Renegade lyrics

It's a metaphor for breaking out of what is expected of you, in particular, being locked into a show business idiom. By the time this song was written, Michael Martin Murphey was already experiencing the genre lock-in by the music industry. It inspired this song, which is arguably the first "crossover" from country to "hard" rock -- it was definitely received as "edgy" at the time.

So in order to develop this metaphor, he's using a jumble of imagery from the "wild-west" - perhaps the aftermath of a train robbery, a jailbreak, a gambler's escape from being hanged, etc.

Released from his contract with Epic Records, whose execs are well-known for exerting creative control against artists, these words must have come quite naturally:

Loose at last
Loose from your past
And loose from an image
That tries to change too fast

Now you`re deaf to any voice
Trying to change your choice
There is no role
Because there is no cast

This album seems all but forgotten, even though it features John Denver, Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels, and John McEuen... Michael Martin Murphey was quite influential, especially in Austin's "redneck rock" scene.