Rocket bike is all her own…
Tank is full, switch is on
Night is warm, cops are gone
Rocket bike is all her own
It’s called a hurricane
She told me once it’s quite a ride
It’s shaped so there’s this place inside
Where if you’re moving you can hide
Safe within the rain-
David Wilcox
The above lyrics are from a song that came out in the late 80s, a one hit wonder or something like that. Or most likely you’ve never heard this song, or the artist for that matter. Listening to that song over and over again for many years I can relate to much of what is said in this story.
David was quoted once “This song is about addiction, and about how something which feels so good can do you damage.” Isn’t it funny how you can listen to a song and get a certain message out of it, but then later in life you hear from the artist and find out that a song was written with a completely different mindset then what you may have felt about the song?
Or is that the whole point of music? It’s not necessarily the message that the artist intends to convey. Its more the message that you allow yourself to receive.
When I first heard the line…
“Rocket bike is all her own.
It’s called a hurricane”
I immediately thought of a beautiful 1987 red and white Honda Hurricane. Probably the 1st sport bike that when it came out I though, wow what an amazing machine. 600cc engine, Full body work, covering that new liquid cooled inline 4. Low clip-on handlebars just like the bikes racing on the tracks of Loudon NH.
At the time Honda was famous for making V4 engines in their sport bikes, VF500s, VFR750s and VF1000R Interceptors were the sport bikes were what the Honda dealerships were selling up to that time the Hurricane was debuted.
I remember the day I saw one in person, I was working in Weymouth Mass. It was a warm spring day in 1987, I went to a Honda dealer on my lunch break just to be able to see and touch this bike. I remember kneeling next to it, lightly running my hands along the long red strip painted down its side imagining the wind flowing past as this machine flew down the road. Noticing how the turn indicators were built into the side fairing, and the huge wrap around front fender. Such a beautiful machine to look at, it looks so fast just standing still in that showroom.
I have this ability to transform myself back in time, almost like I can re-live certain moments or experiences that I have had. Usually, I can’t control when these types of events happen however when it does it will stop me no matter what I am doing, and I just go.
So, when this song plays, I go back to this moment in 1987, and the song Instantly becomes a message about someone finding such solace in act of riding a motorcycle fast on a lonely back road. Even if that means risking her health, her life just to find that peace that we all seem to find while riding.
She wants to run away
But there’s nowhere that she can go
Nowhere the pain won’t come again
But she can hide
Hide in the pouring rain
She rides the eye of the hurricane
While having my 1st cup of coffee this morning with some music playing in the background this song came on. Sitting on my couch in in West Boylston in 2023 I immediately was brought back to 1987 and to that moment.
Now I never ended up buying one of those Honda Hurricanes, shortly after I visited that dealership, I found myself in a small dealership in Lunenburg MA called SKY Cycle. Picking up a brand new (left over 1986) Yamaha FZ600, in red, white and blue no less. However that’s for another tale, a different song.
Right now, I’m riding that beautiful White and Red Honda
Rocket bike is all her own
It’s called a hurricane.
