Lyrics Page
Running From Me
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Oct 29, 2026 updated
Verified editorial review
Song Meaning
Jon Foreman's narrator opens with a blunt confession: a lying, cheating, thieving coward trying to follow Christ, hoping time or grace might fix what he calls an old dog with new tricks. The chorus reframes the whole song — he claimed to need room to breathe and truth to break free, but the truth he was running from was never God's; it was himself. A neighbor girl down the street offers a quieter counterpoint, saying the flowers take care of the bees, while she asks who will take care of her, her father away at war. The second verse turns prickly and defensive, dismissing history as violence and sex and owning up to being too direct, politically incorrect. Near the end the questions get bigger and less comfortable: who am I, who on earth is God? The answer isn't kind, he admits, but it's the only one he's got. The la-la-la refrain circles back to running away from me, turning self-evasion into something like a chant. It's a song about the distance between the person singing and the person he keeps trying not to see.
Lyrics Verified by Editorial Team
I'm stuck with these sins
I'm hoping maybe time can resolve them
I'm a lying, cheating, thieving coward
Who's trying to follow Christ
I'm hoping he can fix this old dog with new tricks
'Cause death is my only device
Yeah death is my only device
I said I needed room to breathe
I said I needed truth, break free
But all that's truth that I was running from you
Turns out I was running from me
There's a girl who lives down my street
She says the flowers take care of the bees
She tells me I'm poor and my daddy's at war
Who's going to take care of me?
Now if history is violence and sex
I'd rather not pay my respects
If I've caused offence
If I'm too direct
I'm just trying to talk some sense
I'm politically incorrect
I said, I said I needed room to breathe
I said I needed truth, break free
But all that's truth that I was running from you
Turns out I was running from me
La, la, la, la, la, la
Running away from me
La, la, la, la, la, la
Running away from me
I've been giving this a lot of thought
Who am I, who on earth is God?
The answer ain't kind and the reason's fine
But by God it's the only answer I got
It's the only chance I've got
I said I needed room to breathe
I said I needed truth, break free
But all that's truth that I was running from you
Turns out I was running from me
It turns out I was running from me
La, la, la, la, la, la
Running away from me
La, la, la, la, la, la
Running away from me