Running to the Edge of the World

The band's eponymous frontman described the album The High End of Low (2009) as containing "extreme" autobiographical content relating to the dissolution of both his marriage to burlesque artist Dita Von Teese, and his later failed relationship with then-19-year old actress Evan Rachel Wood,{{cite web |url=https://www.suicidegirls.com/girls/nicole_powers/blog/2680137/marilyn-manson-the-high-end-of-low/ |title=Marilyn Manson: The High End of Low |author=Powers, Nicole |work=SuicideGirls |date=June 5, 2009 |access-date=May 13, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161008154716/https://www.suicidegirls.com/girls/nicole_powers/blog/2680137/marilyn-manson-the-high-end-of-low/ |archive-date=October 8, 2016 |url-status=live}} explaining: "Some of the things I say here, it's sad to say them—they're relationship-destroying statements. Some of it is stuff I should have said to my ex-wife. Some are things I've never said to the world."{{cite magazine |url=http://guitarworld.myshopify.com/products/revolver-magazine-february-2009-killswitch-engage |title=Joined Again By Twiggy Ramirez, The Shock Rocker Promises A "Ballsy" New Album |author=Revolver Staff |magazine=Revolver |date=February 2009 |page=16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025010639/http://guitarworld.myshopify.com/products/revolver-magazine-february-2009-killswitch-engage |archive-date=October 25, 2016 |url-status=live}} Manson used his home as a canvas to document the disintegration of his relationship with Wood, writing the album's lyrics on walls and coupling them with paintings and drawings, as well as used condoms, bags of cocaine and other drug paraphernalia.{{cite web |url=http://www.spin.com/2009/06/qa-marilyn-manson/ |title=Q&A: Marilyn Manson |author=Goodman, William |work=Spin |date=June 24, 2009 |access-date=October 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417095214/http://www.spin.com/2009/06/qa-marilyn-manson/ |archive-date=April 17, 2016 |url-status=live}} Manson explained the state of mind that he was in when he created the album in an interview with Kerrang!:

{{Cquote|This was when I went insane, for real. I think I had a psychotic breakdown making this. Those pictures of the crazy writing on my walls? That wasn't for a photo shoot, that was how I lived at the time. I think it's a great record – it was the last great collaboration between Twiggy [Ramirez] and I – but it came at a bad point in my life.{{cite web |url=http://www.kerrang.com/features/we-asked-marilyn-manson-to-rank-his-albums/ |title=We Asked Marilyn Manson To Rank His Albums... |author=((Brannigan, Paul)) |author2=Manson, Marilyn |work=Kerrang! |date=January 4, 2018 |access-date=June 19, 2018 |issn=0262-6624 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626001441/http://www.kerrang.com/features/we-asked-marilyn-manson-to-rank-his-albums/ |archive-date=June 26, 2018}}}}

File:David Bowie - TopPop 1974 08.png.|right]]

"Running to the Edge of the World" was written and produced by Marilyn Manson, Twiggy Ramirez and Chris Vrenna, with Sean Beavan serving as a co-producer. The song is an acoustic soft rock power ballad{{cite web|url=http://www.nme.com/reviews/marilyn-manson/10471|title=Album review: Marilyn Manson - 'The High End of Low review'|author=Robinson, Martin|work=NME|date=19 May 2009 |access-date=November 14, 2017|archive-date=November 6, 2016 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106015737/http://www.nme.com/reviews/album/reviews-marilyn-manson-10471}} that features elements of electronic music{{cite web |url=https://www.alternativenation.net/top-10-marilyn-manson-songs-co-written-by-twiggy-ramirez/ |title=Top 10 Marilyn Manson Songs Co-Written By Twiggy Ramirez |author=Buchanan, Brett |work=Alternative Nation |date=August 8, 2016 |access-date=November 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171114093543/https://www.alternativenation.net/top-10-marilyn-manson-songs-co-written-by-twiggy-ramirez/ |archive-date=November 14, 2017 |url-status=live}} and 1980s heavy metal.{{cite web|url=https://consequence.net/2019/07/ranking-every-marilyn-manson-album/|title=Ranking Every Marilyn Manson Album from Worst to Best|author1=Hickman, Langdon|author2=Claire, Colette|work=Consequence of Sound|date=July 17, 2019|access-date=August 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722101911/https://consequence.net/2019/07/ranking-every-marilyn-manson-album/|archive-date=July 22, 2019|url-status=live}} It has a length of six minutes and twenty-five seconds, and features a "hauntingly restrained" guitar in its instrumentation and strings during the chorus. Manson sings in falsetto during its middle 8. According to John Robb of The Quietus, the song is about death and destruction; Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon interpreted it as being about sex and death, which she said made it thematically identical to "Eighty percent of the blues canon."

