Ballad Of Thunder Road Songtext
von Tex Williams

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 Ashville, 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

Thunder, thunder over thunder road
Thunder was his engine, and white lightning was his load
Moonshine, moonshine to quench the devil's thirst
The law they never got him, cause the devil got him first


On the first of april, nineteen fifty-four
The 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
Your tank is filled with hundred-proof
You're all tuned up and gassed
Now, don′t take any chances, and if you can't get through
I′d rather have you back again than all that mountain dew

Thunder, thunder over thunder road
Thunder was his engine, and white lightning was his load
Moonshine, moonshine to quench the devil's thirst
The law they never got him, cause the devil got him first

Roarin′ out of Harlem, revving up his mill
He shot the gap at Cumberland
And screamed by Maynordsville
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 Beacon, there 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

Thunder, thunder over thunder road
Thunder was his engine, and white lightning was his load
Moonshine, moonshine to quench the devil′s thirst
The law they never got him, cause the devil got him first
The law they never got him, cause the devil got him first