Song by the
Modern Lovers from their
album The Modern Lovers
Sounding like the insecure, hopeful, exuberant teenager he is, Jonathan Richman hollers "One, two three, four, five, six!" and the band comes crashing in with the best three-chord song the world has heard since Wild Thing. Jonathan's out driving late at night with the radio on, past the Stop n' Shop, out onto the highway and into the lonely woods where he can glimpse neon signs in the distance. He's in love with modern love, modern girls, and modern rock and roll; he's in love with driving fast, and with Massachusetts and he can hear the spirit of 1956 on his car radio. He feels, he says, like a roadrunner. Three-fourths of the way in he explodes the song from the inside and rearranges it into rambling, breathless free-form poetry punctuated by the band's shouts of "RADIO ON!" before it all comes staggering to an end.
When asked if there were any songs he liked, Johnny Rotten picked this one. And you can hear the Sex Pistols playing it (sort of) during a studio rehearsal on the Great Rock and Roll Swindle soundtrack.
Roadrunner, roadrunner
Going faster miles an hour
Gonna drive past the Stop 'n' Shop
With the radio on
I'm in love with Massachusetts
And the neon when it's cold outside
And the highway when it's late at night
Got the radio on
I'm like the roadrunner
Alright
I'm in love with modern moonlight
one-twenty-eight when it's dark outside
I'm in love with Massachusetts
I'm in love with the radio on
It helps me from being alone late at night
It helps me from being lonely late at night
I don't feel so bad now in the car
Don't feel so alone, got the radio on
Like the roadrunner
That's right
Said welcome to the spirit of 1956
Patient in the bushes next to '57
The highway is your girlfriend as you go by quick
Suburban trees, suburban speed
And it smells like heaven
And I say roadrunner once
Roadrunner twice
I'm in love with rock & roll
And I'll be out all night
Roadrunner
That's right
Well now
Roadrunner, roadrunner!
Going faster miles an hour
Gonna drive to the Stop 'n' Shop
With the radio on at night
And me in love with modern moonlight
Me in love with modern rock & roll
Modern girls and modern rock & roll
Don't feel so alone, got the radio on
Like the roadrunner
O.K., now you sing Modern Lovers!
Radio On!
I got the AM
Radio On!
Got the car, got the AM
Radio On!
Got the AM sound, got the
Radio On!
Got the rockin' modern neon sound
Radio On!
I got the car from Massachusetts, got the
Radio On!
I got the power of Massachusetts when it's late at night
Radio On!
I got the modern sounds of modern Massachusetts
I've got the world, got the turnpike, got the
I've got the, got the power of the AM
Got the, late at night, (?), rock & roll late at night
The factories and the auto signs
Got the power of modern sounds
Alright
Right
Bye bye!