Runnin' Down A Dream

It's about the different stages of a journey through life in the context of a road trip. The first verse is happy, it's nice outside and they are singing along to the radio. The second verse is a little darker. It is raining, and he has to rub his eyes to keep his concentration. In the third verse, he puts the pedal down to speed up and can see the goal ahead. The entire song he is pushing toward the dream or destination of a road trip.

You people are pitiful You must not have any spititual substance in you. The drugs have kept you off course.

The "Mystery of Life" or the "Special Connection" he feels but can't quite figure out. "come to me"

Life is that roadtrip....

ANd he knows there is comething good "down the line" especially for him. He has faith in the process.

ANd they were singing Runaway... probably from all the BS in the world.....

Tom made the reference to Del Shannon just as a quick one-off name check for his friend, who was a kind of old-time 50s crooner type who had written the #1 hit "Little Runaway" back in 1961 and was hanging around the studio a lot when Tom was recording Full Moon Fever in 1988. They got along really good, I think Tom admired him since he was much older than him and was kind of a fish out of water in the new music world.

The imagery makes this song really tremendously sad since Del killed himself just two years after this song was released.

Yea but the song still rocks

How dare you call TOM PETTY a fool!! He is one of the greatest rock legends in the entire course of history. And what is wrong with being on drugs? They're fun and help to create the best lyrics.

this is just a great song for gettin in a car and drivin wherever the road takes u...just roll down the windows, crank some music, and get completely lost. great guitar solo by campbell at the end.

Of course he was on drugs when he made this song, it's Tom Petty!

A catchy song that just never gets old. A classic by every sense of the word.

The part "me and Del were singin' little Runaway" is a reference to Del Shannon. Tom Petty and him were friends before Del died.

Love this song. Nuff said

Im def. with EATaPEACH on the reference to the life journey, but along with many other petty songs, i think there are also some references to grass. I think this song follows the process of smokin verse by verse. In the first verse, the sun beating down could be a reference to pot, like sunshine. and he also says i was flying, or high. Second verse, he talks about some side effects like rubbing his eyes, and he says its always cold, like when your body temp. decreases when smoking pot. Im really not sure about this, but sometimes pot can be reffered to as a rainy day woman, which may tie into him saying the rain was unstoppable. In the third verse he says the sky grew dark which =no sunshine, so the pots wore off some. And maybe the last couple of lines could be him going to get his fix