Like a Hurricane

The wind machine effect.



Crawdaddy:

And it’s in that push/pull between the voice and the power of the lead guitar where you'll hear a tremendous drive to overcome the fear of love, while the lyric recedes “to somewhere safer where the feeling stays / I want to love you but I'm getting blown away,” never quite matching the wattage of the music. Grief and longing are Young specialties, and he captures the dual emotions in a minor-key verse that bursts into a major chorus—"a minor descending thing that opens up," he says—which he claims was inspired by Del Shannon's "Runaway." (A couple of other songs that employ the "Runaway" minor verse/major chorus technique are "I'll Be Back" and "Things We Said Today" by Del Shannon fans, the Beatles).

What Young doesn't get into with his biographer—and maybe that's just because it's so obvious—"Like a Hurricane" further borrows from "Runaway" for its verse. Think about the line, “As I walk along I wonder what went wrong with our love, a love that was so strong” and compare it to “Once I thought I saw you in a crowded hazy bar, dancing on the light from star to star.” There are definitely echoes of a harmonious melody in there (not to mention the makings of a fine medley!) And while Shannon's pain is more of the brokenhearted variety, Young exposes heartbreak's dark side when he introduces fear and obsession into the equation. Biographer McDonough asked Young how the "attitude" of "Hurricane" has changed through the years, to which he responded, "It's not as pure and innocent as it used to be… because I'm not as pure and innocent as I used to be…."