Analysis Of Ride Like The Wind By Christopher Cross

“And I’ve got Such a Long Way to go…”

I would quite often hear “ba da da da, da da, da da” as a kid on the radio. There was awe listening to those specific vocals, but I never knew what the song was called. Fast-forwarding years later to 2014, I finally found out what this song was after all those years of wondering: “Ride Like the Wind,” by Christopher Cross. With an uncommon “storyline [that] is one not often heard on Adult Contemporary radio,” Cross was able to gain instant fame as a result (“Ride Like the Wind” par. 1). Within “Ride Like the Wind’s” promo video, Cross and his band are shown playing as part of a studio recording. Though there was rarely anything portrayed that would make the video display a visual message, Christopher Cross romanticizes the idea of a wanted man escaping the law to Mexico through the lyrics.

“Ride Like the Wind” was the song that brought Christopher Cross into the lime-light. In an interview with CBS News, Cross stated that the idea of the song started “as a jam in the middle

We can assume he is trying to escape, but from who and what? The setting is night time, but the character’s whereabouts is unknown. Later on in the song, the character says “And I’ve got such a long way to go, to make it to the border of Mexico” (lines 5, 15, 29, 34). Christopher Cross is a Texan, which means that when writing the song, the main character is on the lam within a vast, Texas desert. What is interesting is how relevant the song title is to the main character. Wind is smooth and invisible. A very light element of Earth, wind has no boundaries; it comes and goes fast, hence the saying “gone like the wind.” When the character of the song says “I’ve got to ride, ride like the wind…,” he means being swift and smooth as a breeze (lines 3,