The song Jackson Browne wrote while driving his car
When he emerged in the mid-1960s as a teenage prodigy, Jackson Browne became one of several American artists to kickstart the singer-songwriter boom of the early ’70s. Alongside the likes of Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, Browne had a footing in acoustic folk and faculty for evocative verse. His first success came at age 16 when he wrote ‘These Days’, which Velvet Underground collaborator Nico famously sang on her 1967 debut album, Chelsea Girl.
Writing a song like ‘These Days’ at age 16 requires a unique mind. Despite his modest years, Browne wrote from the perspective of a wise old man wounded in love. “I had a lover/ I don’t think I’d risk another these days/ And if I seem to be afraid/ To live the life that I have made in song/It’s just that I’ve been losing/ So long,” he wrote.
Over his late teens and early 20s, Browne continued to sharpen his talent for songwriting, releasing his self-titled debut album in 1972. At this point, Browne was revered among his contemporary singer-songwriters and was only just getting started on a gargantuan oeuvre.
By 1977, Browne had lived and breathed lyrics for over a decade and often stumbled upon new songs while going about his daily business. The title track of Browne’s masterpiece album of that year, Running on Empty, may suggest that he was finally out of ideas after so many years. On the contrary, this classic hit was written in a very literal sense on the road.
Browne came up with the lyrics to ‘Running on Empty’ in 1976 while recording for his fourth studio album, The Pretender. When driving to and from Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood each day, he always seemed to neglect the fuel gauge.
“I was always driving around with no gas in the car, I just never bothered to fill up the tank because – how far was it anyway? Just a few blocks,” he once recalled, discussing the song in an interview with Rolling Stone.
Beyond its literal inception, ‘Running on Empty’ was Browne’s ode to the open road. In its truest spirit, the song’s parent album was recorded on the road with tracks captured onstage, backstage, in hotel rooms and even on a Continental Silver Eagle tour bus.
‘Running on Empty’ itself was recorded live during a show at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, in August 1977.
Listen to the classic hit below.
