The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Outside the street's on fire in a real death waltz
At night sometimes it seemed you could hear the whole damn city crying
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright, and that's alright with me
Now I know your mama she don't like me 'cause I play in a rock and roll band
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said 'Sit down' I stood up
Mama always told me not to look into the sights of the sun, oh but mama that's where the fun is
Puerto Rican Jane, oh won't you tell me what's your name
Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king, and a king ain't satisfied 'till he rules everything
Now I hear she's got a house up in Fairview, and a style she's trying to maintain
She's waiting tonight down in the parking lot outside the 7-11 store
She says baby if you wanna be wild you got a lot to learn, close your eyes let them melt, let them fire, let them burn
Men walk through these gates with death in their eyes. And you just better believe, boy, somebody's gonna get hurt tonight
For my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
Like a river that don't know where it's flowing, I took a wrong turn and I just kept going
We got married, and swore we'd never part, then little by little we drifted from each other's heart
All day you've been working that hard line, now tonight you're gonna have a good time
Your Mamma's yappin' in the back seat, tell her to push over and move them big feet
Well I got a job and tried to put my money away, but I got debts that no honest man can pay
Maybe you got a kid, maybe you got a pretty wife the only thing that I got's been both'rin' me my whole life
I go to put my arm around you and you give me a look like I'm way out of bounds
Sometimes it's like someone took a knife baby edgy and dull and cut a six-inch valley through the middle of my soul
I'm just calling one last time not to change your mind, but just to say I miss you baby
I ain't nothing but tired, man I'm just tired and bored with myself
We learned more from a three minute record, baby, than we ever learned in school
Well I've tried so hard baby, but I just can't see what a woman like you is doing with me
When the change was made uptown and the Big Man joined the band, from the coastline to the city all the little pretties raise their hands
You and me we were the pretenders, we let it all slip away
Come on now try and understand the way I feel when I'm in your hands
She'll let you in her mouth, if the words you say are right
Out on the street your chances are zero
Hey there mister can you tell me what happened to the seeds I've sown
Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free, look in their eyes Mom you'll see me
Her brains they rattle and her bones they shake, whoah, she's an angel from the Innerlake
You see all the romantic movies, you dream and take the boys home
I pick you up with flowers when you get off from work, it's like you don't even care, it's like I'm some kind of jerk
Cold rain running down the front of my shirt, I'm flat on my back wheels in the dirt
There ain't no storybook story, there's no never-ending song
Now's there's tears on the pillow darlin' where we slept, and you took my heart when you left
I make my way through this darkness, I can't feel nothing but this chain that binds me
That you know flag flying over the courthouse means certain things are set in stone - who we are, what we'll do and what we won't
Woke up Election Day, skies gunpowder and shades of gray
Have you ever seen a one legged dog makin' his way down the street
Thunder Road, we were gonna take it all and throw it all away
Leave behind your sorrows, let this day be the last. Tomorrow there’ll be sunshine, and all this darkness past
I been stumbling on good hearts turned to stone, the road of good intentions has gone dry as a bone
There's diamonds in the sidewalk, the's gutters lined in song, dear I hear that beer flows through the faucets all night long
I've done my best to live the right way, I get up every morning and go to work each day
I was the prince of the paupers crowned downtown at the beggar's bash
Without you, I'm a drummer, girl, that can't keep a beat, an ice cream truck on a deserted street