The Promise - Live at Berkeley Community Theatre, Berkeley, CA - 7/1/1978

This is a -
I'm gonna do this for my Pop

Well, Johnny works in a factory and Billy works downtown
Terry works in a rock and roll band, looking for that million-dollar sound
Me, I got a little job down in Darlington, oh, but some nights I don't go
Some nights I go to the drive-in or some nights I stay home

I followed that dream just like those guys do way up on the screen
And I drove a 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

Well now, I built that Challenger by myself
But I needed money and so I sold it
I lived a secret I should've kept to myself
But I got drunk one night and I told it

All my life I fought this fight
The fight that no man can ever win
And every day it just gets harder to live this dream I'm believing in

Thunder road
Oh baby, you were so right
Thunder road
There's something dying out on the highway tonight

Well, now my daddy taught me how to walk quiet
And how to make my peace with the past
And I learned real good to tighten up inside
And I don't say nothing unless I'm asked

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
Something in your heart turns cold

Well, I followed that dream just like those guys
The dead-end bars and the dirt tracks
When the promise was broken, I was far away from home
Sleeping in the backseat of a borrowed car

Thunder road
And when it washes away with the rain
Thunder road
You learn to walk among the remains

Thunder road
Remember what me and Billy we'd always say
Thunder road
We were gonna take it all and throw it all away