Lenny Kravitz – Are You Gonna Go My Way

8 February 1993: Kravitz and Craig Ross, 3:32, Virgin title track

Are You Gonna Go My Way is the title track and first single from Lenny Kravitz’s third studio album, released 8 February 1993 on Virgin. Kravitz wrote it with guitarist Craig Ross and produced it himself. The recording runs 3:32. The drums are dry. The riff is a hard funk figure that circles. The vocal asks the question before the second chorus finishes. There is no ballad beside it in the arrangement, and there is no guest singer. The band stays locked.

The lyric presents Kravitz as a chosen messenger and asks whether you will walk with him. Ross and Kravitz keep the figure circling. Video and live shows sold the dreadlocks and flared trousers. The record itself is already plain in the first eight bars: dry drums, the circular riff, the question. Craig Ross’s part is audible in every bar. This is not a soloist covering a band.

The single took Kravitz from cult favourite to global rock radio. It did not chase grunge fashion to do that. Covers and sports introductions keep using the opening figure. At 3:32 it fits a radio slot, and live shows kept it because the riff still reads as a start. Virgin issued it as the title track on 8 February 1993. Kravitz produced.

Ross co-wrote the riff with him. The partnership is the sound of the single: guitar figure, dry drums, no extra singer, no ballad section laid over the top. The question is asked before the second chorus ends. After that the riff circles again. Covers recycle that opening because it is short and recognisable.