Live 16 Oct 2008 version
| Bruce Springsteen: | The screen door slams, yeah, Mary's dress sways |
| 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 anymore | |
| 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 | |
| Go ahead! | |
| Crowd: | Show a little faith, there's magic in the night |
| You ain't a beauty, but, hey, you're all right | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | Whoa, that's all right 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 | |
| Billy Joel: | Well, 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 | |
| Springsteen and Joel: | 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 | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | 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 | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | Whoa, oh, come take my hand |
| We're riding out tonight to case the promised land | |
| Springsteen and Joel: | Whoa, oh, oh, oh, Thunder Road, oh, Thunder Road, Thunder Road |
| Bruce Springsteen: | Lying out there like a killer in the sun |
| Hey, I know it's late, but we can make it if we run | |
| Whoa, oh, oh, Thunder Road, sit tight, take hold, Thunder Road | |
| Billy Joel: | Well, I got this guitar and I learned how to make her 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, it ain't free | |
| Hey, girl, I know you're lonely, there's words that I ain't spoken | |
| Tonight, girl, we'll be free, all the promises will be broken | |
| Springsteen and Joel: | 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 | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | They scream your name at night in the street |
| Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet | |
| Billy Joel: | 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 | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | It's a town full of losers, we're pulling out of here to win |
The above lyrics are for the live 16 Oct 2008 performance of THUNDER ROAD at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, NY, during the Change Rocks benefit concert. The song was played as a duet with Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel, and backed by Billy Joel and his band, Patti Scialfa, and Roy Bittan.
The show was in support of Barack Obama's presidential campaign and was co-headlined by Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel.
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]