Roadrunner (Jonathan Richman song)

"Roadrunner"
Cover of the 1977 Netherlands single
Single by the Modern Lovers
from the album The Modern Lovers
B-side"Pablo Picasso"
ReleasedOctober 1976
RecordedApril 1972
Genre
Length
  • 4:04 (1972/1976 version, "Roadrunner (Twice)")
  • 4:40 (1975/1977 version, "Roadrunner (Once)")
LabelBeserkley
Songwriter(s)Jonathan Richman
Producer(s)John Cale
Official audio
"Roadrunner (Once)" on YouTube

"Roadrunner" is a song written by Jonathan Richman and recorded in various versions by Richman and his band, in most cases credited as the Modern Lovers. Richman has described it as an ode to Massachusetts Route 128.

Critic Greil Marcus described it as "the most obvious song in the world, and the strangest".[1] Rolling Stone ranked it No. 269 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004 and No. 77 in 2021. It charted at no.11 on the UK chart in 1977.[2]

  1. ^ Greil Marcus, Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century, ISBN 0-674-53580-4, 1989
  2. ^ "Roadrunner". Official Charts.