The Harters, ‘If I Run’ — Story Behind the Lyrics

The Boot sat down with sibling trio, The Harters, to discuss their current single, 'If I Run,' which was written by Leslie Harter, Michael Harter and Rachel Williams.

Mike: When you co-write, it's hard to pin point whose life it's about. Leslie was thinking one thing, I was thinking another thing, and Rachel was thinking another thing, but it all came together. For me, I was thinking about my grandparents on both my mom's side and my dad's side. They were both married over 50 years. I think that's what that song is about: "Will you stay with me through the good and the bad? Is this a forever situation we're in here? So if I run, will you run after me? If I walk, will you wait patiently?" Those are the kind of questions I was thinking about.

Leslie: Mine was completely different! [laughs] My husband had left me and my two kids and booked it back to Arizona. At that point, I was thinking that people give up so freakin' easily. If one thing goes wrong, it's like, "Oh we have to get a divorce or breakup." I was thinking about the next person I met ... would he be with me through the good and bad? Because if not, I'm out of here! [laughs] Of course, if you leave someone and they continue to stalk you for years, that is a different situation. It's not quite the same thing. [laughs]

Mike: It's like, "OK ... stop running now! [laughs] This is over!" But that's what it takes. You've got to love somebody enough. There will be a time that if you love somebody enough and they leave you, and you will fight for them. You're a pretty humbled person to do that -- not stand up and be arrogant, but to have pride and say, "I'll do anything to make this work."

Scott Harter: I remember the day they wrote it, because I had been writing a song on my own. I walked in that afternoon and said, "I just wrote a really good song!" They said, "I bet we just wrote a better one!" [laughs]