A screen door slams, 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 again
Don't 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 busting 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
Oh-oh, Thunder Road
Oh, Thunder Road, oh, Thunder Road
Lying out there like a killer in the sun
Hey, I know it's late, we can make it if we run
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 walk
From your front porch to my front seat
The door's open but the ride ain't free
And I know you're lonely for 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
On 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
And 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
It's a town full of losers
I'm pulling out of here to win


Lyrics submitted by oofus

Thunder Road Lyrics as written by Bruce Springsteen

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Thunder Road song meanings
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  • +2
    My Interpretation

    Yes, yes, to all the comments about getting out of a small town and the frustration of working people having dreams and worrying that their dreams will die like those around before them. But also this: our society for the last 50+ years has been selling the "dream" of romantic love (through movies -- Hollywood love stories with the happy endings, tv and yes, even music), and that if you just find that perect person, your life will be perfect and all your dreams will be fulfilled. And then there's the particularly perncious gloss put on that message by our celebrity-obsessed culture which says if you're not one of the rich and, especially, beautiful gliteratti, you have no worth. (Listen, there's a reason Disney now makes wedding gowns in the styles of the Disney princesses so you can acually "be" Cinderella or Ariel on your wedding day.)

    So now, you're a 17 year-old girl, Mary, who never believed in your heart you were pretty enough; and you were too scared to really take a chance and open your heart to those boys who did have the courage to ask (hiding 'neath the covers, sitting on the front porch, i.e., sidelines); instead hoping desperately inside that a savior would rise from these streets, that is, that somehow someone who was the dream would see inside that you were worthy of the dream and bring it to you, sweep you away, sweep you off your feet, and take you away from "here" to your dream (pick your hollywood metaphor). As a typically dramatic 17 year-old can be, you are consumed with the sufferings of your life (making crosses from your lovers, throwing roses in the rain). This young man tells you, hey you know what? There is no such thing as romantic love. I'm no hero (as the post above got it exactly right) and i'm not offering you that romanitc dream but life has to hold some promise. since the destination of romantic love ain't on the map, there's no road map for where we need to go or even how to get there but i'll take that journey with you. come with me.... Don't know how much Bruce knew about 17 year old girls and their fears and longings but he has insight into everything else so why the heck not.

    levwriteron September 11, 2009   Link

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