<P> "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 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" 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 . </P> <P> The song was written while Browne was 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 ." </P> <P> The song may be meant to describe the rigors of a musician's day - to - day life on the road, and its effect on his life as a whole, in connection with the themes of much of the album, but the lyric is more generally applicable, as well: </P> <P> 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...</P>

Jackson browne song about being on the road
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