'Living On The Run' by Miranda Lambert – Lyrics & Meaning

Earlier this year, Miranda Lambert ushered in a new era. Having inked a deal with Republic Records – a label where her desires and her vision were understood – the 'Tequila Does' hitmaker found herself refreshed, newly empowered and inspired to create the music she has always strived for.

What has resulted since has been a string of well-received singles, like 'Wranglers', 'Dammit Randy' and 'No Man's Land', all eventually, paving the way for her tenth solo studio release, Postcards From Texas.

The new album is full of Lambert's trademark fire and sass, but no song burns quite like 'Living On The Run', the star's smokey take on a David Allen Coe classic.

'Living On The Run' is a classic country rocker, a steady journey told in measured beats and calculated strings. The song is smoldering, heated by impressive guitar flourishes and crackling with spirited keys. It is also controlled, never straying too far from its paint-by-numbers '70s rock sound. But hey, if it wasn't broke then, why fix it?

"Seems like it's rainin' harder today
Rain must of known I was comin' this way
It ain't easy living on the run"

'Living On The Run' maps an outlaw's journey, and the song finds its narrator on the lam from the law and from love. The tune opens with the unnamed outlaw headed for the border against vicious rain, fleeing some unspoken crisis while holding onto the only truth he knows: "It ain't easy living on the run."

"Well I loved me a woman in Tennessee
Broke free from the jail now she’s gunnin’ for me
I’m on the run, living on the run
I’m on the run, living on the run"

This outlaw loved and left a woman in Tennessee, and now that he's free from his imprisonment, she's on the hunt for the man who did her wrong. The narrator explains that she wanted more from him than he could provide with his wheeling, dealing outlaw ways, so he had to cut her loose, hinting that it's one thing to love an outlaw, it's another thing entirely to keep one in your arms.

"Women love an outlaw, so they say
I'll be an outlaw till my dyin’ day
It ain't easy living on the run"

No matter how much he loved or how far he fled from said woman in Tennessee, the narrator proudly remarks "I'll be an outlaw till my dyin’ day", which means a life lived on the run, unwilling to be tied down.

“There’s a lot of running around on this record: running to, running from," Lambert shared of 'Living On The Run' in statement. "I felt if we could really capture it, keep that raw ‘70s feel like this record, we should do it. You don’t get more outlaw than David Allen Coe, who is so unapologetically himself. That outlaw thing, it’s inside all of us."

All in all, Postcards from Texas is meant to serve as a love letter of sorts from her to the listeners.

From commenting on toxic relationships and the need to be free, to more profound sentiments on life and love, the 14-song album is full of lessons learned and words of wisdom.

“There’s a lot of bad decisions on this record, but that’s part of growing up," she offered. "It’s part of the experience, that human experience is figuring it out. You don’t learn from things going great. Throughout this record, there’s a lot of tenderness and living in the moment of the pain. It’s not glorifying it, but explaining."

Seems like it's rainin' harder today
Rain must of known I was comin' this way
It ain't easy living on the run

I pick up my step, pull my belt down tight
I can make it to the border by Saturday night
It ain't easy living on the run

Well I loved me a woman in Tennessee
Broke free from the jail now she’s gunnin’ for me
I’m on the run, living on the run
I’m on the run, living on the run

A woman wanted more than a man could steal
From the bottom of the decks where I learned to deal
It ain't easy living on the run

Women love an outlaw, so they say
I'll be an outlaw till my dyin’ day
It ain't easy living on the run

Yeah I left me a woman in Tennessee
Broke free from the jail now she’s gunnin’ for me
I’m on the run, living on the run
I’m on the run, living on the run

Well I love me a woman in Tennessee
I broke free from the jail now she’s gunnin’ for me
I’m on the run, living on the run

Yeah well I loved me a woman in Tennessee
I broke free from the jail now she’s gunnin’ for me
I’m on the run, living on the run
I’m on the run, living on the run

Ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo
Ooo hmm hmm

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