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