Writing a catchy pop song is no easy feat. If it were, as they say, everybody would be doing it and minting money in the process. That’s why it can be somewhat confounding when someone knows the formula but decides against utilizing it.
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Todd Rundgren churned out a picture-perfect pop single in 1972 with the song “I Saw The Light”. Despite the song’s success and its importance to Rundgren’s burgeoning career, he later displayed some ambivalence about the hit and its status as one of the signature songs of his career.
Anything Goes, According to Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren was already showing signs of being a one-man musical army when he settled in to make his 1972 album Something/Anything? He had already gone through two bands by that time (Nazz and Runt). He had a habit of playing all the instruments on the records made by those outfits anyway.
With Something/Anything?, he dropped that pretense and released the album under his own name. Rundgren was so brimming with ideas that he decided to make it double. Three sides of the record are self-made studio creations, while the fourth consists of live, in-studio takes played with session musicians.
Todd Rundgren heard hit-single potential in “I Saw The Light”. That’s why he chose to put it at the start of side one, mimicking what he had witnessed Motown acts do for years by leading off with their hits. He was right about it being a hit, but he’d later show some regret for how he created it.
“Light” Reading
Todd Rundgren wrote “I Saw The Light” in about 15 minutes. He claimed that he was taking stimulants around that time so that he could work quicker, but that they also prevented him from stopping to take a breath to ponder what he was writing.
After the fact, he claimed that he wrote the song in such a rush that there wasn’t really any forethought behind it, nor did he have any kind of plan. As a result, he worried that the rhymes came out sounding a bit simplistic. While it made for a catchy tune, he was dismayed that there wasn’t more depth behind it.
We think that his assessments of “I Saw The Light” are a bit on the harsh side. The song is a proven classic that has stood the test of time. But Rundgren did make a career pivot from that point, as he started writing music and lyrics that were a tad more complex.
What Is “I Saw The Light” About?
Rundgren’s concerns aside, “I Saw The Light” spins a neat little yarn about summoning the courage to love someone. The narrator is roiling with unease as the song begins: “I was feeling something wasn’t right.”
Though he senses that something is amiss inside him, he also knows that he wants to be with her.
“And a feeling hit me, oh so strong about you.”
The narrator doesn’t put a fine point on his feelings, so it’s hard to tell if its angst or excitement burbling up inside him. We know that he nearly blows it: “But I tried to run.”
He eventually gets over it, leading to a triumphant finish: “And I ran out before / But I won’t do it anymore / Can’t you see the light in my eyes?“
The phrase “I Saw The Light” is shorthand for a positive realization, such as the one that the protagonist of the song undergoes. Todd Rundgren saw a different light in his career, one that pushed away slightly away from such gleaming pop nuggets.
Photo by Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns
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