The Story Behind Tanya Tucker’s Lovely Ballad, “Two Sparrows In a Hurricane”

“Two Sparrows In a Hurricane” became a big country hit for Tanya Tucker in 1992. Released as the lead single off Tucker’s fourth studio album, Can’t Run from Yourself, the song peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard’s Hot Country Song chart in the United States and enjoyed the same success in Canada.

The Story Behind The Song

Written by Mark Alan Springer, “Two Sparrows In a Hurricane” tells the tale of young lovers who got married in their teens. “With a head full of dreams and faith that can move anything,” the couple got through any hardships they encountered in their relationship until they reached the age of eighty-three.

“Two Sparrows In a Hurricane” is actually a personal song to Springer, who grew up on a farm that apparently had plenty of sparrows. In fact, the second verse was a bit more of his situation at that time – being married and having a couple of children.

Springer was just a struggling songwriter then. He took the song to several other people to co-write but can’t find one, so he ended up writing it by himself. The song’s idea came to him from the “concept of basically an underdog, because everybody loves an underdog.”

It took Springer about a year to complete the song.

The song was accompanied by a music video that was also such a big hit. It features two of Tucker’s kids as well as her beloved mother and father. The short clip follows the song’s storyline about the couple in three time periods that revolved around one apartment bedroom – from being a young couple to being parents to two kids and to being elderly. A dedication to Tucker’s parents, who were celebrating their 50th anniversary at that time, was shown at the end of the video. 

It won the Academy of Country Music Award for Video of the Year.

You can listen to “Two Sparrows In a Hurricane” by Tanya Tucker in the video below.