Here’s the ultimate car-as-escape-device song, “Thunder Road,” in a 2002 live performance by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
Written in 1975 at the height of Springsteen’s Born to Run period, “Thunder Road” is the work of a young and fearless songwriter, unafraid of lurching into bombast. The original title was “Wings for Wheels,” and there’s the key to the lyric. These two people are going to get in their car and make a run for it, turning barely formed dreams into some kind of reality.
Well the night’s busting open
These two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
This video is from the 2003 performance DVD, Live from Bacelona, recorded at Palau Sant Jordi on October 16, 2002. (Reminder: the English subtitles can be turned on/off with the CC button in the bottom toolbar.) The concert has never been released as an album, only as a DVD, and “Thunder Road” closes the show. Part of the pleasure here is in watching a fine rock band craft real, live music on fly. Video below.
Bruce’s huge commercial success disguises his huge talent. This is song genius and I love the way the band plays it.
I bought this album the day it was released, in good part because of this song. This was Springsteen’s golden era. By the time this recording was made, his new albums had lost a bit of their edge but there’s no denying the E Street Band was one of rock’s all-time greats.