“Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields”
It was 1977
Jackson Browne’s “Running on Empty” starts like any awesome 1970s rock song should:
Upbeat drums, slide guitar, and piano, with simple lyrics about wheels and summer.
And that song is the voice of a troubled nation on the brink of disaster.
A Crisis of Confidence
The 1970s was a decade of hardship and upheaval in America. In the 1970s, America’s car culture had steered into an energy crisis and long lines at the gas pump. Rampant inflation gripped the nation. Watergate shook America’s faith in democracy. Unemployment was high. New York City almost went bankrupt. Crime blossomed in every major city.
To cheer up the nation, President Carter declared a crisis of confidence.
“The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways,” he said. “It is a crisis of confidence.”
He went on: “It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation.
The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America.”
Despite those inspiring words, President Carter was voted out in the next election by Ronald Reagan, a former b-movie actor and former Governor of California.
Running Blind
Jackson Browne’s “Running on Empty” evokes the heartache of pure, unadulterated, bankrupt nostalgia.
Driving somewhere, uncertain of where they are headed, they recall their youth and how they used to feel in control. But now, on a highway that will end for everyone, eventually, they feel old. Worse yet, they don’t know how they got there or where they are going.
In sixty-nine I was twenty-one and I called the road my own
I don’t know when that road turned, into the road I’m on
Just going through the motions. And its not just them: its their friends, too.
Look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through
Looking into their eyes I see them running too
They are running behind in their own life, not being able to catch up with what they once imagined as a bright future.
Once in a while, they see a fellow traveler and try to get a smile out of ‘em.
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
A smile here and and another mile on the road… what does it add up to?
Emptiness.
Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I’m running behind
Sung with gusto, “Running on Empty” is the quintessence of late 1970s America. A crisis of confidence. A lack of faith in one’s own future, rapidly running out.
Running on. And running behind.
An Upbeat Note
America survived the 1970s.
Inflation lowered. Crime fell. Gas prices became manageable. Employment was up. And there was still faith in American democracy.
Well, now its 2023 (soon to be 2024).
Are we running on empty?
No matter what, no matter the year, its an awesome song. We get old. We get excited. We push forward. The sun comes up. We are running on.
The Sociology Place 