Ballad Of Thunder Road

Now let me tell a story, I can tell it all

About the mountain boy who ran illegal alcohol

His daddy made the whiskey, the son, he drove the load

And when his engine roared, they called the highway thunder road

Sometimes into Ashville, sometimes Memphis Town

The revenuers, they 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 standing still on thunder road

There was thunder, thunder over thunder road

Thunder was his engine and white lightning was his load

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, 1954

The federal man sent word, he better make his run no more

He said 200 agents were covering the state

Whichever road he'd try to take, they'd get him sure as fate

? Son?, his daddy told him,? Now make this run your last

Your tank is filled with 100 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?

There was thunder, thunder over thunder road

Thunder was his engine and white lightning was his load

There was moonshine, moonshine to quench the devil's thirst

The law they swore they'd get him, but the devil got him first

Roaring out of Harlan, revving up his mill

He shot the gap at Cumberland and screamed through Maynardville

With G-men on his tail light, 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, 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

There was thunder, thunder over thunder road

Thunder was his engine and white lightning was his load

There was moonshine, moonshine to quench the devil's thirst

The law they swore they'd get him, but the devil got him first