In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Johnny works in a factory
Billy works downtown
Terry works in a rock and roll band
Looking for that million dollar sound
I got a job down in Darlington
Some nights I don't go
Some nights I go to the drive-in
Some nights I stay home
I followed that dream
Just like those guys do way up on the screen
Drove my Challenger down Route 9
Through the dead ends and all the bad scenes
The promise was broken
Cashed in a few of my dreams
Well I built that Challenger by myself
But I needed money and so I sold it
Lived a secret I should've kept to myself
But I got drunk one night and I told it
All my life, I fought that fight
The fight that you can't win
Every day it just gets harder to live
The dream you're believing in
Thunder Road, baby, you were so right
Thunder Road, something dying down on the highway tonight
Well I won big once and I hit the coast
Yeah, but I paid the cost
Inside I felt like I was carrying the broken spirits
Of all the other ones who lost
The promise is broken, you go on living
It steals something from down in your soul
When the truth is spoken, it don't make no difference
Something in your heart goes cold
I followed that dream through the southwestern tracks
That dead ends in the two-bit bars
The promise was broken, I was far away from home
Sleeping in the back seat of a borrowed car
Thunder Road is for the lost lovers and all the fixed games
Thunder Road is for the tires rushing by in the rain
Thunder Road me and Billy we'd always sing
Thunder Road, take it all and throw it all away
Billy works downtown
Terry works in a rock and roll band
Looking for that million dollar sound
I got a job down in Darlington
Some nights I don't go
Some nights I go to the drive-in
Some nights I stay home
I followed that dream
Just like those guys do way up on the screen
Drove my Challenger down Route 9
Through the dead ends and all the bad scenes
The promise was broken
Cashed in a few of my dreams
Well I built that Challenger by myself
But I needed money and so I sold it
Lived a secret I should've kept to myself
But I got drunk one night and I told it
All my life, I fought that fight
The fight that you can't win
Every day it just gets harder to live
The dream you're believing in
Thunder Road, baby, you were so right
Thunder Road, something dying down on the highway tonight
Well I won big once and I hit the coast
Yeah, but I paid the cost
Inside I felt like I was carrying the broken spirits
Of all the other ones who lost
The promise is broken, you go on living
It steals something from down in your soul
When the truth is spoken, it don't make no difference
Something in your heart goes cold
I followed that dream through the southwestern tracks
That dead ends in the two-bit bars
The promise was broken, I was far away from home
Sleeping in the back seat of a borrowed car
Thunder Road is for the lost lovers and all the fixed games
Thunder Road is for the tires rushing by in the rain
Thunder Road me and Billy we'd always sing
Thunder Road, take it all and throw it all away
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