THE PROMISE^©

Live 30 Oct 1976 version

[Spoken:] If you ever wanted something you could never have... This is called "The Promise".

Johnny works in a factory and Billy works downtown
Terry works in a rock and roll band lookin' for that million-dollar sound
Me, I don't do nothing much, I spend a lot of time at home
Some nights I go to the drive-in and some nights I stay home
See, I followed that dream just like those guys do way up on the screen
Drove a built-up Challenger down Route 9 through the dead ends and all the bad scenes
When the promise was broken, I cashed in a few of my own dreams

You see I built that Challenger by myself, but I needed money and so I sold it
You know I lived a secret I should'a kept to myself, but I got drunk one night and I told it
All my life I fought that fight, man, it's the one that I can not ever win
And every day it just gets harder to live the dream I'm believing in
Thunder Road, I stay up every morning to the tired light
Thunder Road, there's something burning out on the highway tonight

Now I won big once and I hit the coast, oh but somehow I paid the big cost
Inside I felt like I was carryin' the broken spirits of all the other ones who lost
When the promise is broken you go on living, but man it takes something from down in your soul
Like when the truth is spoken and it don't make no difference, how something in your heart runs cold
See I followed that dream, it was me and some guys, through the dead ends and all the two-bit bars
The night the promise was broken I was drunk and far away from home sleepin' in the backseat of a borrowed car
Thunder Road, here's one for the lost lovers and all the fixed games
Thunder Road, here's one for the tires rushing by in the rain
Thunder Road, I remember what me and Billy, we'd always say
Thunder Road, we were gonna take it all and throw it all away

Page last updated: 08 Aug 2008

The above lyrics are for the 30 Oct 1976 performance at Palladium, New York City, NY, during the part of the Born To Run Tour known as the "Lawsuit Tour".

List of available versions of THE PROMISE on this website:

• Official studio version (more details)
• Jun-Jul 1977 studio take
• Aug 1977 studio take
• Sep-Oct 1977 studio take
• Live 03 Aug 1976 version
• Live 29 Sep 1976 version
• Live 30 Oct 1976 version
• Live 19 May 1978 version
• Live 23 May 1978 version
• Live 01 Jul 2000 version
• Live 20 Jul 2005 version

Thanks Jake (ol'catfishinthelake from BTX and Greasy Lake) for the lyrics help.