From the recordings OceanSongs' "Ballads" Sampler, Ocean Songs Sampler, and Download an OceanSongs Gift!
I grew up in the Midwest . We lived in trailer parks out on the barren North Dakota plains. When tornados threatened we’d pile in the car and run for our lives. I’d always look out the back window to get a glimpse, but never saw one. Though we never lost anything to a real twister, tornados for me were the outward reflection of what was happening inside the walls of my parental home. Orchestral sounds create a lot of drama in this one with real thunder taking the song out.
Lyrics
TORNADO by Jim Ocean
It was evening in the heartland and the shadows were growing long
The cicadas nearly deafened you with their song
There was lightning in the distance and a warning on the air
As I waited for a tornado to come down through the air…like a demon
Throwing houses everywhere, but I never saw one
The wind was blowing hard through the living room that night
We listened through the wall to hear them fight
So I hid out in the backyard catching fireflies
Listening to the thunder in my home that night
And I worried that a wind would eat this house…this house of fury
Gotta get away…
The storm is breaking now…
Gotta get away…
The storm is breaking now
Sometimes we’d run for the car
Driving fast from a sky that hung so dark
I pressed my nose to the window and imagined a funnel cloud
To take me away…far away from this family shroud
The storm was passing over, all the rain was heading south
But dark clouds were still gathering in the house
And as the moon shown through my window, I heard shouting in the hall
Then I dreamed that a tornado had just swallowed it all…like a demon
Making everything seem small, but I never saw one.