Released July 13, 1981 Label RCA | Length 3:22 | |
B-side "Make Me Stop Loving Her" Writer(s) Thom Schuyler
Keith Stegall
Stewart Harris Producer(s) Ronnie Dean
Leon Everette | ||
"Hurricane" is a song co-written by Thom Schuyler, Keith Stegall and Stewart Harris. Levon Helm recorded it for his 1980 album American Son.
Contents
It was later recorded by American singer Leon Everette. It was released in July 1981 as the lead single from Everette's RCA Records album Hurricane. It is Everette's highest-charting single, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in September 1981.
Content
The song is about an old man who lives in the famed New Orleans French Quarter. The man is unfazed when told that a hurricane was about to hit the city; even when "a man from Chicago" claims that the levees need to be raised, he claims that the levees will hold and the man will be "on his way to Illinois".
Critical reception
Jerry Sharpe of The Pittsburgh Press wrote that the song "defeats the standard old formulas for successful country music lyrics — no love story, no sex, no booze, no tragedy." An uncredited review in Billboard said that "Everette's distinctive vocals are the perfect vehicle for this tale of man's struggle against the elements." Dave Marsh was less favorable in The New Rolling Stone Record Guide, calling Everette a "poor man's Johnny Lee" and said the song was "almost an interesting ballad".