What do you think Ride Like the Wind means?

Christopher Cross: Ride Like the Wind Meaning

Tagged: Weather [suggest]
Album cover for Ride Like the Wind album cover

Song Released: 1980


Ride Like the Wind Lyrics

It is the night. My body's weak.
I'm on the run. No time to sleep.
I've got to ride.

Ride like the wind to be free again.
And I got such a long way to go.
To make it to the border of Mexico.
So I'll ride like the wind.

I was born the son of a...

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  1. anonymous
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     Nov 2nd 2022 !⃝

    Why I really like this song. At first I thought he was talking about getting high. Maybe not. The lyrics are okay . I really like instrumentals.

  2. anonymous
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     Oct 30th 2022 !⃝

    It’s the old west, & he’s on horse back. He’s lived his life an outlaw (just like his old man did). He has killed 10 men, & is caught and jailed. Now the law has sentenced him to hang for his crimes. He escapes custody, steals a horse & rides south for the border. He could be in Texas, or Oklahoma. Or anywhere. The Marshalls & Rangers are trailing him, so he can’t even stop to sleep or rest. There is probably a bounty on his head. It looks bleak. If Michael McDonald is singing back ups on a song about you, it’s probably pretty serious.

  3. anonymous
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     Aug 20th 2022 !⃝

    The church bells refer to a wedding. He's running like the wind to get away from being trapped into a life of eternal misery with a woman he can't stand. Can anyone blame him.

  4. anonymous
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     Oct 31st 2021 !⃝

    murder... is not the most heinous of crimes.. when in comparison to the hell of regret . an old man... is in the night of his life.. and the realization..that the teachings of his father..led him to the waste of his entire life .
    it metaphorically makes sense.. this is an old man.. in regret .
    facing the fact . that his life is over.. and he did not even get the benefit of satisfaction.. we are all born to embrace freedom..
    not the institution our fathers hand us .
    that binds us to slavery.

  5. anonymous
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     May 20th 2021 !⃝

    Christopher Cross, from the unfurling of the canvas sails and the ocean mist to sliding in the seat of a chopper to flee from the law for murder and his execution. This song speaks for itself. From the opening lyrics: "It is the night my body's weak, I'm on the run, no time to sleep, I've got to ride, ride like the wind to be free again. 'And I've got such a long way to go, to make it to the border of Mexico, so I ride like the wind, ride like the wind."

    This is a sad story about a young man born in a family with no positive male role models. His father taught him to be ruthless and murderous, who undoubtedly was a motorcycle gang member himself. The young man was never the kind he admits to going to church or to do what is right, but to follow his father's bad influence and ride like the wind before he is old. He intimates that his life has been extended only by grace as he has faced down ten men, this being his only way of settling disputes. He understands that he is living the mythical life of a cat with nine lives.

    But now, he's taking his extended life on a journey to Mexico to escape the law, as he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang for his crimes. Escaping from custody, he has probably killed a man for his motorcycle to get to the border of Mexico, where he can avoid capture and extradition. But he cannot stop. Driving to Mexico from maybe New York is a long journey, and riding a motorcycle is not such an easy task depending on what time of year he has started his escape. Holding a chopper steady on the road at high speeds and taking back roads with all its turns, hills, and hazards is a very arduous task, and he cannot stop. There are many jurisdictions that he must pass through to get to Mexico. And though he is free to ride like the wind, he is a prisoner and will be a prisoner all his life - because he will never change. He will kill again or be killed while on the run. Remember he has always spoken his mind with a gun in his hand. How many will he have to speak to before he gets to the border of Mexico?

  6. anonymous
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     May 19th 2021 !⃝

    I never really thought that this song was bad unlike lots of other people in this forum, I just thought it was him running from his marriage “ I've got to ride, Ride like the wind to be free again” “ I was nowhere in sight when the church bells rang Never was the kind to do as I was told Gonna ride like the wind before I get old” this is just my opinion which could be wrong or could be right, but only Christopher cross knows the true meaning. And I mean what’s the point when all you do with music is listen to it.

  7. anonymous
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     May 8th 2020 !⃝

    this is a good song don't really have anything else to say i hope you lisen to it because it's have a very powerful effect on me and i love it.

  8. anonymous
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     Jul 10th 2019 !⃝

    He was tried found guilty for killing ten men, and was sentenced the death penalty..
    On the morning of his execution day, "The church bells rang", but he was nowhere to be seen..
    He had been running all night before to Mexico, "to be free again"..
    But He's got such a long way to go, such a long way to go.. To make it to the border of Mexico.. So he rides.. Rides like the wind..
    Never did here if he made it, but I guess he's staying quiet and happy in Mexico..
    Maybe the men he shot were actually very bad people.

  9. anonymous
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     Nov 6th 2018 !⃝

    When you look at Christopher Cross, and you think of the songs that he has written and composed, you wonder - what is this an alter ego of his - is he trying to be a bad boy? Instead of being free"Sailing" on his Yacht, he can also be free by living this vicarious evil life and riding like the wind in a another fashion, on a motorcycle racing to the Mexican border to escape the law to be free again? The life styles are so diverse from each other.

    He begins this song "It is night my body's weak, I'm on the run no time to sleep" This song is about a ruthless, murdering fugitive running from the law on a motorcycle headed for the Mexican border, as he has obviously escaped from a State Correctional Facility. Raised by a father who is even more murderous, than he is which is how he learned all of his evil traits and perfected them. Solving disputes with a gun as opposed to his fist, or even words, he proudly brags that he has been lucky having 9 lives and gunning down 10 men.

    Now on his motorcycle in the dead of night he is riding,racing like the wind to escape to be free once more. With the law on his tail, he has no time to sleep or even rest. There is a dichotomy in this however while he is seeking freedom on his motorcycle to Mexico, yet he confesses that he evaded doing the right thing all his life - even never going to Church, as if to say that he missed being free through believing in Jesus, knowing that there was an alternative to life, that he chose not to live. Now he considers himself so bad now, that the only hope of freedom is to remain a fugitive in Mexico. Riding like the wind is his only outlet to freedom.

  10. anonymous
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     Nov 6th 2018 !⃝

    Gee, I was hoping this song had a more spiritual meaning, and hey, maybe it did, since he dedicated it to his friend that passed away. I was going to send this song to my girlfriend today, since it is 7 months since her Harley riding husband passed from cancer.

    Since this song was produced on an acid trip, I am having second thoughts regarding it's meaning. Very disappointed at the moment, but will listen to the lyrics and music one last time.

  11. kooljohn176
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     Dec 9th 2015 !⃝

    Could possibly be about a westernized wild outlaw on the run to escape from the law of the land to the border of Mexico. Or he could be on the run away from god or towards God for help, from his inner demons that are haunting him into the mind-flight to ''Ride like the Wind'' to cross over the border for freedom to feel and be free again in his mind and body. I heard that Christopher Cross was on a acid trip when he wrote this song on the road traveling from city to city. He dedicated this song to the talented musician and friend George Lowell[r.i.p] always, that played with the group Little Feat who sadly died much to young in his sleep from a overdose of heroin, trying for many years to keep a balance in his life between paranoia and normalcy.

  12. anonymous
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     Jun 11th 2011 !⃝

    Christopher cross always spoke his mind with a gun in his hand for example when in a restaurant he ordered French Fried Potatoes with a gun in his hand.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  13. anonymous
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     Jun 11th 2011 !⃝

    Chris Cross has eaten too many beans and he got the wind when in Mexico, now he wants to fart but he prefers to make it to the border of Mexico so he rides like the wind to get out of Mexico before he farts in his pants.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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