THE PROMISE

Alternative version 4

Johnny works in a factory and Billy works downtown
Terry works in a rock & roll band
Looking for that million dollar sound
Me sometimes I don't do nothing
Cause I spend a lot of time alone
Some nights I go to the drive-in
And some nights I stay home
I followed that dream
Just like those guys do way up on the screen
Drove a chopped up Challenger
Down Route 9
Through the dead ends and all the bad scenes
And when the promise was broken
I cashed in a few of my dreams

Well now I built that Challenger by myself
But I needed money and so I sold it
And I lived a secret I should've kept to myself
But I got drunk one night and I told it
All my life I fought the fight
The one that no man can never win
And every day it just gets harder
To live the dream I'm believing in

Thunder Road....
I stay up every morning until it turns light
Thunder Road....
There's something dying out on the highway tonight

Well now I won big once and I hit the coast
Oh but somehow I paid the big cost
I felt like I was carrying
The broken spirits of all the other ones who'd lost
When the promise is broken you go on living
But man it steals something from down in your soul
Like when the truth is spoken, and it don't make no difference
Something in your heart grows cold
Well I followed that dream, to the south-west flats
In the dead ends and the two-bit bars
When the promise was broken
I was far away from home
Sleeping in the back seat of a borrowed car

Thunder Road....
Here's one for the lost lovers and all the fixed games
Thunder Road....
Here's one for the tires rushing by in the rain
Thunder Road....
I remember when me and Terry, we'd always say
Thunder Road....
We were gonna take it all, and throw it all away

One of the 3 bonus tracks in 18 Tracks that don't appear on Tracks. Was nominated for the 2000 Grammy Awards for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song. Recorded first during the Darkness On The Edge Of Town sessions, and was slated to appear on that album until RACING IN THE STREET took its place. Played spotty from 1976 (premiered on 03 Aug 1976, Red Bank, NJ) to 15 Jul 1978 with some variations on lyrics. Never performed since then, until the Reunion tour when it appeared few times with Bruce on piano.

Bruce has publicly denied that THE PROMISE was written about the Laurel Canyon debacle, but everyone believes that this whole "debacle" influenced the feel and lyrics of the song. Bruce also has said he doesn't write about lawsuits, but he never said he didn't write about the emotions derived from a painful legal wrangle, after all, his music was on the line.

To make a long story short (by TRBrucefan form BTX):
Bruce signed an exclusive production/management deal sometime in late 1972 with Laurel Canyon, a company owned by Mike Appell and Jim Cretecos. This deal was pretty bad by most accounts, and by the time Born To Run came out, Bruce started to see the light (some argue he was "shown" the light by Jon Landau) and made legal maneuvers to divest himself of that management deal that had Mike Appell owning the rights to Bruce's music and giving Bruce royalties only a small fraction of what they were actually earning.
Bruce finally bought his way out of the deal and became very jaded toward the industry and he swore from then on he himself would control his musical destiny and would be the one to guide and decide the direction his career would go in.
Many fans have argued that this was a shrouded slap at Appell for what he's to Bruce. Bruce has denied as such but still the timing and some of the topics discussed in the song make the connection an easy one to make.

These lyrics refer to a version recorded in Aug 1977 in Atlantic Studios, New York City. Check also the 18 Tracks version, alternative version 1, alternative version 2, alternative version 3, alternative version 5, and alternative version 6.

Available on:

1. 18 Tracks (track 18)