REO Speedwagon’s “Take It On the Run” was a hit single…but it almost didn’t even appear on their album.
Singer Kevin Cronin recently revealed to Ultimate Classic Rock Nights that it originally was not meant to be on Hi Infidelity. “We pretty much thought that the songwriting process was done,” he said, “but what I used to do, right before we went in, was go out to Richrath’s ranch and take just one last carousal through his notebooks and through his demo tapes. I said, ‘Do you have anything else left, Gary?’ He goes, ‘Well, I got this one thing. It’s kind of a slow song; I dunno, it’s probably not anything.’