The Ballad Of Thunder Road.  Robert Mitchum.

Seq and Kar - Ron Tilden.  June 2007.

The Ballad of Thunder Road
Words and Music by: Don Raye and Robert Mitchum
Performed by: Robert Mitchum (1957)
Sequenced by: Ron Tilden

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 Asheville,
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 lightning 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 lightning 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,
where they made the fatal strike.
He left the road at ninety;
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 lightning 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.
The law they swore they'd get him,
but the Devil got him first.

The Ballad Of Thunder Road
Soft karaoke
Words
Melody
Harmony
Guitar
Guitar (Steel)
Guitar (Clean)
Banjo
Fiddle
Bass (Pick)
Bass
Drums