Always On The Run

Alright Zoo Freaks, the Zoo Crew just dropped the needle on something that still hits like a freight train rolling through the canyon. Lenny Kravitz’s “Always On The Run” from Mama Said has that riff that gets your boots tapping and your head nodding before the first verse even lands. This one came out of a wild, spontaneous jam between Kravitz and Slash, the guitar slinger from Guns N’ Roses, and the story behind it is pure rock and roll chaos mixed with a little heart.

Kravitz and Slash actually crossed paths back in high school at Beverly Hills High, though they barely knew each other then. Years later, after Let Love Rule was out and making waves, Kravitz spotted Guns N’ Roses at the American Music Awards. They kept glancing at each other like they recognized something familiar. Slash walked up and said something about getting laid to Kravitz’s records a whole lot, and then it clicked that they went to school together. From there they started talking about working on something. Kravitz invited Slash into the studio to lay down a solo on Fields of Joy, which opens Mama Said, and that session was so fluid they decided to write a song together.

Slash was finishing a European tour with Guns N’ Roses and jumped on the Concorde from London to New York. He showed up early, and Kravitz had a gallon of vodka and a bag of ice waiting. They went straight into the studio and the riff for Always On The Run just came pouring out. Kravitz played the drums while Slash handled the guitar. Then Kravitz added his own guitar part, the bass, the vocals, and even brought in the horn players. Slash played his solo and it was done in one long, wild day. He flew back to Los Angeles the next morning. Kravitz later called it a wild day, and looking back you can hear that energy locked into the track. The lyrics come straight from his mama’s wisdom. She was always telling him to slow down, think things through, stay home before dawn, leave the bad boys alone, and remember that life is a gift. But Kravitz was on that crazy ride and couldn’t slow down, so the chorus just admits “but I’m always on the run.” The whole album even takes its name from the opening line of this song. Mama Said is filled with that personal push and pull, especially since Kravitz was going through the end of his marriage to Lisa Bonet around that time. The track later showed up in movies like The Waterboy and Go, and Kravitz even joined Guns N’ Roses onstage in Paris during their Use Your Illusion tour to play it live with the band.

Slash has told his side too. He had the riff kicking around and it didn’t quite fit what Guns N’ Roses was doing at the time. Some stories mention that former drummer Steven Adler had trouble with the feel of it, so Slash held onto it. When Kravitz heard him playing it, he asked if he could use it. Slash said it was a free piece of property, and the rest is history. They have stayed friends ever since, and that one-day session produced a song that still feels like pure freedom on the road.

Lenny Kravitz’s whole journey into this music started way before those studio sessions. Born Leonard Albert Kravitz in New York City on May 26, 1964, he came from a creative family. His mother was actress Roxie Roker, known for playing Helen Willis on The Jeffersons, and his father was a television news producer. Music was everywhere from the start. As a little kid he was banging on pots and pans in the kitchen like they were drums, and by the age of five he already knew he wanted to be a musician. He picked up piano, guitar, and drums early, soaking up the R&B, soul, gospel, jazz, and classical that his parents played around the house. When he was about ten the family moved to Los Angeles so his mom could do the show, and that is when rock and roll really hit him. He joined the California Boys Choir and got into the music program at Beverly Hills High School. Out in LA he discovered Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, and Cream, mixing all that heavy electric guitar energy with the funk and soul he grew up on. That blend is what you still hear in everything he does.

By his teens he had a tough relationship with his dad and left home to chase the music on his own. He lived out of a rented car for a while, doing whatever session work he could to survive, and even tried a stage name called Romeo Blue for a spell. He formed a band called Wave that mixed all kinds of styles, but it never quite took off. In the mid-eighties he connected with engineer and keyboardist Henry Hirsch, who shared his love for vintage gear and real instruments. Together they started recording the songs that would become Let Love Rule. Kravitz shopped the demos and finally walked into Virgin Records one Friday afternoon with a cassette. The A&R person gave him fifteen minutes, and before long the whole room was listening. They heard something that sounded like John Lennon meets Prince and offered him a deal on the spot. He dropped the Romeo Blue name, went back to Lenny Kravitz, and Let Love Rule came out in 1989 right around the time he and Lisa Bonet welcomed their daughter Zoë into the world. From there Mama Said followed in 1991, with Always On The Run as the lead single, and the rest is a long ride of albums, tours, and that unmistakable sound that mixes rock, funk, soul, and whatever else moves him.

These days you can catch Lenny still out there doing his thing on his official site at lennykravitz.com, or follow along on Facebook, Instagram, and X. Fans have their own hangouts too, like the French community over at Lenny Kravitz Online and the active group on Facebook where folks share stories and keep the spirit going. It all ties back to that same free-spirited energy that makes tunes like Always On The Run feel right at home here on THE ZOO, where we spin the deep cuts and the classics for all you Zoo Freaks who know the difference between a song and a real ride.