Take It On The Run Time For Me To Fly Reo Speedwagon

Take It On The Run Album: Hi Infidelity (1981)
Time for Me to Fly Album: You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tuna Fish (1978)
by REO Speedwagon

Take It On The Run was Gary Richrath's answer to fellow band co-leader Kevin Cronin's "Keep On Loving You" (#1 in 1981) - both were going through difficulties in their relationships, Cronin with his wife Denise and Richrath with his girlfriend Debbie. Said Richrath: "When I wrote that, I woke up one night, half asleep, and sat down in front of the TV. There was a soap opera on it. I was just sitting there, strumming a guitar, thinking, 'God, these guys' relationships are worse than mine.' I just sat there and sang vocals about the effects of gossip and relationships breaking up, which was what was on the tube and all that was similar to what was going on in my life."

Originally, this was called "Don't Let Me Down," with lyrics geared more toward men than the final result.

This song peaked on the Hot 100 on May 30, 1981, a little over a month before MTV went on the air. The band shot a concert video for the song with director Jay Dubin, which was the ninth video MTV aired when the network launched on August 1, 1981. Shortly after the video started, the tape got glitchy and cut out, a bad omen for the band, which was soon replaced on the network by more charismatic bands that made concept videos.

The Hi Infidelity track "In Your Letter" also deals with a cheating woman. Kevin Cronin's wife Denise offered a retort in a 1981 People magazine story. "They should have called the album Wives on the Run. The band gets all this sympathy and is excused for all that goes on when they’re on the road. No one even mentions the problems of the wives who are home alone."

Pitbull and Enrique Iglesias poached the vocal melody and the "Heard it from a friend" lyric on their 2016 collaboration, "Messin' Around."

In season 1 of the Netflix series Cobra Kai, Daniel (who now owns an auto dealership), takes Johnny on a test drive when this song comes on the radio. "Do you like Speedwagon?" Johnny asks. "What kind of man doesn't," Johnny replies.

Lead singer Kevin Cronin wrote Time for Me to Fly, which finds him ready to move on from a relationship, even though it's going to hurt. In an interview, he told the story behind the song: "I had been in love with my first love - a girl that I met in high school. But there was a point where I knew that I had to move on, but didn't want to, because I was attached to her. I knew that it wasn't working, so I went to Colorado to put some distance between me and her, even though that wasn't what I consciously did.

When I got there, a friend of mine had a guitar sitting on his porch. I went to play it, and it sounded horrible. I realized that it was in some kind of different tuning, so I just messed around with it. I remembered Richie Havens at Woodstock. When he played, he wrapped his thumb around the top of the neck, and I thought, 'I'll try that.' I did, and sure enough, it sounded good.

A lot of times, that's what happens: you find something on the guitar that you like, and then the things that you're feeling become attached to that music, and that's what the songs are hatched from."

A track from the seventh REO Speedwagon album, "Time for Me to Fly" was their biggest hit at the time, and helped the album, You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tuna Fish, sell over 2 million copies. Two albums later, they broke through to a new level with Hi Infidelity, released in 1980. That one made them stadium-fillers, thanks to the huge hits "Keep On Loving You" and "Take It On The Run."

When MTV went on the air August 1, 1981, REO Speedwagon was one of the biggest acts in America. Most music videos came from European acts at the time, so the network was desperate for American rockers. Even though the song was three years old, MTV put a live video (directed by Jay Dubin) of REO performing this song at McNichols Arena in Denver on April 25, 1981 in rotation. When American bands realized the power of MTV, many began making concept videos.

The song was re-released in 1980 to promote the band's compilation album A Decade of Rock and Roll: 1970 to 1980. This time, it went to #77 US.

Apparently, the girl this song was written about has been missing for decades. "I literally just got a call from this mystery TV show - kind of a reality TV show - that the girl that I wrote 'Time for Me to Fly' about went missing," Cronin said in 2017. "Literally, went missing like, 30 years ago. And they were calling me. I declined to be filmed for the show."

Titled "Kevin Cronin Was Here," season 3 episode 3 of Netflix's crime drama Ozark premiered March 27, 2020. The episode featured the band performing "Time for Me to Fly" live, along with lead character Wendy (played by Laura Linney) singing along to the song in her car.