"Run All Night" Soundtrack Lyrics

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"Run All Night (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)" – Album Guide to Tracks and Key Scenes

Overview

How do you score a one-night redemption sprint? With music that breathes like a city at 3 a.m. — engines idling, strings coiled, bass heavy, and conscience just loud enough to cut through. Run All Night (2015) pairs Tom Holkenborg (aka Junkie XL)’s muscular, mournful score with a handful of needle-drops that place the story in wintertime New York and the Irish-American bar world Jimmy Conlon crawls back through.

The soundtrack maps the film’s arc — arrival → adaptation → rebellion → collapse. We begin in holiday haze (jukebox carols and battered crooner vinyl), shift to cold-blooded chases (ostinatos, low brass, sub pulses), then find space for regret and grim resolve as father and son run out of night.

Distinctive touches: a 70-piece string section riding shotgun with a hulking low-brass choir; cue titles that function like story beats (“I Just Killed Your Boy,” “Cop Chase,” “The Train Tracks”); and spare, pointed songs (The Pogues, Bobby Darin, Nas, Dope) that color key corners without turning the movie into a radio reel.

Genres & themes in phases: holiday jukebox & Irish bar folk — ghosts of the past; industrial electronica + strings — manhunt; old-school hip-hop/metal covers — street heat; elegiac motifs — reckoning.

How It Was Made

Holkenborg recorded the score at the Eastwood Scoring Stage with a large orchestra — strong strings, an oversized low-brass battery — and his trademark percussive design. The writing leans into character over carnage: themes for guilt and paternal duty sit under chase mechanics so the pounding never goes numb. The album arrived via WaterTower Music in March 2015, sequenced as a narrative listen from “Prologue” through “Epilogue.”

As per WaterTower’s release notes, the program collects 19 cues including the longform “Sketchbook” suite; needle-drops are cleared separately and appear in on-screen scenes but not on the score album. The film’s music department kept the needle-drops sparse — when a jukebox or car stereo fires up, it matters.

Tracks & Scenes

“Christmas Auld Lang Syne” — Bobby Darin
Where it plays: Holiday bar ambience and pre-violence calm; tinsel, sour smiles, and a jukebox croon cutting through cigarette haze.
Why it matters: A sentimental gloss over a story that’s about to turn — New Year’s wishes in a world fresh out of second chances.

“Fairytale of New York” — The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl
Where it plays: Irish-bar glow and winter streets; the camera drifts past regulars singing along as Jimmy drinks alone at the edge of the frame.
Why it matters: The anti-carol of busted dreams — a perfect mirror for Jimmy’s past.

“Nasty” — Nas
Where it plays: Cutaway to neighborhood hustle — boxy sedans, hallway talk, and the sense that everyone’s running angles.
Why it matters: New York pulse, unromantic and proud; a rap classic that sharpens the movie’s street texture.

“You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” — Dope
Where it plays: A hard-edged needle-drop around a club/party beat — strobey light, quick edits, and tempers getting louder than the mix.
Why it matters: Aggro gloss to contrast the score’s moral drag — fun on the surface, danger underneath.

“No Way Out” — Dope
Where it plays: Late-night momentum piece as the manhunt cascades into side streets and stairwells.
Why it matters: Title-as-thesis; the cue stamps dread between orchestral surges.

Score: “I Just Killed Your Boy” — Tom Holkenborg
Where it plays: The film’s hinge — confrontation, gunshot, and a father who knows exactly what comes next. Strings grind, brass groans; time slows.
Why it matters: A moral drop; from here, every cue is consequence.

Score: “Cop Chase”
Where it plays: Squad cars, alleys, and an engine-block rhythm that keeps hitting redline without losing clarity.
Why it matters: Percussion design as plot — you can hear when they turn left.

Score: “The Train Tracks”
Where it plays: A tense set-piece scored with breathing room; ostinatos skate over low brass while metal shrieks and city wind leak into the mix.
Why it matters: Classic Holkenborg geometry — drive, release, impact.

Score: “Epilogue”
Where it plays: Grey dawn, choices made, and a theme that lands on acceptance rather than triumph.
Why it matters: The movie remembers the cost. So does the music.

Notes & Trivia

• The score album was released by WaterTower Music on March 10, 2015; digital services list 19 tracks, including a “Sketchbook” suite.
• Holkenborg scored with a 70-piece string section and oversized low-brass choir; the mix favors weight over sheer volume.
• Needle-drops are minimal but pointed: Bobby Darin for season, The Pogues for soul, Nas and Dope for edge.
• Cue titles read like a noir outline — helpful for mapping scenes even out of context.
• The film marks the third Neeson–Collet-Serra collaboration — the musical language builds on their sleek, urban thriller vibe.

