Ride Like the Wind

"Ride Like the Wind" is the debut single by American singer-songwriter Christopher Cross. It was released in February 1980 as the lead single from his Grammy-winning 1979 self-titled debut album. It reached number two on the US charts for four consecutive weeks, behind "Call Me" by Blondie. On the album's inner sleeve, Christopher Cross dedicated this song to Lowell George, formerly of the band Little Feat, who had died in 1979. It features backing vocals by Michael McDonald and a guitar solo by Cross. History Recording "Ride Like the Wind" was the first song recorded for Cross's eponymous album and was tracked by Cross's band of Tommy Taylor on drums, Andy Salman on bass, and Rob Meurer on synthesizers. After the first day of recording, Cross's producer Michael Omartian noticed that the band had struggled to become accustomed to the studio. "They were great musicians, but a little nervous". During these recording sessions, someone recommended that Taylor play a four on the floor beat so that the kick drum was playing on every beat. Omartian commented that this drum pattern "made the thing hop from the beginning." After two to three days of tracking, the band produced a satisfactory take. Cross had originally wanted a session guitarist to play the solo, but Omartian insisted that Cross play it himself. For the vocals, Omartian used an AKG 414. Cross did four to five vocal takes, all of which possessed similar intonation. "Chris's pitch was ridiculous and he was very stylized, so when you went from one thing to another, he was exactly the same. If there was an impulse to do something like a scat or some kind of a riff, he had thought about it so every single track possessed that same riff." On the original demo, the response vocals were also sung by Cross, although Omartian suggested using a different voice, and ultimately settled on Michael McDonald.