THUNDER ROAD

Live 07 May 2008 version



[Spoken intro:] All right, folks. All right, uh... Why don't we wait until everyone gets back in. You want you seats? All right. This is a record came out, it was our third record, it was kind of our do-or-die record, uh, they wanted to throw us off the label, Columbia Records, at the time. And, uh, we were in bad, bad need of something happening, that's what my recollection was. And the title cut, Born To Run, I spent about six months writing, and we spent the same amount of time recording, trying to, uh, figure out a tempo for what was gonna, what was gonna work. After that, I spent the rest of the time trying to get, put together some songs that I thought were gonna be as good as that one, you know. And, uh, thank you, my friend! (chuckles) So, uh, here we go!

The 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 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
Hey!
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but, hey, you're all right
Yeah, well, that's all right with me

You can hide 'neath your covers and study your pain
Throw crosses from your lovers, throw roses in the rain
Waste your summer praying in vain for a savior to rise from these streets
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
What else can we do now
Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair
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
Climb in back, heaven's waiting down on the tracks
Whoa, 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
Lying out there like a killer in the sun
Yeah, I know it's late, but we can make it if we run
Whoa, oh, oh, Thunder Road, sit tight, take hold, Thunder Road

Well, I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk
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
Well, I know you're lonely, there's words that I ain't spoken
Well, tonight, girl, we'll be free, all the promises will 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
You hear their engines roaring on
You get to the porch, they're gone
On the wind; so Mary climb in
It's a town full of losers, we're pulling out of here to win


Info

The above lyrics are for the live 07 May 2008 performance of THUNDER ROAD at Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ, during a benefit show for the Count Basie Theatre. The parts in bold are sung by the crowd.

The 07 May 2008 Show

On 07 May 2008, during a break in the Magic Tour between a North American and a European leg, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played a benefit show for the 82-year-old Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ. The concert was significant for venue, raising alone over $3 million for its restoration fund.

For the very first time ever Springsteen and the band played, not one, but two complete albums from their catalog: Darkness On The Edge Of Town and Born To Run, live and in sequence. Springsteen said that they "decided to do something we've never done before, and that you're not going to see someplace else." However, performances of entire albums would later become a feature of the last two months of the Working On A Dream Tour.

To wrap the night up, Springsteen and the band played a four-song encore featuring a full horn section. "The Mighty Max Horns," as Springsteen later called them, consisted of Mark Pender on trumpet, Richie "LaBamba" Rosenberg on trombone, and Jerry Vivino and Ed Manion on saxophones.

Ticket stub for the 07 May 2008 show at Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ
Ticket stub for the 07 May 2008 show at Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ

The theatre opened as the Carlton Theater in 1926, was renamed the Monmouth Arts Center in 1973, and in 1984 it was renamed the Count Basie Theatre, in memory to the recently deceased jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, and Red Bank native William "Count" Basie. The theatre had been hosting Bruce Springsteen since the mid-seventies -- he played there during The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle Tour in 1974, the Born To Run Tour in 1975, and the Lawsuit Tour in 1976. He has since outgrown the small venue, but he kept making surprise appearances over the years.

  1. BADLANDS
  2. ADAM RAISED A CAIN
  3. SOMETHING IN THE NIGHT
  4. CANDY'S ROOM
  5. RACING IN THE STREETS
  6. THE PROMISED LAND
  7. FACTORY
  8. STREETS OF FIRE
  9. PROVE IT ALL NIGHT
  10. DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN
  11. THUNDER ROAD
  12. TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT (with The Mighty Max Horns)
  13. NIGHT
  14. BACKSTREETS
  15. BORN TO RUN
  16. SHE'S THE ONE
  17. MEETING ACROSS THE RIVER (with Mark Pender)
  18. JUNGLELAND
  19. SO YOUNG AND IN LOVE (with The Mighty Max Horns)
  20. KITTY'S BACK (with The Mighty Max Horns)
  21. ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) (with The Mighty Max Horns)
  22. RAISE YOUR HAND (with The Mighty Max Horns)

Credits

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

Available Versions

List of available versions of THUNDER ROAD on this website:

THUNDER ROAD [Album version]
THUNDER ROAD [Early draft]
THUNDER ROAD [Alternative version #1]
THUNDER ROAD [Alternative version #2]
THUNDER ROAD [Alternative version #3]
THUNDER ROAD [Alternative version #4]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 05 Feb 1975 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 20 Jul 1975 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 17 Oct 1975 (early show) version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 18 Oct 1975 (early show) version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 18 Nov 1975 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 31 Dec 1975 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 07 Apr 1976 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 25 Mar 1977 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 13 May 1977 (early show) version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 13 Sep 1977 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 19 Sep 1978 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 08 Dec 1978 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 21 Sep 1979 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 22 Sep 1979 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 03 Oct 1980 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 03 Jul 1981 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 08 Jun 1984 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 19 Nov 1984 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 27 Jul 1988 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 02 Sep 1988 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 16 Nov 1990 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 22 Sep 1992 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 28 Sep 1992 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 24 Jun 1993 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 15 Feb 1995 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 21 Feb 1995 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 05 Apr 1995 (Sony Music Studios) version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 09 Jul 1995 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 05 May 1997 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 22 May 1997 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 31 Jan 1998 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 23 Oct 1999 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 27 Jun 2000 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 27 Jun 2000 / 01 Jul 2000 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 01 Jul 2000 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 19 Oct 2001 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 29 Aug 2002 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 04 Oct 2002 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 16 Oct 2002 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 19 Feb 2003 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 29 Apr 2003 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 22 Jun 2003 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 01 Nov 2004 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 04 Apr 2005 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 12 Oct 2005 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 07 Nov 2007 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 09 Nov 2007 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 14 Mar 2008 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 07 May 2008 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 18 Jun 2008 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 23 Aug 2008 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 04 Oct 2008 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 16 Oct 2008 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 30 May 2009 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 17 Nov 2009 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 22 Nov 2009 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 04 Nov 2010 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 15 Jan 2011 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 03 Nov 2011 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 04 Nov 2011 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 14 Jan 2012 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 09 Mar 2012 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 06 Apr 2012 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live 07 Nov 2016 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Live July 2018 version]
THUNDER ROAD [Greg Kihn's cover version]
THUNDER ROAD [Badly Drawn Boy's cover version]
THUNDER ROAD [Cowboy Junkies' cover version]
THUNDER ROAD [Kevin Rowland's cover version]

Page last updated: 21 May 2012