Roll With The Changes by REO Speedwagon

Album: You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tuna Fish (1978)

Charted: 58

License This Song

lyrics

artistfacts

Songfacts®:

REO Speedwagon's 1971 debut album was with their original lead singer, Terry Luttrell. Kevin Cronin took over that role for their next effort, R.E.O./T.W.O. (1972), but it was rough sledding, and while they were making their third album, Ridin' the Storm Out (1973), he left over conflict with guitarist Gary Richrath and other creative tensions. Cronin returned to the band in 1976, which meant moving from Chicago to Los Angeles, where they had relocated. On that trip, he had lots of time to think about all the changes in his life, and how he was (quite literally) rolling with them.

The song hit him in a flash: he started writing the lyrics on a brown paper bag in his Ford Pinto while he was driving. Released as the first single from their 1978 album You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tuna Fish, the song became their biggest hit to that point, reaching #58.
The band made a music video for this song in 1978, three years before MTV went on the air. Directed by Arnold Levine, the black-and-white footage was shot at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri at their show on May 13, 1978. When MTV launched in 1981, they played the video, as REO Speedwagon were huge at the time, with a string of hits from their Hi Infidelity album.

Comments: 2

John from AtlantaThis song to me is about a love relationship with a women in which circumstances have forced a change.The lyric" same old story" is her long standing marriage to a man she really doesn't love. The infidelity was found out about and she has to decide if she will roll with the changes and leave, come with me.." turn the pages". It also shows patience as she decides on the offer. " I will be there when you are ready" not a ultimatum.

Makes me wonder about the nature of the authors diverted trip to see a women in Tuscon on his long road trip to the city of lights.
My interpretation of this song was so strong I sent it to a friend going through a similiar breakup & he wrote a letter to her hoping listening to it would keep her in his life. She was Cherokee and the tribal ties couldn't be over come. He is rolling with the changes.
Summer Mcpherson from Columbus, OhioMy all time favorite Speedwagon song!

see more comments

More Songfacts:

Livin' On A PrayerBon Jovi

Gina in Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" is based on a singer named Maria Vidal, who was working as a singing waitress using the name Gina Velvet.

Crash Into MeDave Matthews Band

The Dave Matthews Band song "Crash Into Me" seems pretty romantic, but the guy in the song is kind of a stalker. Matthews calls him "the kind of man you'd call the police on."

Heaven Is A Place On EarthBelinda Carlisle

"Heaven Is A Place On Earth" writer Ellen Shipley got the idea for the song from a gas station greeting card that said "Heaven On Earth."

Pretty VacantSex Pistols

The riff for The Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant" was pinched from a very unpunk song, the ABBA ballad "S.O.S."

StanEminem

Thanks to Eminem's song, the word "stan" was added to the Oxford American Dictionary in 2017. It means an obsessive fan.

SmoothSantana

Rob Thomas put some Spanish flavor in his Carlos Santana collaboration "Smooth" with the line "my muñequita," a pet name for his wife Marisol that means "my little doll."