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Live 15 Feb 1995 version
[Melissa Etheridge (spoken intro):] Thank you. Yeah I thought, you know, I thought they might want me to do an "Unplugged" and like sit down and sing, you know... I can't do that. I learned early on, you know, I started uh, I started playing guitar when I was about eight years old and I listened a lot, I listened to a lot of music. And uh, a lot of music influenced me. And uh... (chuckles) and one of the, one of the, the fellas, fella that I would, that I would listen to of course, was, was Bruce Springsteen... (cheers) He's a fella, yeah, and I would, I remember going home, I'd go home, you know, after school, whatever, and I'd plug my 8-track in... it's true, it's true, I'd plug my 8-track in and, and I'd listen and aah, and I would dream. I mean if, if anybody could make you dream, it was, it was Bruce Springsteen, right? You know. You'd, you'd... (cheers) I'd close my eyes under the big, you know ??? headphones, you know, about this big... and, and I would listen and I would say "Oh man, I want that," you know, "I want it, I want, I wanna sing, I wanna scream, I wanna stand up, I wanna," you know, "write, I wanna tell everybody how I feel". And uh, and I started to do that and he was very influential and uh... you know, one of the things I always wanted to do was uh... well, was to sing with Bruce Springsteen... (cheers) So... so what would happen if, if you asked. You know, if you said "Hello Bruce, it's Melissa, I'd, you know, you got a minute? You wanna... maybe? And uh, what would you do if you and me and..." and he said yes... (Cheers) Ladies and gentlemen, come on, give it up for the man, Mr. Bruce Springsteen! (Bruce walks onto the stage and people scream "Broooce") Oh man. I mean... I used to do Springsteen songs and they would do that, then I'd say "Oh no, they're booing me"... I'd feel bad until he said that he used to think that too, I'm telling you. Alright?
[Bruce Springsteen (spoken):] Alright, we better be good now (chuckles) (cheers).
| Melissa Etheridge: | 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 send me home again | |
| I just can't face myself alone again | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | Well don't you 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 | |
| Well show a little faith, there's magic in the night | |
| Melissa and Bruce: | You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright |
| Oh and that's alright with me | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | 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 | |
| Melissa Etheridge: | Well I'm no hero, it's understood |
| All the redemption I got to offer, girl, is beneath this dirty hood | |
| Melissa and Bruce: | With a chance to make it real somehow |
| Tell me what else can we do now | |
| Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair | |
| Well the night's busted 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 | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | Climb in back, heaven's waiting down on the tracks |
| Melissa and Bruce: | Oh, oh, come take my hand |
| We're riding out tonight to case the promised land | |
| Whoa, oh, oh, Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road | |
| It's lying out there like a killer in the sun | |
| I know it's late we can make it if we run | |
| Whoa, oh, oh, Thunder Road, sit tight, take hold, Thunder Road | |
| Melissa Etheridge: | Ah, well I got this guitar and I learned, I learned how to make it talk |
| Bruce Springsteen: | And my car's out back if you're ready to take that long walk |
| Melissa and Bruce: | From your front porch to my front seat |
| The door's open but the ride it ain't free | |
| I know you're lonely, there's 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 | |
| In the lonely cool before dawn | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | You hear their engines roaring on |
| When you get to the porch they're gone on the wind | |
| Melissa Etheridge: | So Mary climb in |
| Melissa and Bruce: | It's a town full of losers, we're pulling out of here to win |
The above lyrics are for the live 15 Feb 1995 performance of THUNDER ROAD at Brooklyn Academy Of Music in New York City, NY, during the taping of Melissa Etheridge's episode of MTV Unplugged. This was an acoustic rendition with Bruce Springsteen and Melissa Etheridge playing guitar and sharing vocals. Etheridge's episode of MTV Unplugged was never officially released on home video or as an album.
Melissa Etheridge is a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. She was booked for the taping of an episode of MTV Unplugged in 1995, and when the network asked her for some potential duet partners, she requested Springsteen. She assumed he wouldn't accept the invitation, but he did. They taped the episode on 15 Feb 1995 at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music in New York City, NY, performing THUNDER ROAD together. They had to do two takes of the song because Etheridge messed up the lyrics on the first run through, so the track was recorded a second time for the broadcast. "It was like, 'OK, let's see if you remember it this time'," Etheridge later remembered. "There's, like, a beat and then I step up and sing it, and Bruce is standing there laughing."
Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake at BTX and Greasy Lake) for the lyrics help.
List of available versions of THUNDER ROAD on this website:
THUNDER ROAD [Album version]