‘Running on Empty’ is a song by American singer-songwriter Jackson Browne. It is the title track of his 1977 live album of the same name, recorded at a concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, on August 27, 1977. A number 11 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 when it was released as a single, it spent seventeen weeks on the chart after debuting on February 11, 1978 at position 72. Rolling Stone ranked it at number 496 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2010 and number 492 in 2004 and it is one of Browne's signature songs. ‘Running on Empty’ was most popular in Canada, where it spent two weeks at number four.
Browne wrote the song while driving to the studio each day to make The Pretender, according to Rolling Stone magazine: "I was always driving around with no gas in the car," Browne is quoted. "I just never bothered to fill up the tank because — how far was it anyway? Just a few blocks.
Rolling Stone writer Paul Nelson saw "Running on Empty" as embodying a "tenacious, win/lose duality" and being "what daydreamers have nightmares about". Billboard described the song as "fiery rock 'n' roll that continues in intensity throughout" while containing "serious lyric content" from the singer/songwriter's "identifiable gritty vocal". Record World predicted that it "should be [Browne's] biggest pop radio hit in several years," saying that "the tempo is quick, the vocal energetic."
With its number 11 peak on the Hot 100 in Spring 1978, "Running on Empty" was Browne's third-biggest hit single in his career (trailing only "Doctor My Eyes" and "Somebody's Baby"), and subsequently became his most-played song on classic rock radio formats.
The song was featured prominently in the 1994 film Forrest Gump as the main theme for a running montage in which the title character treks across the United States on foot.
Songwriter – Jackson Browne
Producer – Jackson Browne
SONG LYRICS
[Intro]
[Verse 1]
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields
In '65, I was seventeen and running up 101
I don't know where I'm running now, I'm just running on
[Chorus]
Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I'm running behind
[Verse 2]
Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive
Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive
In '69, I was twenty-one and I called the road my own
I don't know when that road turned onto the road I'm on
[Chorus]
Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I'm running behind
[Bridge]
Everyone I know, everywhere I go
People need some reason to believe
I don't know about anyone but me
If it takes all night, that'll be all right
If I can get you to smile before I leave
[Verse 3]
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
Look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through
Looking into their eyes I see them running too
[Chorus]
Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I'm running behind
[Verse 4]
Honey, you really tempt me
You know the way you look so kind
I'd love to stick around but I'm running behind
(Running on)
You know I don't even know what I'm hoping to find
(Running blind)
Running into the sun but I'm running behind
[Outro]
Thank you!