(I'm a) Road Runner

Walker plays the distinctive tenor saxophone solo, backed by Mike Terry on baritone saxophone with Willie Woods on guitar.^[3] During the recording, it was discovered that Walker could play the song in only two keys. So Walker sang in a key that he could not play, and after being recorded, the saxophone track was sped up to match.^[4]

The pictorial single sleeve used a running bird similar to the Road Runner cartoon character.

Junior Walker & the Allstars

• Junior Walker – tenor saxophone solo, vocals
• Willie Woods – guitar
• Victor Thomas – organ
• James Graves – drums

Additional personnel

• Johnny Dawson – tambourine
• The Funk Brothers – other instrumentation^[5]
  • Johnny Griffith – piano
  • James Jamerson – bass
  • Joe Messina – guitar
  • Norris Patterson – tenor saxophone
  • Mike Terry – baritone saxophone
  • Eddie Willis – guitar

• Humble Pie included an extended version of this song titled, "Road Runner/Road Runner's 'G' Jam", in their 1972 album Smokin'.
• British-American rock group Fleetwood Mac recorded the song with Dave Walker on lead vocals for their 1973 album Penguin.
• The Jerry Garcia Band performed a version of the song in 1975, which was featured on The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 2: Let It Rock.
• James Taylor performed his version, in September 1976, in episode 1 of the second season of Saturday Night Live.^{[citation needed]} Taylor also included the song on his 2008 album Covers.
• Steve Gaines from Lynyrd Skynyrd performed the song with his own band, Crawdad, in the mid-1970s. A recording of them performing it was released on Gaines's 2001 live compilation CD, Okie Special.
• Peter Frampton included the song on his 1977 album I'm in You.
• Publishing rights organization BMI had songwriters Holland-Dozier-Holland credited with co-writing Steve Winwood's 1988 song "Roll with It" due to its resemblance to "(I'm a) Roadrunner".
• The Grateful Dead performed a version as the opening song at their concert on March 21, 1986 at Hampton Coliseum.