The Promise

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