Lyrics The Promise - Live at the Palace Theatre, Albany, NY - 02/07/77 - Bruce Springsteen

Johnny works in a factory
And Billy works downtown
And Terry works in a rock and roll band
Lookin' for that million-dollar sound

And me, I don't do nothing much
I spend a lot of time alone
And some nights I go to the drive-in
And some nights I stay home

See, I followed that dream
Just like those guys did way up on the screen
I drove a chopped-up Challenger down Route 9
Through the dead ends and all the bad scenes
And when the promise was borken
I cashed in a few of my old dreams

You see, I built that Challenger by myself
But I needed money and so I sold it
I lived a secret I should've kept to myself
But I got drunk one night and I told it

And all my life I fought that fight
And I know I can never win
Because every day just gets harder to live
The dream you're believing in

Thunder Road
And I sit up every morning
'Til the turn's left
Thunder Road
And there's something burning
Out on the highway tonight

When I won big once and I hit the coast
Yeah, but somehow I paid the big cost
Inside I felt like I was carrying the broken spirits
Of all the other ones who lost

When the promise is broken you go on living
But, man, it takes something from down in your soul
Like when the truth is spoken
And it don't make no difference
And something inside goes cold

'Cause I followed that dream
Meetin' some guys with the dead ends
In all the two-bit bars
And when the promise was broken
I was far away from home
Sleepin' in the back seat of a borrowed car

Thunder Road
Here's one for the lost lovers
And all the fixed games
Thunder Road
Here's one for the tires
Rushing by in the rain
Thunder Road
Remember when me and Billy
We'd always say
Thunder Road
We was gonna take it all
And throw it all away