Bruce Springsteen Tribute - Lebanese Tribute to Bruce Springsteen

THUNDER ROAD^©

Live 16 Nov 1990 version

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
It's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone
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 is 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 saviour to rise from these streets
Well now I'm no hero, that's understood
All the redemption I can offer 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
Oh the night's bustin' open, these two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
You 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-oh oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road, Thunder Road
I knew this would happen [chuckles]*
Lying out there like a killer in the sun
Hey I know it's late, we can make it if we run
Oh-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 it ain't free
Yeah I know you're lonely, these words that I ain't spoken
But tonight 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 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
But when they get to the porch they're gone on the wind, so Mary climb in
It's a town full of losers and we're pulling outta here to win

Page last updated: 11 Sep 2007

The above lyrics are for the live 16 Nov 1990 acoustic performance of THUNDER ROAD. Bruce Springsteen joined Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne on 16 and 17 Nov 1990 at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA, for two acoustic Christic Institute benefit shows, during both of which the song was played on grand piano. He flubbed the words to the song on the first night, and on the second night, the song was dedicated to some Jimmy.

* Line in italic corresponds to the spoken part where Bruce forgets the lyrics.

The shows "were two of the most important and dramatic concerts of his [Springsteen's] career", Backstreets magazine founder Charles Cross said. According to the Golden Globe, Springsteen and manager Jon Landau even considered making an album from these shows at one point.

Promo poster for the 16-17 Nov 1990 Christic Institute benefit shows at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA

The Christic Institute was a public interest law firm whose most high-profile case was going to expose the CIA's involvement in the Iran-Contra drug smuggling scandals. The case was dismissed by the judge days before the trial was to begin, claiming that Christic's attorneys had failed to present some of the evidence. Christic was ordered to pay over $1 million in court costs for the defendants, effectively bankrupting the firm.

Check out also all available lyrics pages for THUNDER ROAD:

THUNDER ROAD©

Live 16 Nov 1990 version

Page last updated: 11 Sep 2007

THUNDER ROAD^©