|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
The screen door slams,
Mary's dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again,
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside, darling you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking that maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me
You can hide 'neath your covers and study your pain
Make crosses from your lovers, throw roses in the rain
Waste your summer praying in vain for a saviour to rise from these streets
Well now I'm no hero, that's understood
All the redemption I can offer, girl, is beneath this dirty hood
With a chance to make it good somehow
Hey what else can we do now?
Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair
Well the night's busting open, these two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back, heaven's waiting on down the tracks
Oh oh come take my hand
Riding out tonight to case the promised land
Oh oh oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road,
oh Thunder Road
Lying out there like a killer in the sun
Hey I know it's late we can make it if we run
Oh oh oh Thunder Road, sit tight, take hold, Thunder Road
Well I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk
And my car's out back if you're ready to take that long walk
From your front porch to my front seat
The door's open but the ride it ain't free
And I know you're lonely for words that I ain't spoken
But tonight we'll be free, all the promises'll be broken
There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away
They haunt this dusty beach road
In the skeleton frames of burned out Chevrolets
They scream your name at night in the street
Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet
And in the lonely cool before dawn
You hear their engines roaring on
But when you get to the porch they're gone on the wind
So Mary climb in
It's a town full of losers, I'm pulling out of here to win
Opener of Born To Run, played at almost every show from August 1975 to 2000, missing just a dozen shots. Exceptions are the The Ghost Of Tom Joad tour (never played) and the Tunnel Of Love tour (performed just twice). THUNDER ROAD was nominated for a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Performance. Covered by Greg Kihn on his album True Confessions.
This is the Born To Run album's version. Check also alternative version 1 and alternative version 2.
Appeared on singles in 1981, 1985, and 1995 with TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT, SECRET GARDEN, MURDER INCORPORATED (live), PINK CADILLAC, HUNGRY HEART (09 July 1995), STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA (05 April 1995), and others... Also included on the Waitin' On A Sunny Day Australian single in 2003 (live from Madison Square Garden version) with WAITIN' ON A SUNNY DAY, BORN TO RUN (live from Madison Square Garden), and DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (live from Madison Square Garden).
Available on:
Liner notes by Bruce Springsteen in the Greatest Hits booklet:
Stole the title from the Robert Mitchum picture, the vocal sound from Roy Orbison (I Tried), the innocence of the tome was mine.