If you're a Bruce Springsteen fan, then you probably know his classic song Thunder Road. The legendary songwriter created it back in 1975, and it became the opening track on his popular album Born to Run. This album did amazingly well when it was released back in '75, and it's still popular even today. Springsteen is a solo artist and the boss of E Street Band, and Thunder Road is ranked as one of his greatest hits, as well as one of the top songs in all of rock and roll.
Thunder Road was written by Springsteen on his living room piano in New Jersey, but it took a few revisions to get it perfect. It was originally recorded in 1974 and named Chrissie's Song, but a year later, he combined it with another composition and changed the name to Wings for Wheels. Still unsatisfied with the outcome, he made further revisions from yet another composition and finally landed on the final product, Thunder Road.
In the song, it describes a young woman named Mary, her boyfriend, and their "one last chance to make it real." Throughout the Springsteen song, you'll hear the beautiful sounds of a piano, harmonica, and even a smooth saxophone played in the outro. On top of the incredible sounds, Bruce Springsteen lyrics always tell a story in an impressive way, and this song is no different.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5kXnq5IjdU
Thunder Road Lyrics
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 down on the tracks
Oh-oh come take my hand
We're riding out tonight to case the promised land
Oh-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-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 ain't free
And I know you're lonely
For words that I ain't spoken
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
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