"WOKE LAST NIGHT TO THE SOUND OF THUNDER"
Talk about coincidences! Back in the 1970s and 1980s it seemed that Chicago was frequently in the path of numerous derechos—fast moving clusters of thunderstorms that formed during the evening in the northern Plains or Upper Mississippi Valley on the northern edge of a dome of intensely hot air. These storms would then move into the Chicago area at speeds approaching 60 m.p.h., arriving during the pre-dawn hours with torrential rain, hail and damaging winds. Detroit rocker Bob Seger's 1976 song "Night Moves" is one of my all-time favorites. The last verse of the song begins with the the line "I woke last night to the sound of thunder" and it has always reminded me of those late night derechos.
Well, Bob Seger has been on a long hiatus from the music scene and it's been a long time since late-night derechos have swept into Chicago. After more than 10 years Seger is finally releasing a new CD this September, and as if to mark the occasion, around 4 a.m. last Thursday morning as storms swept into the Chicago area, I once again "woke to the sound of thunder".
The last verse of "Night Moves" by Bob Seger
I woke last night to the sound of thunder
How far off, I sat and wondered
Started humming a song from 1962
Ain't it funny how the night moves
When you just don't seem to have as much to lose
Strange how the night moves
With autumn closing in..
(Night Moves by Bob Seger Capitol Records 1976)
