Wow, "Thunder Road" is the Top Song of All Time

[tomfodw]

According to people who voted in WXPN's poll.

Good song, but the best ever?

[unblock]

1. there are many top notch songs, and such fine distinctions are a bit silly

but since you're complaining, name ones you would rank higher?

[KoKo]

2. What? which "Thunder Road" are you talking about, here? (n/t)

[jmowreader]

3. The one by Springsteen, hopefully

[KoKo]

29. WHOA! What about Robert Mitchum's "Thunder Road?" Here...a link:

http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/Thunderr.htm

[KoKo]

30. Pix of ORIGINAL "Thunder Road!" and a snip about "new song:"

Viewed from a less compulsively regional angle, Thunder Road is an enduring example of Americana in the depiction of the rural upper South, its car culture, the roads and roadsides. “Robert Mitchum plays Luke Doolin, the elder son of an Appalachian family which supplements its meagre income by making and selling illegal liquor. The Doolins and the other local families involved in this trade have two enemies to worry about: the US Treasury Department and the big city crime syndicate, which is determined to wrest control of the lucrative business from the country-folk. The place of confrontation is the road. On the surface then, Thunder Road is a straightforward thriller. Beneath its cut-price surface, between the lines of its plot, it also tells another story” (David Downing).

That other story between the lines of the plot comes to the fore in an abundance of dark greys which dominate the screen as the camera focuses largely on Luke Doolin. The veteran of the Korean (?) war has seen a fair share of the world at large, its big cities and ways of life; he knows that before long the secluded space his kin have inhabited will be overrun as the mountain folk will not be able to bar or withstand the violent invasion of progress and civilization. All men figuring in the movie are crooks in one way or another, and compared to the revenue men and the mobsters, the moonshiners of Sorrowful Mountain, though pursuing unlawful activities as they eke out a living, are really the good guys, even if they are doomed to surrender in the end to the encroachment of big-world civilization. Luke has submitted himself to the traditional ways because he knows he is the best when it comes to running illegal booze, but he will not have his kid brother (acted by James Mitchum, Robert’s son) follow in his steps; and when the mobsters trick the kid brother into attempting a run on his own, Luke takes his place. A conscious act of self sacrifice prevents the boy’s making a fatal mistake.

The movie and its title song, “Ballad of Thunder Road” (co-authored and performed by Robert Mitchum), are obviously alluded to in Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road” (who conceded that when he wrote the song he “stole” the title from the film). Steve Earle’s “Copperhead Road” tells a similar story and contains distinct verbal echoes of the film.

[Bok_Tukalo]

4. Working class angst

The best except for maybe rural working class angst.

[Bunny]

5. Well, I like it.

During certain times, it's the best song ever for me! :)

[latebloomer]

6. One of the very best

I think I like "Layla" better, tho.

[JimmyJazz]

7. without cheating:

Screen door slams,
Mary's dress waves,
like a vision she dances across the porch
as the radio plays....

[latebloomer]

8. Roy Orbison's singing for the lonely

That's me, and I love you only
Don't turn me out, I just can't face myself alone again. . .

[JimmyJazz]

9. oooh wrong!

Roy Orbison's singing for the lonely
hey that's me and I want you only
don't turn me home again I just can't face
myself alone again...

Don't run back inside darlin' I know just what you're here for...
So you're scared and you're thinkin' that maybe we ain't that young any more....

(try again - you were close... and bonus points for not cheating)

[latebloomer]

10. Have a little faith, there's magic in the night

You ain't a beauty but hey, you're alright
And that's alright with me. . .

[JimmyJazz]

11. BTW: Show a little faith... (but you were close and I appreciate that you

clearly didn't cheat...

You can hide 'neath the covers and study your pain,
make crosses to your lovers, throw roses in the rain,
waste your summer prayin' in vain for a saviour to rise from these streets....

[latebloomer]

13. Well I'm no hero, but it's understood

All the redemption I can offer is beneath this dirty hood
With a chance to make it thru somehow
What else can we do now, but. . .
Roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair
Well, the night's wide open and these two lanes will take us anywhere. . .

