Well, let me tell a story, I can tell it all
Well, his daddy made the whiskey,
the sun he drove the lull
And when his engine roared,
they called the highway Thunder Road
Sometimes out of Nashville,
The revenuers, they chased him,
but they couldn't run him down
Each time they thought they had him,
And he'd go by like they were standing still
thunder over Thunder Road
and white lightning was his load
And there was moonshine, moonshine
with which the devils thirst
The law they swore they'd get him,
but the devil got him first
On the 1st of April, 1954,
he'd better make his run no more.
Whichever road he tried to take,
they'd get him sure as fate.
Now son, his daddy told him,
Your tank is filled with hundred proof,
you're all tuned up in gas.
Now, don't take any chances
I'd rather have you back again
than all that mountain dew
thunder over Thunder Road
and white lightning was his load
And there was moonshine, moonshine
to quench the devil's thirst
The law, they swore they'd get him,
but the devil got him first
He shot the gap at Cumberland
and screamed through Maynardville
With T -men on his taillights
That mountain boy took roads
that even angels feared to tread
Roaring right through Knoxville
Then right outside of Bearden
there they made their fatal strike
Well he left the road at night and that's
the devil got his moonshine
And the mountain boy that day,
there was thunder, thunder
And white lightning was his load
And there was moonshine, moonshine
To quench the devil's thirst
The law, they swore they'd get him
But the devil got him first
Yeah, the law, they swore they'd get him
But the devil got him first.