The Bruce Springsteen movie is in theaters and it prompted me to listen to my favorite Bruce Springsteen song: "Thunder Road", from his majestic 1975 "Born to Run" album. The song is a timeless beauty to me, and I can remember when I first heard it (circa 1982-1986).
In high school, I attended retreats led by the priests at my all-boys Catholic school. These retreats were held in a large house in Sea Bright, New Jersey, on the Jersey Shore. My memories of the retreats are mostly dim except for that one morning someone put on this album (vinyl).
A fellow student flipped through the albums at that retreat house and announced "Bruce!" He cued up the first song and Thunder Road began, filling me instantly with its lyrical imagery. Mary's dress swaying, skeleton graves burning, and the exhortation to let the wind blow back your hair.
I've loved that song ever since. Recently I've come to enjoy the version he did with Melissa Etheridge. In that rehearsal he said "there's no chorus" (presumably to arrange the duet). There's just a bunch of lyrics was his lament, and she said "But they're really good lyrics!" Absolutely.
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