Oprah Winfrey has built a career around influential interviews, landmark television moments and major media ventures, but there is one experiment from The Oprah Winfrey Show she considers an undeniable mistake.
During the July 21 episode of Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, Winfrey looked back at “Run On,” the gospel-inspired theme song she briefly performed for her daytime program in the late 1990s.
When Keke Palmer began singing its opening line, Winfrey immediately stopped her and called the recording “one of the mistakes of my career.”
Palmer attempted to defend the performance, but Winfrey remained unconvinced. She acknowledged taking singing lessons before recording the track and concluded that the finished product demonstrated that singing was not among her strengths.
Keke Palmer Tried to Defend the Theme Song
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Palmer introduced the subject by singing, “I think I’m gonna run on,” prompting Winfrey to respond, “Girl, please. That is one of the mistakes of my career,” Winfrey said, according to Entertainment Weekly.
When Palmer argued that the song was not bad, Winfrey rejected the compliment. “You know it was bad,” she said. “You’re just saying that ’cause you’re looking at me. It was pretty bad.”
Winfrey said she had taken vocal lessons before recording the theme. Producers also surrounded her voice with a large choir in an attempt to create the sound of a church performance. Palmer suggested that the approach could have worked, but Winfrey replied, “It didn’t work this time.”
‘Run On’ Arrived as Winfrey Considered Ending Her Show
Winfrey explained that the theme song emerged during a period when she was questioning whether she wanted to continue hosting her long-running program. “I was trying to decide, am I gonna end the show or not end the show?” she recalled.
“And then I had a little talk with Jesus, and Jesus said, ‘You gotta keep going.’” After deciding to continue, Winfrey became interested in adapting an old spiritual for the show’s opening. “Run On” was introduced with an energetic choir arrangement and a performance built around Winfrey’s vocals.
The media mogul said the production eventually revealed a simple problem: “And then we realized, I can’t sing.” The theme was used only briefly, but its unusual place in the program’s history allowed it to remain familiar to viewers who watched the show during the late 1990s.
Whitney Houston Made the Song Even More Memorable
The song later became part of a memorable exchange between Winfrey and Whitney Houston. During a 1999 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Houston playfully sang the theme’s opening line while discussing music with the host.
Winfrey responded with visible embarrassment as the audience laughed. The Oprah Winfrey Show remained on the air until 2011, ending after 25 seasons and thousands of episodes.