Lightning Crashes
by Live
- 93
- BPM
- B major
- Key
- 1B
- Camelot
- 40
- Danceability
- 28
- Acousticness
"Lightning Crashes" was never released as a single in the United States. Radio carried it anyway. Serviced to US stations in January 1995 as the third single from Throwing Copper, it peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart, held the top of the Album Rock Tracks chart for 10 weeks, and led the Modern Rock Tracks chart for nine weeks, from February 25 to April 22. Abroad it reached No. 3 in Canada, No. 8 in Iceland and No. 13 in Australia.
Live dedicated the song to a high-school friend, Barbara Lewis, who was killed by a drunk driver in 1993. Ed Kowalczyk wrote it on an acoustic guitar in his brother's bedroom, shortly before leaving his parents' house for his first place of his own. He had recently discovered the writings of the Indian spiritualist Jiddu Krishnamurti, whose philosophy of selflessness and humility shaped his songwriting.
Kowalczyk said the video led people to misread the song. He pictured a hospital, with one family mourning while a baby is born in another room. Nobody dies in childbirth, he said. It is a happy ending built on a transfer of life. The woman who sings backing vocals has never been identified.
Lightning Crashes runs at 93 BPM, the tempo of hip-hop, R&B and reggaeton. In classical terms it sits in andante territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 2.58 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 645 ms. It is in B major, Camelot 1B, which shares its notes with Ab minor and mixes cleanly with E major and F# major.
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