“Roll With The Changes” by REO Speedwagon

"Roll with the Changes" was the lead single from REO Speedwagon's 1978 album You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tuna Fish, and it's Kevin Cronin's song all the way: he wrote it, arranged it, sang it, played piano and acoustic guitar on it and co-produced it with Paul Grupp and Gary Richrath. Cronin had rejoined the band for their 1976 album R.E.O. after four years away, and the tune came to him behind the wheel when REO moved from Illinois to California; he started singing to himself, words kept coming, and he ended up steering with his knees before he pulled over to write it all down.

He has called it autobiographical, about changes of address and of heart alike. Cronin worried it lacked a chorus, but Richrath heard one, and Neal Doughty's Hammond organ, Bruce Hall's bass and Alan Gratzer's drums drive it home.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.