"Let me tell the story, I can tell it all About the mountain boy who ran a league of alcohol His daddy made the whiskey, son he drove alone When his engine roared they called the highway Thunder Road Sometimes into Asheville, 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 standing still on Thunder Road And there was thunder, thunder over Thunder Road Thunder was his engine and white lightning was his load And there was moonshine, moonshine, twice the devil's thirst The law they swore they'd get him but the devil got him first On the first of April, 1954 A federal man sent word he'd better make his run no more He said two hundred agents were covering the state Whichever road he tried to take they'd get him sure his 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, if you can't get through I'd rather have you back again than pull that mountain dew And there was thunder, thunder over Thunder Road Thunder was his engine and white lightning was his load And there was moonshine, moonshine, twice 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 by Maynardville With T-Man on his tail light, road blocks 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 night, that's all there is to say The devil got the moonshine and the mountain boy that day And there was thunder, thunder over Thunder Road Thunder was his engine and white lightning was his load And there was moonshine, moonshine, twice the devil's thirst The law they never got him but the devil got him first The law they never got him but the devil got him first Thunder, thunder, thunder"