B A L L A D   O F   T H U N D E R   R O A D

Let me tell the story, I can tell it all
About the mountain boy who ran illegal alcohol.
His daddy made the whiskey, son he drove the load.
When his engine roared, they called the highway Thunder Road.

Sometimes into Ashville, sometimes Memphis town,
The revenuers chased him but they couldn’t run him down.
Each time they thought they had him, his engine would explode.
He'd go by like they were standin’ still on Thunder Road.

And there was thunder, thunder over Thunder Road.
Thunder was his engine, and white lightnin' was his load.
And there was moonshine, moonshine to quench the Devil’s thirst.
The law they swore they'd get him, but the Devil got him first.

On the first of April, nineteen fifty-four,
A Federal man sent word he’d better make his run no more.
He said two hundred agents were coverin’ the state
Whichever road he tried to take, they’d get him sure as fate.

Son, his Daddy told him, make this run your last.
The tank is filled with hundred-proof, you’re all tuned up and gassed.
Now, don’t take any chances, if you can’t get through.
I’d rather have you back again than all that mountain dew.

And there was thunder, thunder over Thunder Road.
Thunder was his engine, and white lightnin' was his load.
And there was moonshine, moonshine to quench the Devil’s thirst.
The law they swore they'd get him, but the Devil got him first.

Roarin’ out of Harlan, revvin’ up his mill.
He shot the gap at Cumberland, and screamed by Maynardsville.
With T-men on his taillights, roadblocks up ahead
The mountain boy took roads that even Angels feared to tread.

Blazing right through Knoxville, out on Kingston Pike,
Then right outside of Bearden, there they made the fatal strike.
He left the road at 90; that’s all there is to say.
The devil got the moonshine and the mountain boy that day.

And there was thunder, thunder over Thunder Road.
Thunder was his engine, and white lightnin' was his load.
And there was moonshine, moonshine to quench the Devil’s thirst.
The law they never got him, 'cause the Devil got him first.
Law they never got him, 'cause the Devil got him first.

 Thunder Road Map

Written by Don Raye and Robert Mitchum                                Recorded by Robert Mitchum