How Soul Asylum’s “Runaway Train” Saved Lives and Changed the World episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 20, 2025 · 19 MIN

How Soul Asylum’s “Runaway Train” Saved Lives and Changed the World

from Professor of Rock

Coming up next, a very interesting interview that was a little off at first but got better as we went along. It’s about Soul Asylum's Runaway Train, a song that started out as one thing and ended up making a powerful change worldwide. It came out of crippling depression and it took years to finish. Initially, the lyrics were too similar to another #1 Hit from another time, but after pushing through some horrendous trials, one day a metaphor hit singer-songwriter Dave Pirner like a bolt of lightning. An old memory of playing with a toy train, and he wrote Runaway Train we know, in a few minutes. Then the song’s video would have even more impact, helping solve crimes and saving lives. A song that came from Dave's lowest times changed the world in a way he could never have imagined. Get the story next on Professor of Rock.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jun 20, 2025

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How Soul Asylum’s “Runaway Train” Saved Lives and Changed the World

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