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Live 12 Oct 2005 version
[Spoken intro:] Thanks, I'll do a song I haven't, I don't, I've played it on this tour, I've given it a rest for a while, some of those old bastards need that, you know how it is (chuckles) they need a rest, but I'm gonna play this one tonight for a special friend of mine. J.J., if you're, I hope you're still here [J.J.: "I'm here"] Oh, alright, this is for you, my, my, my good friend. here we go.
Well the screen door slams and Mary's dress sways
Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey it's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone anymore
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
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 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
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
Whoah oh oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road, Thunder Road
It's lying out there like a killer in the sun
Yeah I know it's late, but we can make it if we run
Whoah 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, long, long walk
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
But tonight, girl, 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
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, we're pulling out of here to win
The above lyrics are for the live 12 Oct 2005 performance of THUNDER ROAD at Northrop Auditorium in Minneapolis, MN, during the Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour. The song was performed solo on piano.
About his upcoming Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour, Bruce Springsteen told Rolling Stone magazine that the tour is "not about acoustic versions of my hits — that's what's not going to happen." He added, "I want to forewarn potential ticket buyers: I'm not going to be playing an acoustic version of 'Thunder Road'." Despite that, he did perform the song on 12 Oct 2005 show in Minneapolis, MN. This was the only Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour performance of the song. He played it by request for a "special friend" J.J. (see spoken intro above). Daniel Baldassare wrote to Backstreets magazine that he "later found out that J.J. is a brave and courageous young man who is battling leukemia, and he had the honor of meeting Bruce before the show and seeing the sound-check." He added, "The crowd erupted after hearing just the first few chords, and when it was finished, gave the loudest round of applause of the night".
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]