Thunder Road

[_testify_]

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 savior 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 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 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
And I'm pulling out of here to win.

[idgiehkt]

1. show a little faith there's magic in the night...

here's a performance from '76, the video is poor but it's true to the song...

the opening of that song is so lonely...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KngiJUNdsu0&search=%22thunder%20road%22

[_testify_]

2. I know. He captured that loneliness in so many of his songs.

He is on par with Dylan, I think.

[idgiehkt]

5. sorry, but

he kicks Dylan's ass 6 days a week and twice on Sunday...and he's a nice person to boot.

[WCGreen]

3. You ain't a beauty but hey you're all right......

That is one of the best lines in all of music....

[Joe Fields]

4. Excuse me, I thought you meant Robert Mitchum's movie.

Showing my age.

[rockymountaindem]

6. Definately not from that era (I'm 19)

but that is one of my top 5 favorite songs.

[Reverend_Smitty]

7. Quite possibly my favorite song ever!

from quite possibly my favorite album ever...although NJ state law requires all citizens of the state to have at least one Bruce Springsteen CD in their home at all times :P

[_testify_]

8. When I was 18, before I tried my hand at college

We used to drive around all night listening to Springsteen. We'd drive from Queens 3 hours to Montauk Point, and make it back home at sunrise.

Awesome times.

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. Where in Queens?

n/t

[_testify_]

10. Well...

I grew up in Ozone Park/Woodhaven/Richmond Hill/Howard Beach.

I went to HS in Jamaica, hung out in and eventually moved to Flushing. Worked in Little Neck and also Bayside.

[Kat45]

11. I heard a very early version of that song, before he had

come up with the words "Thunder Road." It was interesting to hear. The song sounded like it wasn't quite whole yet. I think when he came up with the words thunder road, the song coalesced and he completed it. I remember taping it, but I'm not sure if the tape is still playable.