Give us a beat, make us wanna run! Special snowflake edition.
April 12, 2013 5:41 AM   Subscribe

We need a new Official 5K Theme Song for 2013. We are two adults and a bunch of other people's teens who go to 5K races on the weekends. The first race of the season is upon us tomorrow, and we need the song that will get us up and moving and ready to run. But not just any running song. Special snowflake details inside.

When we pile into the car at way too early in the morning the kids are sleepy and quiet and wondering why they didn't stay in bed. We listen to the radio and they slowly wake up. We've fallen into a happy tradition where the last song we play before arriving at the race is our Annual 5K Theme Song. It's an up-tempo song with a driving beat. We crank up the volume and it it makes us all jumpy and ready to get out there and kick some righteous donkey.

We need a theme for 2013!

But wait. Before you suggest your favorite running song please note our special snowflake requirements:
  1. It should be a "new to us" song, not in the US mainstream. It works best as a Theme Song if we only every hear it before a race. It's rarely if ever on the radio. It can be an old song but probably has never been in the top 40.
  2. Must have a hard-driving beat with fast tempo. You can't help tapping your feet and bouncing in your chair and are up and dancing before it ends. Upbeat feel and "you can do it" lyrics a nice bonus but totally optional. Can have a slow intro.
  3. Must be family-safe, lyrics-wise. A little inuendo is probably unavoidable, but no profanity (other than really mild like damn or hell), no drugs or getting high or getting drunk, no overt sexy talk. (Yes, we know, teens have heard it all, but not endorsed by us.)
  4. Any genre, any language, as long as it meets the above requirements.
  5. Is not "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky.
Previous theme songs:
Lucifer by Shinee
I Can Walk on Water by Basshunter

Contenders for this year's title, but somehow a little unsatisfactory:
Radar Love by Golden Earring. The adults have this on our playlist, so it doesn't really meet rule #1 for us but the kids have probably not heard it.
Not Bad at All by Steve McDonald.

I am browsing previous Ask questions for playlists and running songs but the answers are many, and broad, and it takes a lot of time to listen to a hundred >three-minute songs so I hope to find a narrower set of candidates that you already know will meet the above criteria. Thanks for your help.
posted by evilmomlady to Media & Arts (36 answers total) 43 users marked this as a favorite
 
UMO by OOIOO - someone put this on a mefi cd swap mix for me, I wish I could remember who! Entirely in Japanese, so if there's any family-unsafeness in there I can't understand it.

It's my standard end-of-race song now, great for pacing with lots of encouraging yelling.
posted by heyforfour at 5:52 AM on April 12, 2013 [2 favorites]


The Go! Team - Huddle Formation
posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:52 AM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


Heartlines by Florence and the Machine.
posted by kavasa at 5:58 AM on April 12, 2013


Matt & Kim - Don't Slow Down

Back when I actually did some running I found that this was a great song for this purpose.
posted by maybeandroid at 6:07 AM on April 12, 2013


Instrumentals ok? This track by Dhol Foundation is kickass.
posted by clavicle at 6:07 AM on April 12, 2013


Cornelius -- Gum
posted by neroli at 6:09 AM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


Perfect Day by Hoku.
posted by spunweb at 6:13 AM on April 12, 2013


The Basshunter song actually reminds me of Alexander Rybak's Fairytale, which won Eurovision a couple of years back. Eurovision is probably a good place to look in general, actually.

I was actually going to suggest Schwarz zu Blau. The video fails 3, with a definite reference to drug use, but it's not in the lyrics. The lyrics do make a reference to walking out of a night club and to vomit in the street (that's the line at the point in the video with the crosswalk made of syringes). Hopefully that's enough detail for you to know whether to bother clicking the link.

Oh, most of Nena's output probably works, some of which is available in both German and English.
posted by hoyland at 6:14 AM on April 12, 2013


Oops. Just ran through the lyrics to Schwarz zu Blau in my head. There's a definite reference to drug use (in like the second line of the song).
posted by hoyland at 6:19 AM on April 12, 2013


Rob Zombie's version of I'm Your Boogie Man was in heavy rotation when I was doing a lot of rowing. Other things that were on my playlist:

Something Good by Utah Saints
The Ballroom Blitz by The Sweet
Positive Contact (Charlie Clouser Remix) by Deltron 3030
Peak A Boo (Silver Dollar Mix) by Siouxsie and the Banshees (could be a little risque)
No New Tales to Tell as covered by Blaqk Audio
posted by jquinby at 6:22 AM on April 12, 2013 [4 favorites]


Going out on a limb with this recommendation since I just heard it myself, but it's loud, crazy, and a bit unusual, but it does slow down here and there: Moon Hooch "Contra".

