neil heard the song on a demo tape that Rutherford played, he recommended that it be used for the album. According to Rutherford, the song “... is about a guy who's travelled light-years away, out in space somewhere, and he's ahead in time. Therefore, he knows what's going to happen to his wife and kids back home, on Earth. And he's trying to get the message to them to say what's going to happen, the kind of anarchy, the breakdown of society, to tell them to be prepared.”
Label – Atlantic
Songwriters – Mike Rutherford, B. A. Robertson
Producer – Christopher Neil
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]Take the children and yourself
And hide out in the cellar
By now the fighting will be close at hand
Don't believe the church and state
And everything they tell you
Believe in me, I'm with the high command
[Chorus]
Can you hear me, can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?
Can you hear me, can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?
[Verse 2]
There's a gun and ammunition
Just inside the doorway
Use it only in emergency
Better you should pray to God
The Father and the Spirit
Will guide you and protect from up here
[Chorus]
Can you hear me, can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?
Can you hear me, can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?
[Bridge]
Swear allegiance to the flag
Whatever flag they offer
Never hint at what you really feel
Teach the children quietly
For some day sons and daughters
Will rise up and fight while we stood still
[Chorus]
Can you hear me, can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?
Can you hear me, can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?
Can you hear me running (can you hear me calling you?)
(Can you hear me) hear me calling you?
(Can you hear me running) hear me running babe?
(Can you hear me running) hear me running?
Calling you, calling you