‘Thunder Road’ lyrics by Bruce Springsteen to be edited after 46 years

The record is officially about to be set straight on one very classic Bruce Springsteen song from one very seminal album.

For a long while now there has been much debate on the song ‘Thunder Road’ from Springsteen’s album, Born To Run.

Many had expressed confusion on the song’s opening line.

As per NME, the song’s official song lyrics from the original 1975 vinyl pressing read ‘The screen door slams, Mary’s dress waves’, as well as the Springsteen’s very own website doing the same this year.

But then, in the ‘Thunder Road’ artists’ memoir Born To Run, he uses the word “sways” in place of “waves”. So you can understand the confusion.

However, a reporter for The New Yorker felt that it was time that we all got to the bottom of this mysterious, while this isn’t the first time that it has been the subject of attention.

So he decided to write to one of Springsteen’s closest and longest collaborators (and manager), Jon Landau.

Landau responded, confirming that it is not in fact “waves”, it is “sways”.

Landau wrote, “The word is ‘sways’ ”.

“That’s the way he wrote it in his original notebooks, that’s the way he sang it on ‘Born to Run,’ in 1975, that’s the way he has always sung it at thousands of shows, and that’s the way he sings it right now on Broadway,” he continued.

“Any typos in official Bruce material will be corrected. And, by the way, ‘dresses’ do not know how to ‘wave.’”

While Springsteen himself didn’t confirm this, you could say Landau is the next best thing.

So there you have it. You can mishear it all you like, but now we know for sure.

For more on this topic, follow the Classic Rock Observer.

Watch ‘Thunder Road’ by Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band live:

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