Manfred Mann – "Fox on the Run" (1968)

I saw the sunlight in her hair
I saw the promise in her eyes

Tony Hazzard is an English singer/songwriter whose songs have been recorded by the Hollies, the Yardbirds, Herman’s Hermits, and Manfred Mann (among others).

The two songs he wrote for Manfred Mann – “Ha! Ha! Said the Clown” and “Fox on the Run” – were top ten hits in the UK.  (Those singles went nowhere fast in the U.S.)

Tony Hazzard and friend

Oddly, “Fox on the Run” has become a favorite of American bluegrass bands – go to any gathering of bluegrass musicians and the odds are you’ll hear it sooner rather than later.   

You can click here to read a 2 or 3 lines post that featured a bluegrass recording of this song.

And you can click here to read a 2 or 3 lines post that featured a very different song with the same title. 

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Manfred Mann was born Manfred Lubowitz in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1940.  

Lubowitz studied music in college and worked as a jazz pianist at a number of Johannesburg clubs.  He and a childhood friend formed what may have been South Africa’s first rock and roll band, and recorded a couple of albums.

Lubowitz moved to the UK when he was 21 and started writing for a British jazz publication under the name Manfred Manne (after American jazz drummer Shelley Manne), which he shortened shortly thereafter to Manfred Mann.

Mann met musician Mike Hugg at a seaside resort, and the two men formed a band called the Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers.  After they signed a record contract in 1963, their producer suggested they call themselves Manfred Mann . . . and the rest is history.

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Click here to listen to Manfred Mann’s 1968 recording of “Fox on the Run.”

Click on the link below to buy the song from Amazon: