CHAPTER SEVEN

I wrote Renegade because I ran away from home when I was 14 years old and hitchhiked to California 7,500 miles on my own and I wanted to capture that feeling and I wanted to remember it. But particularly the feeling of being on the highway and the way you are in a place that no one on earth knows where you are. You are in your own private world and yes it was extremely dangerous and a lot of crazy stuff happened and it was 1974 and America was actually as crazy as it is now. So it was not a safe experience, but it was the adventure of a life time.

I want them to feel like they’re hitchhiking and the world is spread out in front of them and there’s no limitations. There’s nothing to hold them back. It is the most freeing feeling. I mean, I realize that no one can do it anymore and probably no one should have done it then. But since I did it, I know what it feels like. I can tell you from that experience, that it was not like anything else I’ve ever done.

Don’t look back, burn every bridge.
Tell everyone to go to hell
Don’t give up, never say die
Leave all the past behind

Pretty much sums it up. I got nothing to add.

It’s funny to be 63 and singing a song about myself when I was 14 and to find how much I have in common with that 14 year old person. The fire, the anger, the refusal to want to put up with other people’s ideas of who I am. I’ve felt that way forever. So it’s a strange coming home when I sing that song. Every time I sing it, I’m really not sure if I’m 14 or 63.