Christopher Cross Says ‘Ride Like The Wind’ Started as a Wings Jam

Christopher Cross told The Questlove Show that his 1980 hit “Ride Like The Wind” began as a spontaneous moment during a club gig. His band used to stretch out covers for the dancefloor, and one night they were jamming on Wings’ “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five” in C minor. Cross started playing a turnaround and saw the crowd lock in. “I noticed that they were really getting into it, you know, and it was another level of energy,” he said.

He lifted that part and built the song around it. The verses came later, but the riff was direct from the McCartney tune. Cross said he never told the former Beatle. “He’s probably gonna say ‘I should have gotten royalties,’” he joked. Once the connection is pointed out, the rhythmic DNA does feel related, though the tracks aren’t twins.

Cross also discussed the guitar solo on “Ride Like The Wind,” which he played despite having heavy session players around him. He figures producer Michael Omartian might have pushed him. In a 2015 Mixonline interview, Omartian recalled that Cross always wanted someone else to take a solo, and he’d shoot it down. The moment has since become a quiet cornerstone of the yacht rock catalogue.