Ryan Adams "Magick"

Oppenheimer "Time Loss/Gain" (It works for me running because I like the mental imagery of running through different cities)
posted by artifarce at 6:22 AM on April 12, 2013 [3 favorites]


Danza Kuduro

El Amor, El Amor

Has violent lyrics, but no profanity: Iron Maiden's 2 Minutes to Midnight

Same for this: Megadeth's Holy Wars: The Punishment Due

I tend to listen to metal while exercising, but the first two are from Zumba class - specifically picked to get people moving.
posted by skittlekicks at 6:22 AM on April 12, 2013


Waiting Room by Fugazi
Halfway Home by TV on the Radio
Just about anything by ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead
Ready to Start by Arcade Fire
posted by seemoreglass at 6:27 AM on April 12, 2013


One more in Spanish:

Marc Anthony's cover of the salsa classic Agua nile. If you're not moving to this, get yourself checked out
posted by jquinby at 6:28 AM on April 12, 2013


Pizzicato Five's Twiggy Twiggy vs James Bond
I usually use this to get up for cleaning, but I think it would be great for your purposes.
posted by apparently at 6:32 AM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


La Vida Me da Palo by Mano Negra

It's got bad words in it, but they're in Spanish, and the song is so fast you can't understand a damn thing anyway.
posted by phunniemee at 6:35 AM on April 12, 2013


Believe from Run Lola Run has served me well in many a race.
posted by gubenuj at 6:48 AM on April 12, 2013




Lupe Fiasco - Go Baby

The first verse has less than awesome lyrics ("where my ladies at"), but it changes pretty quick into a cute romantic/inspiration song.
posted by sparklemotion at 7:06 AM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


Gotta Get Thru This by Daniel Bedingfield is really great. It is about a relationship, but the chorus doesn't telegraph that, and the song always gets my blood flowing.
posted by Night_owl at 7:41 AM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]




C&C Music Factory - Gonna Make You Sweat
Dee-Lite: Groove Is In The Heart

And I also feel like saying "take the entire B-52's discography and insert here."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:07 AM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


And there's also the classical options: The William Tell Overture, and Aaron Copland's Hoedown (aka "that song from all those beef commercials").
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:10 AM on April 12, 2013


Ohh! And it's more about baseball rather than running, but the "sports" theme could carry: John Fogerty's Centerfield.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:11 AM on April 12, 2013


Ah, don't forget In the Hall of the Mountain King from the Peer Gynt Suite.
posted by jquinby at 8:11 AM on April 12, 2013


...or Mars, Bringer of War from Holst's The Planets. Something of a long build-up, though.
posted by jquinby at 8:15 AM on April 12, 2013


One more, and then I'll quit, promise. Here's a wildcard entry:

Hell, by Squirrel Nut Zippers
posted by jquinby at 8:20 AM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


My warmup running song (from my running playlist made for MeFi CD swap) is Gold, by Ben Keeler.
posted by garlic at 8:33 AM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


Moby - Bodyrock
http://goo.gl/AwIW5

Fatboy Slim - That Old Pair of Jeans
http://goo.gl/CKXZN

Sum 41 - Fatlip
http://goo.gl/mWiU

Brian Jonestown Massacre - Straight Up and Down
http://goo.gl/24FH5

The Go! Team - Junior Kickstart
http://goo.gl/70xQ

Veruca Salt - So Weird
http://goo.gl/JmEsp
posted by bobdow at 9:19 AM on April 12, 2013


Beastie Boys - "Shake Your Rump" or "Body Movin"
posted by dlugoczaj at 9:55 AM on April 12, 2013 [2 favorites]


(. . . well, a little drug use in "Shake Your Rump" but I don't know if it's intelligible enough to matter. "Body Movin" is definitely clean.)
posted by dlugoczaj at 9:59 AM on April 12, 2013


Percussion Drum by White Rabbits is amazing. Really driving drums, lots of energy, I defy you not to be raring to run by the last beat. Contains the line "I know which way to run" as a bonus!
posted by billiebee at 11:33 AM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


It's not a crazy tempo, but Pumped Up Kicks by Foster The People always gets my kicks pumped up! :)
posted by floweredfish at 3:29 PM on April 12, 2013


Kong Foo Sing by Regurgitator - great beat, heavy guitar and pumpy lyrics.
posted by goo at 5:35 PM on April 12, 2013


Elbow's One Day Like This?

The lyrics are especially appropriate, I think:

Drinking in the morning sun
Blinking in the morning sun
Shaking off the heavy one
Heavy like a loaded gun

[...]

Yeah, lying with me half awake
Stumbling over what to say
Well, anyway, it's looking like a beautiful day

Throw those curtains wide!
One day like this a year'd you see me right
Throw those curtains wide!
One day like this a year'd we'll sing it right
posted by lollusc at 6:24 PM on April 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


It's by an Australian group in the 1960's, so I doubt that you would have heard it.

Listening to it cycling today makes it sound like the perfect running beat.

Friday on My Mind by the Easybeats.
posted by Flashduck at 3:38 AM on April 13, 2013


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