Summer Deep Dive: Sheryl Crow's "Run Baby Run"

Tension and Release And A Stellar Vocal Performance

On August 3, 1993 I was studying for the New York Bar exam, so the release of Sheryl Crow’s “Tuesday Night Music Club” escaped my notice. Its singles “Leaving Las Vegas,” “Run, Baby Run,” and (Billboard #2) “All I Wanna Do” filled the airwaves and won three Grammy Awards including Record Of The Year, Best New Artist and Best Female Vocal Performance.

I have since caught up.

Today’s Summer Deep Dive looks at my favorite cut, “Run Baby Run” which beautifully manipulates tension and release behind a powerful vocal performance.

Crow explained:

The meaning of [Run Baby Run] was really about a person who was sort of caught in between generations. She was raised by hippies in a time of real conservative social structure. I wrote that song with a couple of friends of mine the night the election results came in when we were watching the government change from conservative George Bush to young, unconventional, good-looking Bill Clinton. That was a large influence on the song.

Crow places the birth…