29 Best Songs About Wind & Windy Days
Contents
21. Hickory Wind by The Byrds
Song Year: 1968
When Gram Parsons joined The Byrds, he quickly started bringing his love of country music into what the band was doing. That may not be on display any better than in Hickory Wind, which has come to be Parsons' signature song.
In the song, the hickory wind represents the narrator’s youth, back when life was simple and innocent. He tends to think back on that wind— its smell and how it felt— when life starts to get complicated.
22. The Wind By Zac Brown Band
Song Year: 2012
Songwriter Wyatt Durrette co-wrote The Wind with Zac Brown, creating a heartbreaking set of lyrics that are hidden in plain sight over a rollicking bluegrass instrumentation.
The members of Zac Brown Band have some chops, and they’re on display here, but for all the lightning-fast licks, the lyrics tell of a man who’s lost his love and will gladly go back to her if only given the chance.
23. Hasten Down the Wind by Warren Zevon
Song Year: 1976
When someone has a restless heart, you can never possess all of it. They can’t give it all to you, and that restless part will always buck up against the rest of it, no matter how much the owner wants to stay.
That’s what the narrator of Hasten Down the Wind deals with. He’s in love with someone who just can’t commit to sticking around. She feels like she needs to be free, and we all know what that means.
24. Seminole Wind by John Anderson
Song Year: 1992
It’s hard to imagine, in our polarized, red-or-blue world these days, a country singer singing about preserving the environment, but that’s what John Anderson does in Seminole Wind. He sings about Florida lands, once home to noble native tribes. The spirits of those Seminoles, in the song, cry out against the abuse of the land and overuse of resources.
Seriously, 30 years later, can you imagine a mainstream country artist embracing such a message?
25. Riding on the Wind by Judas Priest
Song Year: 1982
Riding on the Wind is about speed and power. Whether frontman Rob Halford is singing about riding on a motorcycle or a lightning bolt is anyone’s guess. Either way, the wind he’s riding on is fast, man.
26. Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Midler
Song Year: 1989
It wasn’t enough for Bette Midler to star in the tear-jerker Beaches with Debra Winger. No, she had to go and sing something for the soundtrack. And since she’s Bette Midler, it couldn’t just be a throwaway song. No way. It had to be something that would become a global smash.
The wind in question is the support we get from our loved ones, and though the song wasn’t written by or for the Divine Miss M., she made it her own and has turned it into her signature song. Can you imagine anyone else singing this one? The word you’re looking for is no.
27. Summer Wind By Frank Sinatra
Song Year: 1965
Frank Sinatra had a commanding presence about him that made people sit up and listen, and the velvet voice helped with that. Summer Wind, when sung by Wayne Newton, made it all the way to number 78 on the Billboard charts in 1965. Sinatra went into the studio a year later and made it a number-one hit.
It’s a wistful song about the waning days of a love affair, and the wind felt in the summer represents those happier days when things were going well for the pair.
28. The Wind By Cat Stevens
Song Year: 1971
Cat Stevens has followed his own path throughout life, and that’s a sentiment present in The Wind. Stevens sings about being blown around on his journey through the world, but he’s not as aimless as that might make him seem.
Instead, the wind that’s blowing him here and there is the wind inside his soul, so in a way, he’s guiding himself to whatever destination he is reaching for.
29. Catch the Wind by Donovan
Song Year: 1965
Catching the wind is a figure of speech used to describe absolute futility. In Donovan’s Catch the Wind, he sings about wanting a specific woman to be with him, to hold his hand, to walk with him, and to love him, but he avers that he’d have an easier time catching the wind. Because apparently, she’s not having any of it.
Top Songs About Wind, Final Thoughts
Songs about wind can bring some powerful imagery to a songwriter’s creation. In these songs, we see some lovely uses of the wind in storytelling. Did we leave off your favorite song about wind?