Courtesy of Atlantic Records

Last night, "Run," the purported first single from Gnarls Barkley's upcoming second album hit the blogosphere and, like any good fan (of Gnarls Barkley and piracy), we downloaded it. How is it? Well, as you might have gleaned from our headline, we think it's too fast. Whereas Gnarls' 2006 hit "Crazy" clocked in at a quick but still reasonable 112 beats per minute, "Run" crams at least fourteen verses and twice as many choruses into a breathless two minutes and 45 seconds. By our count, there are only four notes in the melody, but Cee-Lo sings each of them several thousand times. Also not helping is his periodic demanding that listeners "run for your life!" (Not to state the obvious here, but he could probably stand to do a little running himself.)

It could just be because we haven't exercised since twelfth-grade gym class, but after playing it once, we were already exhausted and reaching for our inhaler. "Run" is probably meant for joggers or something, or maybe it's Gnarls' bid for airplay during this year's upcoming summer Olympics. Either way, it makes for terrible blogging music. If we ever tried to sing it in a karaoke bar, we're pretty sure we'd die from an asthma attack. Download at your own risk.

New Gnarls Barkley! [Mission Freak]