Runaway Train

Pirner wrote Runaway Train, which Michael Beinhorn produced for Columbia. Pirner played acoustic guitar on it after a breakdown brought on by fear of losing his hearing, Sterling Campbell took over the drums from Grant Young, and Booker T. Jones played Hammond B3. Pirner said the world-weary vocal came from being made to sing it a hundred times. He described a runaway train spinning out of control as a metaphor for depression, and the song as a sad, reflective piece reminding listeners that they are not alone. An early version used a refrain too close to Neil Sedaka's Laughter in the Rain, so he rewrote it, and he wrote the final lyrics in one sitting. Pirner has said the song was shaped by listening to Woody Guthrie and reading One Hundred Years of Solitude. Murphy recalled that a demo made in a loft with Brian Paulson was close to the final version, with two acoustic guitars and the same harmony vocals. When the band played it at the University of Minnesota, some listeners thought it was a cover.

It was released in the UK on 1 June 1993 and its video premiered on MTV's 120 Minutes on 16 May 1993. The single reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100, number seven in the UK and number one in Canada. It won the Grammy for Best Rock Song in 1994, though Pirner did not attend and Meat Loaf accepted it. Beinhorn said it reminded him of a classic country-western song. Rolling Stone's Matt Diehl called it a lush country lament, and Spin's Charles Aaron a subtly gripping rock anthem. Beinhorn said nearly all of Pirner's vocals were recorded with only Murphy in the room. Campbell, called in when Young's drum takes were not working, said he came up with the breakdown where only the kick drum plays.

Tony Kaye directed the video, which showed photographs of missing children. Pirner recalled Kaye saying he wanted to put pictures of kids on milk cartons and try to find them. Each country's version used its own missing children. Pirner said Kaye brought a concept that had little to do with runaway children as such, and that the band took a public service announcement approach. Stereogum reported that of the thirty-six children featured, twenty-one were located and recovered, and MTV ranked it the sixth video of 1993. After the MTV Alternative Nation tour, Pirner refused for a time to play the song live. At the Troubadour in West Hollywood in August 2012 he introduced it as something the band had worked out in the dressing room. The upload in the hypersongs web is the official video.