Music–Story Links

When Jimmy stares at old sins through a glass of Christmas cheer, the jukebox croon makes the irony sting. Minutes later, Holkenborg’s themes refuse to celebrate the chase — they press on the bruise: low strings as guilt, brass as consequence. In Irish-bar interludes, “Fairytale of New York” lets the room sing the subtext. Hip-hop and industrial-metal drops amplify moments where younger, hotter tempers collide with old-world codes. By dawn, the score has the floor — and it speaks in plain, weary sentences.

Reception & Quotes

Critics were mixed on the film and steady on the craft; the score drew nods for muscle with feeling. According to Deadline’s music feature, Holkenborg approached the film “from an emotional point of view” rather than pure action, and the orchestra’s heft shows it.

“Grit with a heart — the percussion hits hard, the strings tell you why.” Album capsule

“Holkenborg’s chase cues have geometry — you feel the streets.” Score note

Interesting Facts

• Eastwood Stage muscle: the score was recorded at Warner Bros.’ Eastwood Scoring Stage with a large orchestra.
• One label, one night: WaterTower handled the release; the album plays like the film’s timeline.
• Holiday noir: multiple scenes sit under Christmas songs — a chilly counterpoint to the blood-warm plot.
• Sketchbook bonus: the album closes with a long suite showing Holkenborg’s early thematic explorations.
• Lean needle-drops: five licensed songs cover a lot of tone without crowding the cues.

Technical Info

• Title: Run All Night (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
• Year: 2015
• Type: Film score with select on-screen licensed songs
• Composer: Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL)
• Label: WaterTower Music (album release March 10, 2015)
• Notable cues: “Prologue,” “I Just Killed Your Boy,” “Cop Chase,” “The Train Tracks,” “Epilogue,” “Tom’s Run All Night Sketchbook.”
• Licensed highlights (film): Bobby Darin — “Christmas Auld Lang Syne”; The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl — “Fairytale of New York”; Nas — “Nasty”; Dope — “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” & “No Way Out.”
• Orchestration footprint: 70-piece strings + expanded low brass; electronics and percussion interlock with orchestra for propulsion.
• Availability: Streaming/download widely; promotional CDr editions circulated to press.

Questions & Answers

Who composed the score?

Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL), blending heavy percussion, low-brass power, and mournful strings.

What label released the album?

WaterTower Music released the 19-track score album in March 2015.

Are the songs on the score album?

Most licensed songs play only in the film; the retail album focuses on Holkenborg’s score plus a “Sketchbook” suite.

What’s the cue heard over the big turning point?

“I Just Killed Your Boy” — a grim, weighty pivot that reframes the rest of the night.

Why do holiday songs pop up?

The story unfolds at Christmastime; bar jukeboxes and radios add seasonal color that undercuts the violence.

Canonical Entities & Relations

Subject	Verb	Object
Jaume Collet-Serra	directed	Run All Night (2015 film)
Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL)	composed	Run All Night (original score)
WaterTower Music	released	Run All Night (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Bobby Darin	performed	“Christmas Auld Lang Syne” (film placement)
The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl	performed	“Fairytale of New York” (film placement)
Nas	performed	“Nasty” (film placement)
Dope	performed	“You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” / “No Way Out” (film placements)
Warner Bros. Pictures	distributed	Run All Night

Sources: WaterTower Music album page; Wikipedia film/music section; Apple/Spotify listings; IMDb Soundtracks credits; Deadline feature on Holkenborg’s approach; official label YouTube playlist.

Despite the fact that here on the site only 5 tracks are represented, they are in additional soundtrack to the film, and 18 more are considered to be the main theme that was written by composer Tom Holkenborg, often seen in the creation of music tracks to other high-quality films. The plot is quite banal, but the acting of still being in good shape Liam Neeson and already quite wrinkled Ed Harris, best known for films Abyss and Mind Games, these antagonists of the story, makes this very entertaining and intense thriller. Instrumental music is quite tough, to match the character of the film where the protagonists have only one night to do their jobs – someone wants to kill, but someone wants to prevent it. Dope performed almost half of the collection of not instrumental melodies to this motion picture, for example, No Way Out or You Spin Me ‘Round. There is even a Christmas composition performed by Bobby Darin. And rap Nasty, which, oddly enough, perfectly coincides with the plot of the film, because the performance of the song at a fairly intense too, as events. Closes the five of soundtrack rather quiet song, played on the piano, blending smoothly into the bagpipe and suddenly becoming even fun at the half, containing profanity, and then returns to the track of peace. Good selection, but rap unfriends can throw away one song, and the rest will be the music of about the same style. Spend half an hour of your life to ensure the spiritually enriching by this soundtrack.

November, 19th 2025

More about this film on IMDb, Wikipedia

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