The Promise

[Verse 1] 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 [Bridge] I followed that dream Just like those guys do up on the screen Drove my Challenger down Route 9 Through the dead ends and all the bad scenes When the promise was broken I cashed in a few of my own dreams [Verse 2] Well, I built that Challenger by myself But I needed money and so I sold it I lived a secret I should have kept to myself But I got drunk one night and I told it All of my life I fought that fight The fight that you can ever win And every day it just gets harder to live This dream you're believing in [Chorus] Thunder Road Hey babe, you were so right Thunder Road Something dying down on the highway tonight [Verse 3] 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'd lost And when the promise is broken, you go on living But it steals something from down in your soul Like when the truth is spoken and it don't make no difference Well, something in your heart turns cold [Bridge] I followed that dream through the southwestern tracks That dead ends in the two-bit bars When the promise was broken, I was far away from home Sleeping in the backseat of a borrowed car [Chorus] 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 Billy, what we'd always say Thunder Road We were gonna take it all and throw it all away