"Running on Empty" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Jackson Browne. It is the title track to 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 BillboardHot 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" 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.
History
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." The song starts off with an immediate, propulsive backbeat, with the melody carried by piano and throughout laced by David Lindley's distinctive lap steel guitar work. Browne receives vocal back up from Rosemary Butler and Doug Haywood. Rolling Stone writer Paul Nelson saw "Running on Empty" as embodying a "tenacious, win/lose duality" and being "what daydreamers have nightmares about". Billboard Magazine described the song as "fiery rock 'n' roll that continues in intensity throughout" which containing serious lyrics. 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, and subsequently became his most-played song on classic rock radio formats.
Later uses
This song appeared in the 1994 filmForrest Gump, featured in the scene where Forrest was running across the United States. In August 2008, Browne sued presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, the Ohio Republican Party, and the Republican National Committee for unauthorized use of "Running on Empty" in a television commercial mocking presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama's energy policy. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum in July 2009, with the McCain campaign, the Ohio Republican Party, and the Republican National Committee issuing a joint apology for using the song. Browne said, "I'm really happy that we got this statement from them. It's great to have it affirmed that these laws stand. I've had an idea of how my songs are protected and how money is collected and how making a living as a musician works for my whole career, and it's great to have it affirmed and to know that we're absolutely right in standing up to them." Rick Price and Jack Jones covered the song on their album California Dreaming. Ugly Americans front man Bob Schneider recorded a slower, more acoustic-oriented version of the song for the 2014 album. Various concert clips of "Running On Empty" from during and after 1977 are known to exist, though none from the concert where the original audio is taken, and no formal music video was released. In June 2019, Browne's official YouTube channel posted a montage of Joel Bernstein photos from the 1977 Jackson Browne Running On Empty Tour in a video created by Andrew Thomas.
