Here It Goes... Thunder Road

I saved Thunder Road for last today because well, its my favorite song of all time. Gasp. I know many people throw that phrase around loosely, but to me, it gets no better than this next tune. The other night when I decided to tackle this whole Springsteen project I went back and listened to the song again. I actually cried. I love the song so much, its so beautiful that I cried when I heard it. It solidified the fact to me that lyrically and musically it is in fact the best ever.

The song to me is the perfect love song, and here is why. It's a song about two naive kids trying to outrun their doomed adulthood. There's the narrator, who by admission isn't a hero, and Mary, "who ain't a beauty but hey she's alright". The two are young lovers who are caught between their dreams and what is expected of them. Life is hard and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere for either of them. The narrator is trying to break away from his hopeless situation and he wants to take Mary with him, but she isn't quite sure. The narrator pleads for her over and over to come with him, telling her that she can't wait anymore "for a savior to rise from these streets". The two travel to Thunder Road, which they hope will help take them to the promise land, they don't know quite yet if they will make it... but they are making a run for it. 

The song is filled with powerful lyrics and one of my all time favorite verses. To me, I can actually see this entire song unfold in my mind with this verse:

"There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away
They haunt this dusty beach road in the skeleton frames of burned-out Chevrolet's
They scream your name at night in the street
Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet
And in the lonely cool before dawn
You hear their engines rollin gon
But when you get to the porch, they're gone on the wind
So Mary climb in
It's a time for the losers but I'm pulling out of here to win"

This song has everything to me. Great characters, emotion, powerful music, everything that you could ever want in a song. (Plus you can't forget about the Clarence Clemons solo at the end it's amazing!) It's a song that any person can relate to, and it's an example of when great lyrics makes a great song. 

The video below is one of my favorite live versions of it, there is also some amazing acoustic versions that you should hear. Again I could listen to this song all day. Sit back and enjoy rock and roll at its finest. 

... and that concludes my Bruce Springsteen day here on the blog. Its been a lot of fun, and I have a whole list of songs to put on Patrick's mix tonight. Yay.