Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road Lyrics

Bruce Springsteen Lyrics

"Thunder Road"

The screen door slams, Mary's dress sways
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 down on the tracks

Oh-oh come take my hand
We're 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

Submit Corrections

Thanks to AJfromNJ, Kelly, Andy for correcting these lyrics.

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen said in his 2005 VH1 Storytellers interview about the meaning of this song, "Something is opening up to you… What I hoped it would be when I wrote this song is what I got out of rock and roll music – which is a sense of a larger life, greater experience, hopefully more and better sex, a sense of fun – more fun, a sense of personal exploration, your possibilities…"

The song was originally called "Wings for Wheels". It was even performed under that name, but only once, at The Main Point on the 5th of February 1975.

The line "Roy Orbison singing for the lonely" is a reference to Roy Orbison's song "Only the Lonely". Roy Orbison had a great influence on Bruce Springsteen when the latter was a child. They performed once together on the TV special "Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night" in 1988.

"We ain't that young anymore" from this song's lyrics was explained by Bruce Springsteen to Rolling Stone, "The songs were written immediately after the Vietnam War, and you forget—everybody felt like that then. There's quite a sense of dread and uncertainty about the future and who you were, where you were going, where the whole country was going, so that found its way into the record."

album: "Born To Run" (1975)

Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run album cover

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"Thunder Road" lyrics

Bruce Springsteen Lyrics