PopMatters{{'s}} Lana Cooper felt that the song's refrain "We don't seek death/We seek destruction" could be understood as a "bromance-tinged love letter from" Manson to Ramirez. In the track, Manson sings "Sometimes hate is not enough/To turn this all to ashes/Together as one/Against all others/Break all of our wings to/Make sure it crashes," lyrics which The Washington Post{{'s}} Nancy Dunham saw as referencing the singer's divorce from Dita Von Teese.{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/06/AR2009080601212.html?noredirect=on|title=Record Review: Marilyn Manson 'The High End of Low'|author=Dunham, Nancy|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=August 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629032021/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/06/AR2009080601212.html |archive-date=June 29, 2018 |url-status=live}} Cooper added that the song sounds like "you'd expect [it] to be played during a slow dance at the Jonestown prom after someone spiked the Kool Aid punch bowl."{{cite web |url=http://www.popmatters.com/review/94074-marilyn-manson-the-high-end-of-low/ |title=Marilyn Manson: The High End of Low |author=Cooper, Lana |work=PopMatters |date=May 28, 2009 |access-date=October 12, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304102520/http://www.popmatters.com/review/94074-marilyn-manson-the-high-end-of-low/ |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=live}}

Alex Young of Consequence of Sound, Phil Freeman of AllMusic and Robb of The Quietus compared it to the music of David Bowie, with the latter specifically likening it to the singer's science fiction-themed 1970s work.{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=mw0000817467|pure_url=yes}} |title=The High End of Low - Marilyn Manson |author=Freeman, Phil |work=AllMusic |access-date=June 29, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810202852/http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-high-end-of-low-mw0000817467 |archive-date=August 10, 2016 |url-status=live}} John Lucas of The Georgia Straight found the song reminiscent of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" (1975) while IGN felt it had elements of "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" (1988) by Poison.{{cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2009/05/26/marilyn-manson-the-high-end-of-low-review |title=Marilyn Manson - The High End of Low Review - IGN |author=White, Finn |work=IGN |publisher=Ziff Davis |date=May 26, 2009 |access-date=November 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161101230117/http://www.ign.com/articles/2009/05/26/marilyn-manson-the-high-end-of-low-review |archive-date=November 1, 2016 |url-status=live}} Entertainment.ie's Lauren Murphy deemed the track a "lite" version of ballads by Oasis.{{cite web |url=http://entertainment.ie/album-review/Marilyn-Manson-The-High-End-of-Low/111836.htm |title=Music Review | Marilyn Manson - The High End of Low |author=Murphy, Lauren |work=Entertainment.ie |date=May 29, 2009 |access-date=November 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150326103814/http://entertainment.ie/album-review/Marilyn-Manson-The-High-End-of-Low/111836.htm |archive-date=March 26, 2015 |url-status=live}}

