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
(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 '69 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
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 blind) Running into the sun but I'm running behind
"Running On Empty" was Browne's grand experiment: a live album of all-new songs recorded onstage, in hotel rooms and on the tour bus. The title track was actually written when Browne was driving back and forth to the studio each day to make The Pretender. "I was always driving around with no gas in the car," he said. "I just never bothered to fill up the tank because -- how far was it anyway? Just a few blocks."