1977 · Behind the Songs
A nearly six-minute instrumental on a vocal group’s album — and it won a Grammy.
Earth, Wind & Fire was famous for voices — Maurice White’s earthy lead and Philip Bailey’s soaring falsetto. So the boldest move on All ’n All, released November 21, 1977 on Columbia as the band’s eighth studio album, was a track with almost no singing at all. “Runnin’,” side two, track three, runs 5:50 and was written by White with Larry Dunn and Eduardo del Barrio. It lets the horns, the rhythm section and the percussion do all the talking.
Born from a South American Journey
White traced the album’s spark to a month-long journey through Argentina and Brazil, and you can hear the travel in the music: percussion and horns trade lines like a band stretching its legs without worrying about a destination. The track was cut in Los Angeles, at Hollywood Sound Recorders and The Burbank Studios, where the band built the groove layer by layer. A 1999 reissue of the album later added a demo of “Runnin’” plus the 3:19 “Original Hollywood Mix” for anyone who wants to hear how that groove was assembled.
The Grammy
At the Grammy Awards, “Runnin’” won Best R&B Instrumental Performance — an instrumental showcase triumphing on a vocal group’s album — while All ’n All also took Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus. The album itself climbed to No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop chart and No. 3 on the Billboard 200, eventually earning Triple Platinum certification. It remains the quietest Grammy on the band’s shelf, and perhaps the most telling: proof that Earth, Wind & Fire’s musicianship could carry a record all on its own.
