“Send Me On My Way” by Rusted Root

"Send Me on My Way" first surfaced as a rough version on Rusted Root's 1992 album Cruel Sun, then came back remixed in 1994 as the lead single from When I Woke, the band's second album. Frontman Michael Glabicki wrote the words, and the rest of the band, Liz Berlin, John Buynak, Jim Dispirito, Jim Donovan, Patrick Norman and Jennifer Wertz, built the music around him.

It's a bouncing, percussive worldbeat romp built around a chanted vocal riff, and it split the critics: one later dismissed the vocal riff as a poor imitation of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, while another credited its pep and pure optimism for its success, calling it tailor-made for a kids' movie. Sean Alquist filmed the video in the South Dakota badlands late in 1994, and the single reached 72 on the Hot 100.

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