"Rock You Like a Hurricane": A Party Sound Track

i-86e2b1f3c6ed9715ab8abba9d7773600-scorpions.jpgLast Saturday night, party animals that we are, some friends and I went on Rhapsody and searched for pop songs that mention "hurricanes." Sweet Jesus, there were a lot of them. And a large percentage used "eye of a hurricane" as a bad love metaphor.

So we were inspired to make a hurricane music soundtrack, which we'll be playing today at my D.C.-based party for Storm World. For pop culture mavens (like Sheril), here are the songs, beginning with the classic "The Hurricane" by Bob Dylan--which, of course, isn't really about a hurricane, and which is the best song of the bunch IMHO. After the jump, I've included some lyrical selections, chosen mostly for their incredible badness:

Hurricane, Bob Dylan

(And She Said) Take Me Now, Justin Timberlake

Eye Of The Hurricane, Blue Oyster Cult

Hurricane, Joan Osborne

Hurricane Eye, Paul Simon

One Of The Survivors, The Kinks

Hurricane, Bette Midler

Hurricane, Bush

Sky Is Falling, Blackalicious

Rock You Like A Hurricane, Scorpions

Lost And Found, The Kinks

Pancake, Tori Amos

The Word "Hurricane," Air

Hurricane, Lisa Loeb

Rain, KISS

Ain't Wastin' Time No More, The Allman Brothers Band

Hurricane Years, Alice Cooper

Strength To Endure, The Ramones

Cannibals, Mark Knopfler

When You Were Young, The Killers

Life Goes On, The Kinks

Otis Redding, Sara Evans

Savannah Fare You Well, Jimmy Buffett

(Hurricane) The Formal Weather Pattern, Something Corporate

All Hands, Blues Traveler

Lost In The Flood, Bruce Springsteen

Feels Like Rain, Buddy Guy

Novacane, Beck

It's The End Of The World As We Know It (...R.E.M.)

And now some lyrics. We turn to Justin Timberlake:

I'm like a hurricane

Just coasting along

You better grab me girl

I hope you take me now

Huh? On to....The Kinks:

Waiting for the hurricane

To hit New York City

Somebody said it's hit the bay

This is the nitty gritty

Such effortless rhyming. And here's Neil Young:

You are like a hurricane

There's calm in your eye.

And I'm gettin' blown away

To somewhere safer

where the feeling stays.

I want to love you but

I'm getting blown away.

See? I told you these lyrics were bad. Still, I don't think Young is quite as unabashedly awful as the classic from the Scorpions:

It's early morning

The sun comes out

Last night was shaking

And pretty loud

My cat is purring

And scratches my skin

So what is wrong

With another sin

The bitch is hungry

She needs to tell

So give her inches

And feed her well

More days to come

New places to go

I've got to leave

It's time for a show


Here I am, rock you like a hurricane

Here I am, rock you like a hurricane

What can you say about a song like that? Better not to, I think.

On to the most meteorologically explicit lyrics, from Air:

The word hurricane is the name given to natures strongest storm.
A hurricane occurs when high pressure and low pressure masses of air come in contact with one another.

There is often a significant difference in temperature between the two masses.
One mass is warm, while the other is cold.
The warmer air rises, and the cooler air falls.
Likewise, the low pressure area slides down the sides of the high pressure area.

They swirl in and around one another, creating the beginnings of the storm.

This just so happens to be spectacularly, totally wrong. Air doesn't know the difference between hurricanes and extratropical cyclones. I've been complaining about bad hurricane metaphors, but bad hurricane facts are even worse.

I'll leave you with something kind of profound, in its simplicity, one again from the Kinks:

Tornado, cyclone and hurricane

Can batter the houses with the thunder and rain.

Blizzards can blow; the waves hit the shore,

But the people recover and come back for more.

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There is a house in New Orleans
they call the Rising Sun
And it's been a house to many a poor boy
and God, I know I'm one

I cried to my daddy on the telephone
how long now?
Until the clouds unroll and you come down on the light wind
will the shadows still remain since your descent
your descent

I cried to my daddy on the telephone
How long now
Until the clouds unroll and you come home
The line went
But the shadows still remain since your descent
Your descent

Ho, Cha, Hey

The saints are coming
The saints are coming

I say no matter how I try
I realize there's no reply

The saints are coming
The saints are coming

A drowning sorrow floods the deepest grief
How long now
Until a weather change condemns belief
How long now
When the night watchman is in the fleet
What's wrong now?

By Sheril R. Kirs… (not verified) on 27 Jul 2007 #permalink

Ah...but it doesn't mention "hurricane"...and was therefore missed by our search.

Might want to add Led Zeppelin's version of the classic blues song "When the Levee Breaks," which doesn't mention hurricanes directly, but it's about a New Orleans flood...and you know it rocks.

If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break,
If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break,
When The Levee Breaks
I'll have no place to stay.

Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
Lord, mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home,
Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well.

Don't it make you feel bad
When you're tryin' to find your way home,
You don't know which way to go?
If you're goin' down South
They go no work to do,
If you don't know about Chicago.

Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
Now, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.

You missed one that *really* describes a hurricane: Mike Oldfield's Five Miles Out (based on a true story of him trying to land a plane in a heavy storm). From 1982.

