Run-Around – Blues Traveler | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#8) & Mainstream Rock (#13); 1995
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
Run-Around‘s 49 week stay on the Hot 100 moved it into second place, behind the Four Seasons’ December, 1963(Oh, What A Night), as the second longest chart run in rock ‘n’ roll history to date; a particularly sweet triumph for a band whose first two albums didn’t even chart.
Penned by lead vocalist/harmonica wiz John Popper, Run-Around careened through the summer of ’95 sporting a swirl of words like those a young Dylan or Springsteen might have written.
The album from which it was taken, four, hit the stores in September of 1994, following an appearance by Blues Traveler at that year’s Woodstock festival. Sales momentum built slowly until Run-Around debuted in March, 1995. The album quickly went gold, then platinum while the single moved into the Top 10.
When the dust settled, sales for four had topped out at eight times platinum, and Run-Around had scored the Princeton, NJ band a Grammy for Top Rock Vocal.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Steve Thompson
- Michael Barbiero
Lyrics Written by:
- John Popper
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).