The Stories Behind The Songs on the record "Drive"

Drive 

"....was written a few minutes before my first solo gig in Auckland - I didn't have enough songs to make up a 40 minute set. That's a good indication of the way I like to work, I work well under pressure and I think that the best songs write themselves. They don't feel laboured over. The demo version was released as a single, and for the album we tried to record it lots of different ways but they didn't work. It has to be simple. 

"(The line) "Rain falls from the concrete coloured sky" used to be "rain falls like custard from the sky," but it doesn't! 

Sway 

(Runga) 

"I wrote it while I was in Ireland. Before I went, while on my way to the airport, I noticed a bridge that had the word 'sway' written on it. I didn't understand how the person got up there to write the graffiti and why they wrote the word, but I just decided 'I like that word - that's the title of my next song.'

And from an interview in 2001:

"Runga: "I remember it being sunny, and I was sitting on a porch and the line 'sway my way' came first. Paul Kelly rang once and said he'd borrowed a line from one of my songs, and it was that. I was like, 'Well, that's not just a line, that's the chorus of my only hit!' My personal is my universal and people always come and go, and I think that's something people can empathise with, you can't hang on to anything, and that's the line, 'Don't come and go.' 

"When I recorded it I didn't want it to be depressing, because there's a tendency when you put some things down on tape to go deep within the depressing vibe of it, which doesn't translate to a record. You have to lift it, and I thought it was getting a bit dour. "I didn't have any idea it would connect with so many people, but BBC's Radio 2 in England have just started playing it, and I got a call from the programmer who said she gets inundated with calls every time they play it."

Interviewer (Graeme Downes - a veteran songwriter himself with a PhD in music who is now a lecturer in rock performance at Otago University) comments: "It's similar to Loyal in that it's honest and direct. It's also very introverted and has a great melody, and she has a fabulous voice. It's a well crafted and well sung beautiful melody. Having the title in the hook is something the songwriting manuals generally recommend."

Hey 

(Runga) 

"One of my biggest influences is Radiohead. I saw them live when I was about 18, they came to Christchurch and there were only about 200 people in the venue. What really stood out to me about that band was how they could have passages in a song that were really tender and then, in contrast, kick into something very powerful". 

Bursting Through 

(Runga)

"I originally tried to record it with another producer. I didn't like how it was done. I re-recorded it and I like it now, mostly because I feel like I've reclaimed the song". 

More About The Songs HERE!