Alternative Nation ranked it the sixth best Marilyn Manson song ever co-written with Twiggy Ramirez, and the best song on The High End of Low. John Robb of The Quietus described it as the album's curveball and a potential crossover hit. Robb added that "The bizarre change in style makes this one of the unlikely album highlights",{{cite web |url=http://thequietus.com/articles/01639-marilyn-manson-high-end-of-low-album-review |title=Features | Track-By-Track | Marilyn Manson's The High End Of Low Reviewed |author=Robb, John |work=The Quietus |date=May 12, 2009 |access-date=October 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120719120157/http://thequietus.com/articles/01639-marilyn-manson-high-end-of-low-album-review |archive-date=July 19, 2012 |url-status=live}} a sentiment echoed by Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times, who described the song as a "surprise ... a lush acoustic power ballad complete with pretty falsetto vocals. At this point in Manson's career, sophistication is perhaps as big a shock as he can deliver."{{cite web |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/05/album-review-marilyn-mansons-the-high-end-of-low.html |title=Album review: Marilyn Manson's 'The High End of Low' |author=Wood, Mikael |work=Los Angeles Times |date=May 26, 2009 |access-date=November 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092002/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/05/album-review-marilyn-mansons-the-high-end-of-low.html |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=live}} Alex Young of Consequence of Sound praised the David Bowie influence on the song.{{cite web|url=https://consequence.net/2009/05/album-review-marilyn-manson-the-high-end-of-low/|title=Marilyn Manson – The High End of Low|author=Young, Alex|work=Consequence of Sound|date=May 27, 2009|access-date=December 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215022142/https://consequence.net/2009/05/album-review-marilyn-manson-the-high-end-of-low/|archive-date=December 15, 2018|url-status=live}} Adaora Otiji of Spin called the track an "emotional ballad" and Nancy Dunham of The Washington Post opined that the track, as well as The High End of Low as a whole, proved that "Manson may have suffered a punch that sidelined him, but he's back in the game." Langdon Hickman and Colette Claire of Consequence of Sound deemed the ballad "epic" while Mark LePage of the Vancouver Sun called it "epic (and processed)."{{cite web|url=https://vancouversun.com/news/cd-review-marilyn-manson-resurrected/wcm/a7085771-8c2c-4d28-a3f1-4af0e3b6d9eb|title=CD review: Marilyn Manson resurrected|author=LePage, Mark|work=Vancouver Sun|date=May 27, 2009|access-date=August 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190820205335/https://vancouversun.com/news/cd-review-marilyn-manson-resurrected/wcm/a7085771-8c2c-4d28-a3f1-4af0e3b6d9eb|archive-date=August 20, 2019|url-status=live}}

OC Weekly{{'s}} Gabriel San Román deemed "Running to the Edge of the World" "a perfectly good song" that was ruined by its "loathsome" music video. Phil Freeman of AllMusic said that the song "could have been great if it had only been two minutes shorter", and that it instead contributed to making the middle of the album "boring". NME said that the track was "an embarrassing nadir. By opening up, [Manson's] totally emasculated himself. He sounds defeated, like a man who knows he's been drained of his shock value by Twilight-style mainstream co-option." Mayer Nissim of Digital Spy cited the track as one of the album's "many dreary and self-conscious straightforward rock songs" and panned Manson's vocal performance. Nissim felt that "Running to the Edge of the World" did not live up to the band's earlier slow songs, like "Coma White" from Mechanical Animals (1998) or "The Nobodies" from Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) (2001).{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalspy.com/music/album-reviews/review/a157265/marilyn-manson-the-high-end-of-low/ |title=Marilyn Manson: 'The High End Of Low' |author=Nissim, Mayer |work=Digital Spy |date=May 27, 2009 |access-date=November 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106021431/http://www.digitalspy.com/music/album-reviews/review/a157265/marilyn-manson-the-high-end-of-low |archive-date=November 6, 2016 |url-status=live}} In Entertainment.ie, Lauren Murphy said the song was a "sign of a man either running out of tricks, or one desperate to reinvent himself." John Lucas of The Georgia Straight felt that its chorus "strains in vein to sound epic."{{cite web|url=https://www.straight.com/article-223351/marilyn-manson-plays-allpurpose-bogeyman-high-end-low|title=Marilyn Manson plays the all-purpose bogeyman on The High End of Low|author=Lucas, John|work=The Georgia Straight|date=May 27, 2009|access-date=August 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190819031615/https://www.straight.com/article-223351/marilyn-manson-plays-allpurpose-bogeyman-high-end-low|archive-date=August 19, 2019|url-status=live}} Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon said that the track "sucks" and was "not thought-provoking music."

File:Evan Rachel Wood portrait 2009.jpg (pictured in 2009).]]

