Jon Richman part 1

"My father's a salesman," Jonathan Richman explains. "That's where 'Roadrunner' came from. He's a traveling salesman. He sells to military installations all over New England. That's how I got that love for 7-Up signs and Norwood and Foxboro and all these different places. I would sit in the car with him and we would drive all over this area, up and down New England. It was like a whole other world to me."

Jonathan is sitting in a Cambridge natural food restaurant at 11 in the morning. He is wearing a T-shirt and shorts. His muscular, unshaven appearance is surprisingly different from the publicity-pic Richman.

One cliche writers have used to describe Jonathan Richman is that he resembles Beaver Cleaver. But with his scruffy beard, crooked smile and the way he looks down and then straight at me as he talks, Jonathan Richman reminds me of pre-Born to Run Bruce Springsteen. to be continued

by Bill Flanagan Trouser Press November 1979