Ready to Run (song)

"Ready to Run"
Single by Dixie Chicks
from the album Runaway Bride: Music from the Motion Picture and Fly
B-side	"You Can't Hurry Love" "Loving Arms"
Released	June 28, 1999 (1999-06-28)
Genre	Country
Length	3:52
Label	Monument
Songwriter(s)	Marcus Hummon Martie Maguire
Producer(s)	Paul Worley Blake Chancey
Dixie Chicks singles chronology
"Tonight the Heartache's on Me" (1999) "Ready to Run" (1999) "Cowboy Take Me Away" (1999)
Music video
"Ready to Run" on YouTube

"Ready to Run" is a song by American country music group Dixie Chicks. It was co-written by the group's fiddler, Martie Seidel (now Martie Maguire) along with Marcus Hummon. It was released in June 1999 as the lead-off single from the band's fifth studio album, Fly (1999), and became their sixth entry on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, reaching number two. This song was included on the film soundtrack for Runaway Bride, starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts.

Content

"Ready to Run" is a moderate up-tempo in the key of G major, with an intro played by fiddle and penny whistle, before electric guitar and banjo join in as well.[1] The song describes a female who is "ready this time"; specifically, that she is "ready to run" away from her wedding because she does not feel that she is ready to fall in love.

Critical reception

The song received positive reviews from critics. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone magazine gave the song a favorable mention, saying that it "sets the emotional and musical tone of the album, revving up the guitars to a graceful Celtic motif".[2] In 1999, "Ready to Run" won the Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.[3] The song has been a staple of the group's concerts, appearing on the 2000 Fly Tour as the show opener, on the 2003 Top of the World Tour near the end of the main set, and on the 2006 Accidents & Accusations Tour as the final encore.

Music video

The music video for the song was a visually comic one that portrayed the Chicks as brides at a triple wedding. Before the ceremony is over, they reveal they are wearing sneakers instead of bridal shoes, and they run away, jumping on the back of a garbage truck and then pedaling away on bicycles. The jilted grooms chase them through the neighborhood, and they all end up back at the wedding site, engaging in a friendly food fight before joining in a circle dance. At the conclusion, the still-unmarried Chicks are seen collapsing to the grass by themselves in exhaustion. The video placed at number 26 on CMT's 2004 ranking of the "100 Greatest Music Videos".[4]

Track listings

UK CD1[5] "Ready to Run" – 3:50 "You Can't Hurry Love" – 3:05 "Wide Open Spaces" – 3:43 UK CD2[6] "Ready to Run" – 3:50 "Loving Arms" – 3:31 "I Can Love You Better" – 3:53 "Ready to Run" (multimedia) UK cassette single[7] "Ready to Run" – 3:50 "You Can't Hurry Love" – 3:05

European CD1[8] "Ready to Run" – 3:50 "Wide Open Spaces" – 3:43 European CD2[9] "Ready to Run" – 3:50 "Wide Open Spaces" – 3:43 "You Can't Hurry Love" – 3:05 Australian CD single[10] "Ready to Run" "You Can't Hurry Love" "Wide Open Spaces" "Let Him Fly"

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1999) Peak position Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[11] 3 Scotland (OCC)[12] 46 UK Singles (OCC)[13] 53 US Billboard Hot 100[14] 39 US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[15] 2

Year-end charts Chart (1999) Position Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[16] 18 US Hot Country Singles & Tracks (Billboard)[17] 19

Release history

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label(s)	Ref.
United States	June 28, 1999	Country radio	Monument	[18]
Australia	October 6, 1999	CD single	Epic Monument	[19]
United Kingdom	October 25, 1999	CD1	Epic	[20]
	November 15, 1999	CD2 cassette		[21]

References

1. Anderson, Rick. ""Ready to Run" review". AllMusic. Retrieved April 27, 2009.
2. Sheffield, Rob (September 16, 1999). "Fly review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 31, 2008. Retrieved April 27, 2009.
3. "Dixie Chicks Grammy Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved April 27, 2009.
4. "100 Greatest Music Videos". CMT. 2004. Archived from the original on April 26, 2004. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
5. Ready to Run (UK CD1 liner notes). Dixie Chicks. Epic Records. 1999. 668247 2.
6. Ready to Run (UK CD2 liner notes). Dixie Chicks. Epic Records. 1999. 668247 5.
7. Ready to Run (UK cassette single sleeve). Dixie Chicks. Epic Records. 1999. 668247 4.
8. Ready to Run (European CD1 liner notes). Dixie Chicks. Monument Records, Epic Records. 1999. MNT 667599 1.
9. Ready to Run (European CD2 liner notes). Dixie Chicks. Monument Records, Epic Records. 1999. MNT 667599 2.
10. Ready to Run (Australian CD single liner notes). Dixie Chicks. Monument Records. 1999. 668200 2.
11. "Top RPM Country Tracks: Issue 8427." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. October 18, 1999. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
12. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
13. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
14. "Dixie Chicks Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
15. "Dixie Chicks Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
16. "RPM 1999 Top 100 Country Tracks". RPM. December 13, 1999. Retrieved July 7, 2013 – via Library and Archives Canada.
17. "1999 The Year in Music: Hot Country Singles & Tracks". Billboard. Vol. 111, no. 52. December 25, 1999. pp. YE-66.
18. "Going for Adds". Radio & Records. No. 1305. June 25, 1999. pp. 76, 78.
19. "Dixie Chicks – Ready to Run". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved July 5, 2024.
20. "New Releases – For Week Starting 25 October, 1999: Singles". Music Week. October 23, 1999. p. 31.
21. "New Releases – For Week Starting 15 November, 1999: Singles". Music Week. November 13, 1999. p. 27.