“By the shores of old Lake Michigan / Where the Hawk Wind blows so cold..."
The first line of Steve Goodman's song, "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request"
Five generations of loyal fans endured 108 years of seemingly endless exasperation. The 2016 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs finally snapped a losing streak dating back to 1908. During that void, resilient Chicagoans reassured each other that “Anyone can have a bad century.”
Steve Goodman’s classic song captured the angst of loyal Cub fans during those dark decades. While most of the lyrics make sense to me, I’ve always wondered about the Hawk Wind reference.
If you’ve been to Wrigley Field or anywhere near the Chicago lakefront, you know how a cold wind off the lake can transform a pleasant outing into an exercise in cold weather survival. But what’s this Hawk Wind reference?
Describing Chicago's wind as “The Hawk” or “Hawk Wind” or “Hawkins” is attributable to its popularity in African American vernacular English. The first mention is in "Weather-Lore," by J. H. Evans, published in the 1896 Southern Workman.
The article suggests that the use of “Hawkins is coming,” meaning cold weather is coming, was passed down from the "dark ages of [African American] slavery." The article further states “…when our fore parents were driven by their owners late, and early, they were taught nothing but hard work, therefore they were not able to read or write. But nature taught them many signs regarding the weather.”
Evans documents many examples of cold weather signs including “...If turkeys roost high in a tree, it's a sign of cold weather. You will hear the old folks say, ‘Look out children, Hawkins is coming.’”
The Baltimore Sun ran a series of columns in 1934 examining the origin of the phrase. According to the newspaper, "Hawkins is coming" describes a cold, winter wind.
The Chicago Defender first used the term on October 20, 1936. It wrote "And these cold mornings are on us - in other words 'Hawkins' has got us."
In 1967, Chicago native Lou Rawls wrote this opening lyric to his song Dead End Street.
“I was born in a city they called the 'Windy City'
And they call it the 'Windy City' because of the 'Hawk.' All mighty Hawk
Talking about Mr. Wind kind of mean around wintertime…”
The Shot
It’s been cold enough in Chicago recently for some serious ice to form on the Lake Michigan Shore. Last Sunday afternoon I joined fellow photographers Scott Fuller and John Tarsha for a trip to the city. We settled on North Avenue Beach as the location to explore with our cameras.
Multiple ice-covered objects were on the beach and near the shore. But it was the skyline that interested me the most. The ice in the water left an indelible impression of cold as I looked through the viewfinder.
I set up my camera to look south at the skyline. And then I waited for sunset and the blue hour. The weather up to that point had been cold but tolerable with a light breeze.
Color started to appear in the clouds as the sun neared the horizon. But the approaching sunset also brought The Hawk. The now biting cold wind convinced me to head for the warmth and shelter of Scott’s car instead of lingering.
Thanks for looking,
Chuck Derus