What do you do when your falling you've got 30 degrees and your stalling out
And its 24 miles to the beacon there's a crack in the sky and the warnings out

Don't take that dive again
Push through that band of rain

Five miles out
Just hold your heading true
Got to get your finest out
Your number 1 anticipating you

Climbing out
Just hold your heading true
Got to get your finest out
Your number 1 anticipating you

[ spoken, through vocoder to sound like radio ]
Mayday, Mayday, Mayday
Calling all stations
This is Golf Mike Oscar Victor Juliet
IMC CU.NIMB.ICING
In great difficulty
Over

The traffic controller is calling
Victor Juliet your identity
I have lost in the violet storm
Communicate or squawk emergency

Don't take that dive again
Push through that band of rain

Lost in Static 18
And the storm is closing in now
Automatic 18 - Got to push through - Trapped in living hell

Your a prisoner of the dark sky
The propeller blades are still
And the evil eye of the hurricane's
Coming in now for the kill

Our hope's with you - Rider in the blue

Welcome's waiting, We're anticipating
You'll be celebrating, when you're down, and breaking

Climbing out - climbing climbing
Five miles out - climbing climbing

Five miles out
Just hold your heading true
Got to get your finest out
Climbing Climbing

[ repeats through fade out ]

By Joe Shelby (not verified) on 27 Jul 2007 #permalink

Hm, I agree in principle, except that Neil Young is a genius even when he is bad--just look at his output from the eighties (Trans, anyone?).

A couple more for ya.

Beastie Boys' "Sure Shot" includes the lyric:

Hurricane will cross fade on your ass and bust your ear drums

And there's also John Fogerty, "Walking in a Hurricane":

I'll go walkin' in a hurricane
I'll come crawlin' in a drivin' rain
I'll keep searchin' 'til I go insane
I got to have your love

To bad you couldn't get Johnny and the Hurricanes, an instrumental rock group from the late 50s and early 60s, whose big hit, "Red River Rock" still turns up every now and then on oldies radio.

By Edward Furey (not verified) on 27 Jul 2007 #permalink

My surefire hangover helper: aspirin _while_ you're drinking, Chris. When your body metabolizes alcohol, it takes an OH- group to do it. Aspirin is a good replacement.

I have goobery botany stories behind aspirin too, but for another time. Enjoy the party sir.

Best,

D

Adding one to the list:

http://ryanlion5.imeem.com/music/HymJbZtG/katrina_clap/

"Dollar Day for New Orleans (Katrina Klap)"
by Mos Def

Listen homie, It's dollar day in New Orleans,
It's where there water everywhere and people dead in the street (eet eets),
And Mr. President he 'bout that cash,
He got a policy for handlin' the bruthas and trash,
And if you poor you black,
I laugh a laugh, they won't give when you ask,
You betta off on crack, dead or in jail, or with a gun in Iraq,
And it's as simple as that,
No opinion my man it's mathematical fact,
Listen, a million poor since 2004,
And they got illions and killions to waste on the War,
And make you question what the taxes is for,
Or the cost to reinforce the broke levee wall,
Tell the boss he shouldn't be the boss anymore

Chris,

Have you listened to Young's Like a Hurricane or just read the lyrics? It's not only a great song but perhaps his best ever. It's the song that made me a Neil fan over 25 years ago.

Folks,
Thanks for all the suggestions.

David--I admit the Neil Young song is much better listened to than read.

Let me add another song, "Betsy," from my fav New Orleans singer-songwriter Mike West:

news reports said she was on her way
and dad thought it a good idea to stay
to see if she was worth all the fuss
at 11 o'clock the wind just died
and everybody on our block breathed a sigh
of relief, thinkin' she wasn't gonna visit us
mama even sent us all to bed
me cursing her under my breath
mama sayin' "boy get in back and don't you cuss"
by midnight i was fast asleep
lyin' next to my sister lisa
sleeping the sleep of the just

then i heard the devil knockin' on my window
mama said "babe it's only wind blowin'"
i heard death rattling chains
mama said "babe it's only rain"
i heard the gates of hell swing open
mama said "babe that's a screen door broken"
i heard the devil knockin' again
next i knew we had a hurricane
Betsy was a mean old lady, yeah she was
meaner than my old man
or my old man's mama was
well i thought i could take a beating, i thought could
but betsy, that old lady whipped us good

the next day was a hell of a sight
no tellin' how many died
the water in our street ran four feet deep
folks tried to save their automobiles
lived for their cars and died by the wheel
drowning in their drivers seats
so next time that lady comes to town
i tell you baby i ain't hangin' round
you can catch my tail lights on the I10 heading west

when i hear the devil knockin on my window
don't tell me its only wind blowin...

You also missed Eye of the Hurricane by The Alarm. The album includes the title track and the song Rain in the Summertime. Here are some lyrics from Eye of the Hurricane:

Love forsaken man, love forsaken land
For god's sake don't look back
Into the crucifix night
The storm of a cross
I live to love again and again
All my life

Oh eye of the hurricane
I walk away in the wind and the rain
Into the eye of the hurricane
Face to face

The view from the hill looks bleak from where i stand
The waters are come in unto my soul
I can't cry no more my eyes are bone dry sore
There's a river of tears flowing down to the sea

By Len Gutman (not verified) on 30 Jul 2007 #permalink