The video for "Running to the Edge of the World" was released to Marilyn Manson's website. It was directed by the band's vocalist with Nathan Cox, who also directed the video for the band's 2004 cover of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus". It begins with Manson setting up a camera and a five-minute scene of the singer performing the song from behind a curtain, interspersed with glimpses of a blonde woman wearing only her underwear sitting in a hotel bathroom. This is followed by Manson punching the woman repeatedly until she gets bloody.{{cite web|url=https://www.straight.com/article-270914/vancouver/video-provocation-just-isnt-what-it-used-be|title=Video provocation just isn't what it used to be|author=Lucas, John|work=The Georgia Straight|date=November 18, 2009|access-date=August 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190817181837/https://www.straight.com/article-270914/vancouver/video-provocation-just-isnt-what-it-used-be|archive-date=August 17, 2019|url-status=live}} Manson grabs the woman by her bra and rubs his hands on her bloodied, bare breasts. The woman then rubs her own blood across her exposed chest. She either loses consciousness or dies, her bloodied body left in a bathtub. According to critics, the woman resembles Manson's ex-girlfriend Evan Rachel Wood.{{cite web |url=https://www.spin.com/2009/11/watch-marilyn-mansons-bloody-new-video/ |title=WATCH: Marilyn Manson's Bloody New Video |author=Otiji, Adaora |work=Spin |date=November 9, 2009 |access-date=November 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019135014/https://www.spin.com/2009/11/watch-marilyn-mansons-bloody-new-video/ |archive-date=October 19, 2017 |url-status=live}} Shortly before the video's premiere, Manson said that he had daily fantasies about "smashing [Wood's] skull in with a sledgehammer."{{cite web |url=https://www.spin.com/2010/01/marilyn-manson-engaged-evan-rachel-wood/ |title=Marilyn Manson Engaged to Evan Rachel Wood |author=Goodman, William |work=Spin |date=January 6, 2010 |access-date=November 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223030420/https://www.spin.com/2010/01/marilyn-manson-engaged-evan-rachel-wood/ |archive-date=December 23, 2017 |url-status=live}} Adoara Otiji of Spin found the video similar to the found footage horror film The Blair Witch Project (1999); San Roman of OC Weekly felt that the video mimicked snuff films and torture porn, an opinion echoed by Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon.{{cite magazine| url=https://www.salon.com/2009/11/09/marlyn_manson/| last=Williams| first=Mary Elizabeth| title=Marilyn Manson's icky torture porn| magazine=Salon| date=November 10, 2009| access-date=August 19, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190820004128/https://www.salon.com/2009/11/09/marlyn_manson/| archive-date=August 20, 2019| url-status=live}}

{{Quote box

| quote = It's surely no coincidence that the girl in the video looks a lot like Manson's ex, Evan Rachel Wood, and you don't have to be Carl Jung to figure out that the singer is sending his former girlfriend a message. The implicit statement to the rest of us is equally hard to miss: if things don't work out with a woman, a man has the right to take his frustrations out on her with his fists. The relationship's failure is all her fault, after all...so she has brought the brutality on herself.

| source = —John Lucas, The Georgia Straight

| width = 30%

| align = left

}}

The video for "Running to the Edge of the World" was widely panned, with critics finding it misogynistic and decrying its portrayal of violence against women.{{cite web |url=http://www.ocweekly.com/music/marilyn-mansons-no-reflection-latest-to-mirror-images-of-violence-against-women-6576948 |title=Marilyn Manson's 'No Reflection' Latest to Mirror Images of Violence Against Women |author=San Román, Gabriel |work=OC Weekly |date=April 11, 2012 |access-date=May 13, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161008154845/http://www.ocweekly.com/music/marilyn-mansons-no-reflection-latest-to-mirror-images-of-violence-against-women-6576948 |archive-date=October 8, 2016 |url-status=live}} Gil Kaufman of MTV News contrasted the clip for "Running to the Edge of the World" with that of Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie" (2010) noting that critics generally praised the latter for its "serious" handling of domestic violence.{{cite web |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1645288/eminems-love-the-way-you-lie-isnt-first-video-to-deal-with-domestic-abuse/ |title=Eminem's 'Love The Way You Lie' Isn't First Video To Deal With Domestic Abuse |author=Kaufman, Gil |work=MTV News |date=August 6, 2010 |access-date=May 13, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161008181327/http://www.mtv.com/news/1645288/eminems-love-the-way-you-lie-isnt-first-video-to-deal-with-domestic-abuse/ |archive-date=October 8, 2016 |url-status=dead}} Brandon Stosuy of Stereogum deemed the video "a new low" for Manson. He noted that it was released the same day that Rihanna was interviewed on 20/20 about being assaulted by Chris Brown, and was unsure if this was intentional or not. A writer for Videogum felt that the clip might have been somewhat shocking if it predated the video for the Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up" (1997), but instead came across as "the obnoxious work of an aging asshole who's run out of ideas."{{cite web |url=https://www.stereogum.com/99851/new_marilyn_manson_video_-_running_to_the_edge_of/video/ |title=Marilyn Manson Hits A New Low |author=Stosuy, Brandon |work=Stereogum |date=November 6, 2009 |access-date=November 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115083238/https://www.stereogum.com/99851/new_marilyn_manson_video_-_running_to_the_edge_of/video/ |archive-date=November 15, 2017 |url-status=live}}

