Thunder Road

"Thunder Road" is the first track on Born To Run, a crucial album for Springsteen. His first two albums sold poorly, and he was in danger of losing his record deal if he did not produce a hit. With songs like this one about escaping to the open road, he connected with an audience that proved extremely loyal. He considered this song the "invitation" to the album, with the opening notes being the welcome. "Something is opening up," Springsteen said during his 2005 Storytellers appearance. "What I hoped it would be was the sense of a larger life, greater experience, sense of fun, the sense that your personal exploration and possibilities were all lying somewhere inside of you."

Springsteen took the title from a 1958 Robert Mitchum movie called Thunder Road about a family of moonshiners. Bruce didn't see the film, but got the idea from a poster for it in a theater lobby.

Spiritually, "Thunder Road" is a close cousin to "Born To Run." Both songs are about grabbing a girl and hitting the road to see what's out there. In both songs, Springsteen was taking his real-life experience of leaving Freehold, New Jersey at 19 and seeding it with rich, romantic images and a giant ray of hope. "Thunder Road" he sums up in the last line: It's a town full of losers I'm pulling out of here to win "Born To Run" was released as a single and became the hit, but "Thunder Road" is just as venerated in his catalog.