(I know that's not QUITE right, but I'm tryin. . . )

[JimmyJazz]

17. Well, the night's bustin open, these two lanes will take us anywhere

show a little faith, there's magic in the night,
you ain't a beauty but that's all right
oh and that's all right with me.

You can hide 'neath the covers and study you're pain
make crosses to your lover, throw roses in the rain...

(at least you aren't cheating! - my problem is I have to start singing the song from the beginning each time - this is going to be my earworm for days!)

[latebloomer]

18. your turn to screw up!

after "night's bustin open, these two lanes will take us anywhere"
it should go-

"We got one last chance to make it real
Trade in these wings on some wheels (?)


Then I'm blanking on the next couple lines-I got the tune in my head but not the words-

Then
"Oh-oh, come take my hand
We're ridin out tonight to case the promised land
Oh oh oh oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road. . .

[JimmyJazz]

19. climb in back heaven's waiting down on the tracks

Oh-oh, come take my hand
We're ridin out tonight to case the promised land
Oh oh Thunder Road, Oh thunder road, oh thunder road,

Lying out there like a killer in the sun,
yeah, I know it's late
we can make it if we run

Oh oh oh oh Thunder Road, sit tight, take hold
Thunder Road

Well...

(damn, this song is long...I'll check our answers when we've finished)

[latebloomer]

20. I've got this guitar and I've learned how to make it talk

And my car's out back if you're ready to take that long walk
From your front porch to my front seat
The door's open but the ride ain't free. . .

(stumped for next line)

[JimmyJazz]

21. Yeah, I know you're ready for words that I ain't spoken

tonite we'll be free - all promises will be broken

(you gave me the really hard part, here)

There's ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away
they haunt this dusty beach road in a skeleton frame of a
burned out Chevrolet
they scream your name at night in the street
your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet

[latebloomer]

22. oh crap, crap, I'm stumped again-

blah blah blah
Heaven's waiting across the tracks(?!?)

Oh oh come take my hand
We're ridin out tonite to case the promised land
Oh oh oh oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road
Oh, I feel like a killer in the sun
I know it's late but we can make it if we run
Oh oh oh oh Thunder Road
Sit tight take hold
Thunder Road!

[JimmyJazz]

23. And in the lonely cool before dawn,

You hear their engines roaring on
But when you get to the porch they're gone
On the wind, so Mary climb in
It's a town full of losers
And I'm pulling out of here to win.

(we are officially finished - it's been nice playing this stupid game with you - next up Magnificent 7 - the Clash) :7

[latebloomer]

24. Yep, it's been fun, friend!

Long Live Bruce!!

[JimmyJazz]

25. Bruce Springsteen sweat on my forehead in 1980

Yep - that was me! Aren't you glad you got to know me now???

[latebloomer]

26. Oooh!!

And have you ever washed your face since? I wouldn't!!

[JimmyJazz]

27. of course not - don't be ridiculous!

[latebloomer]

28. Why can't I be ridiculous?

But anyway-- my Bruce story is that as a cute young thing in the 70s, I turned down a chance to hang out with Bruce and the band one night after their gig at a small club in Boston-- I had never heard of them, but a fellow waitress had met Clarence at the restaurant the night before and he invited her to come and bring a friend.

Two months later I saw him at his astounding Harvard Square set, where he opened for Bonnie Raitt-- the night he was immortalized by Jon Landau--"I have seen the future of rock'n roll, and his name is Bruce Springsteen!"

He was a GOD that night, and I kicked myself for a good long time for having passed up the opportunity to meet him.

[JimmyJazz]

31. blub, blub, blub...Don't feel bad. I'm still kicking myself for

meeting Joe Strummer and having nothing even remotely intelligent to say. If I only knew then, what I know now!

[latebloomer]

32. Ouch!!

Youth is wasted on the young.

[JimmyJazz]

33. agreed! but, it was still fun!

[Tom Kitten]

12. good....

For a moment there I thought you meant the Robert Mitchum song!

[getoffmytrain]

14. awesome song.

[elcondor]

15. I like it but

I wouldn't call it even the best Springsteen song, IMHO :shrug:

(I personally like Downbound Train, Born to Run, and My Hometown better)

[HEyHEY]

16. I love that song