Jackson Browne’s “Running On Empty” Performance Will Make You Long For The Open Road

Jackson Browne’s “Running On Empty” Performance Will Make You Long For The Open Road | Society Of Rock Videos

Google via rollingstone.com

Merriweather Post Pavilion, 1977

Written in 1977, singer-songwriter Jackson Browne’s ‘Running On Empty’ may have been born of the mundane activity of having to gas up your car (or if you’re Jackson recording The Pretender, deciding not to since the studio wasn’t far, anyway) but it took on a life of its own and ran for the open road after its 1978 release. It became the song of a generation of young adults running towards something but not knowing what, loving the thrill of the chase but deathly afraid of running behind and never being able to leave the race.

Jackson’s 1977 performance of ‘Running On Empty’ came just weeks shy of his 29th birthday, and it’s amazing to see the dichotomy of Jackson walking the line between his 20’s and 30’s; marveling at the roads he’s taken that led him to a life on the road but still harboring some small fear of a life spent running for so long that it becomes difficult to know where it all started or where it will end.

Fun fact: This classic was featured in the 1994 film Forrest Gump; it was the background music as Forrest, played by Tom Hanks, ran across the country.

It’s one of Jackson’s best performances to date, and with David Lindley taking charge on the lap slide guitar and providing that gorgeous Southern tinged outro, ‘Running On Empty’ is clearly one of the most moving songs of the decade!

+ Running On Empty lyrics +

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields
In sixty-five I was seventeen and running up one-o-one
I don’t know where I’m running now, I’m just running on

Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I’m running behind

Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive
Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive
In sixty-nine 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

Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I’m running behind

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

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don’t know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
I look around for the friends that I used to turn to, to pull me through
Looking into their eyes I see them running too

Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I’m running behind

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 behind
Running into the sun but I’m running behind

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