Runaway Train

Album: Life (2018)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Boy George wrote this travelogue number while on tour in Boston.

    Flew down to airy California sun
    So many people tryna be someone
    Michelle Obama, you know my name
    The truth is a runaway train


    The Culture Club singer penned the song during the Obama administration, which is why he namechecks Michelle Obama.
  • George told Entertainment Weekly he used to laugh at the idea of songs with the topic of being on the road. However, during this particular tour he'd come to the realization how fortunate he was to be on tour performing music, "being loved and adored." So the Culture Club frontman set himself, "a challenge to write about traveling around America."
  • Boy George originally penned this as a Johnny Cash tribute, but in time it transformed into a Gladys Knight & The Pips-esque soul stomper.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."

Millie Jackson

Millie JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Outrageously gifted and just plain outrageous, Millie is an R&B and Rap innovator.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17Songwriter Interviews

Martyn talks about producing Tina Turner, some Heaven 17 hits, and his work with the British Electric Foundation.

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In Songs

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In SongsSong Writing

Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.