This morning Hurricane Dean is bearing down on Jamaica. The impact could be devastating. The Cayman Islands could get their turn on Monday, followed by . . . ? Whether the U.S. or Mexico takes the next hit is still an open question. Will Dean be another Ivan or a Gilbert?
Chris Mooney’s blog, The Intersection, is a great place to follow hurricanes and related development. Mooney, author of Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle over Global Warming, provides regular updates and commentary hurricanes and related issues. Mooney and I often disagree, but his site is worth regular visits. I’ve also just started Storm World, and I expect I’ll have better things to say about it than his last book.
For a recent book event, Mooney posted a hurricane party playlist of songs with “hurricane” in the lyrics. It includes lots of obvious tracks, and a few surprises. There are also has some omissions. One hurricane song Mooney forgot (but a commenter remembered) is “Eye of the Hurricane” by The Alarm. “Rain in the Summertime,” off the same album, might be more appropriate today, as I listen to the pattering on my patio, but this is a hurricane post. So, here’s a lyrical selection from “Eye of the Hurricane”:
The view from the hill looks bleak from where I stand
The waters are come in unto my soul
I can’t cry no more my eyes are bone dry sore
There’s a river of tears flowing down to the seaI’m a desolate soul on a desolate shore
Destined to walk alone
Into the crucifix night
The storm of a cross
I live to love again and again
All my lifeOh eye of the hurricane
I walk away in the wind and the rain
Into the eye of the hurricane
Face to face
The full lyrics are available here.