About The Song
In January 1978, Merle Haggard released “Running Kind” as the second single from his 1977 album *A Working Man Can’t Get Nowhere Today*. The track climbed to number twelve on the Billboard country chart and became one of the most personal songs in his catalog. Written entirely by Haggard, it feels less like a performance and more like a man quietly explaining himself to anyone willing to listen.
The lyrics are direct and unflinching. Haggard sings of being “born the running kind,” with leaving always on his mind and home never truly feeling like home. He describes a life of constant motion — prison walls, back doors, and the highway as the only constant. There’s no self-pity here, just a clear-eyed acknowledgment that some people are wired for the road and that trying to change that nature often brings more pain than peace.
By the late 1970s, Haggard had already lived the story he was singing. His early years in Bakersfield, the time served in San Quentin, the rapid rise to fame, and the personal struggles that followed all fed into the song’s quiet authority. Unlike some of his more outwardly defiant anthems, “Running Kind” carries the weight of someone who has made peace with his own restlessness — or at least learned to live with it honestly.
The track arrived during a transitional period for Haggard. After the massive success of the early 1970s and the cultural flashpoint of “Okie from Muskogee,” he was exploring more introspective material. *A Working Man Can’t Get Nowhere Today* mixed working-class laments with personal reflection, and “Running Kind” stood out as one of its most revealing moments. It showed a man who had spent years on the road now turning the lens inward.
What gives the song its lasting power is its universality. While it draws directly from Haggard’s life, it speaks to anyone who has ever felt the pull to keep moving — whether that means changing jobs, cities, or relationships. The honesty of the delivery makes it feel less like a country song and more like a conversation with an old friend who has finally stopped trying to explain himself and simply tells the truth.
Decades later, “Running Kind” remains a fan favorite precisely because it doesn’t try to tie everything up neatly. It leaves the listener with the same restless ache that runs through the song itself. In a catalog full of hits and cultural statements, this quieter track stands as one of Haggard’s most enduring self-portraits — the sound of a man who accepted that some people are simply born to keep moving, and found a kind of dignity in naming that truth out loud.
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Lyric
I was born the runnin’ kind
With leavin’ always on my mind
Home was never home to me at any time
Every front door found me hopin’
I would find the back door open
There just had to be an exit
For the runnin’ kind
Within me there’s a prison
Surrounding me alone
As real as any dungeon with its walls of stone
I know runnin’s not the answer
Yeah, but runnin’s been my nature
And a part of me
That keeps me movin’ on
I was born the runnin’ kind
With leavin’ always on my mind
Home was never home to me at any time
Every front door found me hopin’
I would find the back door open
There just had to be an exit
For the runnin’ kind
I was born the runnin’ kind
With leavin’ always on my mind
Home was never home to me at any time
Every front door found me hopin’
I would find the back door open
There just had to be an exit
For the runnin’ kind