Perhaps not the song of the day, but one I keep singing to myself
‘Thunder Road’ is the best song on one of the best albums, if not the best album, of the Rock Album era.
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 ain’t 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 on down the tracksOh oh, come take my hand
We’re riding out tonight to case the promised land
Oh oh 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 oh oh, Thunder Road
Sit tight, take hold, Thunder Road
Awesome lyrics, and, music!
The first time that XPN had fans vote for the 885 Best Songs Of All Time, Thunder Road was #1. I voted for it in my Top 10.
My favorite Springsteen song by far, really well written and played.
If you went to hear him at the Main Point in 1975, or listened to the ‘MMR broadcast of the show, you heard it in its primordial form, when he sang it to Angelina instead of Mary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRRQVfQZnZQ
That’s Suki Lahav on violin. The lyrics are unfinished, and the structure follows the form of “Sandy,” with the instruments dropping away before the last verse. IN the last verse, it’s getting cold, so it’s set at the end of summer, a sort of coda to Fourth of July in Asbury Park.
That verision gave me chills. The rough draft quality of the lyrics and music are amazing. Shows how much blood, sweat and toil went into the final.
It’s partly Suki’s violin. Look up the entire show on YouTube and you’ll need a blanket. This was during the period when he couldn’t record due to his management problems, so he had time to rework the lyrics to the incredible final version.
The bootleg collectors know the illegal pressing as “You Can Trust Your Car to the Man Who Wears the Star.” I miss the days when you could buy bootlegged concert recordings on the Boardwalk, or at Jeremiah’s.
I SAW/HEARD this version of the song–in the cafeteria at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. First time I saw Springsteen and still the most memorable to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZeZdCvvOYs
Grainy as hell, but still fun to listen!
Same song from the Main Point, no video but cleaner sound:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxAICDP-DLU
As long as we’re at it, the song Suki Lahav added the most to on that tour probably was “Jungleland.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpwKpnn0_V4
The lyrics again are in a primitive form.