B-side "The Road" Format 7" Length 3:57 | Released Early 1978 Genre Rock | |
Recorded August 27, 1977
Garden State Arts Center, Holmdel, New Jersey | ||
"You Love the Thunder" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Jackson Browne from his 1977 live album, Running on Empty, recorded at a concert at Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey, on September 6, 1977. Released as the third single a full year after the album came out, it only reached #109 on Billboards Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, though it received increased Album-Oriented Rock airplay. The B-side of the U.S. single was "The Road"; however, the B-side for the British single was "Cocaine".
History
The lyrics seem to describe the relationship of a musician and a spouse or girlfriend who comes along on tour, keeping with the theme of the Running on Empty album, but they can be read more universally, as well:
You love the thunder, and you love the rain — What you see revealed within the anger is worth the pain. And before the lightning fades and you surrender, You've got a second to look at the dark side of the man. You love the thunder and you love the rain — You know your hunger like you know your name. And I know you wonder how you ever came To be a woman in love with a man in search of the flame...In his 1978 review of the album, Paul Nelson wrote: "Browne forges a temporary relationship with a kindred spirit, only to realize 'You can dream/But you can never go back the way you came.'"