Jonathan Barkan of Bloody Disgusting said the video "almost feels lazy, as though a ballad like this could only be done by showing Manson desperately cling to a lacy curtain, looking like he's about to write poetry while listening to the Cure." Barkan commented "While I can appreciate the more intimate style of video they were going for here, it just feels wildly out of place to see Manson so forlorn and dejected," adding that the scenes of Manson lip-syncing were too long.{{cite web |website=Bloody Disgusting|url= http://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3344860/worst-best-music-videos-marilyn-manson/2/ |first= Jonathan |last= Barkan |title= Ranking Marilyn Manson's Music Videos! |date= May 13, 2015 |access-date= December 20, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150517001136/http://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3344860/worst-best-music-videos-marilyn-manson/2/ |archive-date=May 17, 2015}} San Román of OC Weekly noted that Manson would later incorporate violence against women into both his surrealist film Born Villain (2011) and the music video for "No Reflection" (2012). San Román contrasted these artistic decisions with Manson's earlier condemnation of the perceived misogyny in Eminem's debut album.

Williams of Salon said that the video proves that Manson is "hungry...for controversy" and opined that "paying his loathsome shtick any notice might be construed as giving him exactly what he wants." Stereogum said that the video could be interpreted as "Desperate P.R." In The Georgia Straight, John Lucas wrote that while the video "unmasks [Manson] as the colossal douchebag and shameless attention whore that he really is," it "stirred up surprisingly little controversy, which is more a testament to the state of the singer's career than anything else."{{cite web|url=https://www.straight.com/blogra/775711/whats-deal-lana-del-rey-eli-roth-rape-scene|title=What's the deal with this Lana Del Rey/Eli Roth "rape" scene?|author=Lucas, John|work=The Georgia Straight|date=November 21, 2014|access-date=August 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190817181441/https://www.straight.com/blogra/775711/whats-deal-lana-del-rey-eli-roth-rape-scene|archive-date=August 17, 2019|url-status=live}} Lucas contrasted the lack of a reaction to the clip for "Running to the Edge of the World" to the popularity of Rammstein's sexually explicit music video for "Pussy" (2009), which propelled the band's album Liebe ist für alle da (2009) to commercial success. Lucas said that, by releasing "Running to the Edge of the World," Manson tried and failed to be the "challenging, button-pushing artist" that Madonna was when she released her video for "Justify My Love" back in 1990. Williams of Salon said that the video is "not outrageous and envelope-pushing. It's a cynical exploitation of abuse served up as entertainment. And it's just gross."

Credits adapted from the liner notes of The High End of Low.{{cite AV media notes |title=The High End of Low |title-link=The High End of Low |type=liner notes |chapter=Digital booklet |others=Marilyn Manson |publisher=Interscope Records |year=2009 |id=0600753254042 |location=Santa Monica, California}}

• Marilyn Manson – vocals, lyrics and production
• Twiggy Ramirez – composer, electric, acoustic and bass guitars, production
• Chris Vrenna – composer, keyboards, synth string, percussion, drum programming, programming, Pro Tools, engineering, production, mixing
• Sean Beavan – engineering, co-production, mixing
• Mike Riley – recording assistant, engineer
• Jeremy Underwood – recording assistant, engineer

• Marilyn Manson discography

{{reflist}}

• {{YouTube|F7j5deiFIp0|"Running to the Edge of the World"}}

{{Marilyn Manson}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Running to the Edge of the World}}

Category:2000s ballads

Category:2009 songs

Category:American soft rock songs

Category:Marilyn Manson (band) songs

Category:Music video controversies

Category:Music videos directed by Nathan Cox

Category:Rock ballads

Category:Songs about death

Category:Songs written by Chris Vrenna

Category:Songs written by Jeordie White

Category:Songs written by Marilyn Manson

Category:Works about violence against women