On the album's inner sleeve, Christopher Cross dedicated this song to Lowell George, formerly of the band Little Feat, who had died in 1979.

After the first day of recording, Cross's producer Michael Omartian noticed that the band had struggled to become accustomed to the studio.

On the original demo, the response vocals were also sung by Cross, although Omartian suggested using a different voice, and ultimately settled on Michael McDonald.

"It could have ended up being dopey, but we didn't push the volume up on the sound effect to make it take over what was going on."

Told from a first-person point of view, it describes how an outlaw and convicted multiple murderer, on the run from a death-by-hanging sentence, has to "ride like the wind" to reach "the border of Mexico".

"We were living in Houston at the time, and on the way down to Austin to record the songs, it was just a beautiful Texas day.

The Factory Edit was included on FFRR Records' Only for the Headstrong compilation album released in 1992.

Belgian DJ Laurent Wéry released a cover version of the song, which features vocals from Joss Mendosah.

[31] English heavy metal band Saxon released a cover of "Ride Like the Wind" as the first track on their 1988 album Destiny.