Bruce Springsteen Tribute - Lebanese Tribute to Bruce Springsteen

THUNDER ROAD^©

Live 15 Feb 1995 version


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

Page last updated: 11 Sep 2007

The above lyrics are for the live 15 Feb 1995 duet performance of THUNDER ROAD with Melissa Etheridge at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music, New York City, NY, during the taping of Etheridge's episode of MTV Unplugged. This was an acoustic rendition with Springsteen and Etheridge playing guitar and sharing vocals.

Bruce Springsteen and Melissa Etheridge performing THUNDER ROAD during Etheridge's episode of "MTV Unplugged" on 15 Feb 1995 at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music, New York City, NY

MTV Unplugged is a popular MTV series that began in the 1989/1990 TV season, and was first aired on 26 Nov 1989. Produced by Viacom and directed by Beth McCarthy, the program showcases popular musicians primarily known for playing electric amplified instruments (usually the electric guitar and electric bass) performing live using only acoustic instruments.

MTV Unplugged logo

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, 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."

Etheridge's episode of MTV Unplugged was never released on home video or album.

List of available versions of THUNDER ROAD on this website:

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

Spoken intro to THUNDER ROAD [Live 15 Feb 1995 version]:

[Melissa Etheridge:] 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 "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:] Alright, we better be good now [chuckles] [cheers]

THUNDER ROAD©

Live 15 Feb 1995 version

Page last updated: 11 Sep 2007

THUNDER ROAD^©