Wild as the Wind

"Wild as the Wind" is a country ballad written and recorded by Jesse Rourke for the 1993 charity compilation Swift Hooves.^[1]

Production

The song is in the dark, reverb-soaked style of late-1980s country: a slow tempo, a clean electric guitar with heavy tremolo, soft bass and light brushed drums, and Rourke's close-miked baritone breaking into falsetto on the hook.^[1]

Themes

A young man "born in Irad's dust" hears the smugglers' horses on the ridge every night and is drawn to a life he knows will ruin him. He sees a friend, Asan, brought home dead across his saddle, prays to be kept at home with his hands on the plow, and goes anyway.^[1]

Lyrics

Verse
Born in Irad's dust, in a quiet town
Where my mother prays and my father's gone
Out past the river the riders call
And I hear them every night

Verse
They got silver rings and they got smoke
They got horses that never tire
They ride the border and back by dawn
Never sleep in the same place twice

Chorus
Renegade under the stars
Freedom's a cold, cold sun
Heart as wild as the wind
It's gonna break me
Wild as the wind
The wind

Verse
I saw Asan come home in May
Lying face down across his saddle
They said he died a free man
Free as the dust on the road

Chorus
Renegade under the stars
Freedom's a cold, cold sun
Heart as wild as the wind
It's gonna break me
Wild as the wind
The wind

Bridge
Lord, keep me home tonight
Keep my hands on the plow
But I hear the hoofbeats on the ridge
And I'm already gone

Final chorus
Renegade under the stars
Freedom's a cold, cold sun
Heart as wild as the wind
It's gonna break me
Wild as the wind
The wind

Outro
The wind

References

1. ^ Talas State University Press (2018). Steppe Ballads: American Song and Iradi Country-Folk, 1980–2010, pp. 70–71.