"The Ballad of Thunder Road" is a song performed and co-written by actor

Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...

in 1958, with music by composer

Jack Marshall Sir John Ross Marshall New Zealand Army Orders 1952/405 (5 March 1912 – 30 August 1988) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. He entered Parliament in 1946 and was first promoted to Cabinet in 1951. After spending twelve years ...

. It was the theme song of the movie '' Thunder Road''. The song made the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 twice, in 1958 and 1962, and while it never peaked higher than number 62, it racked up 21 total weeks in the chart. The song moves ominously between minor and major keys.

Background

It tells the tale of "Lucas Doolin" (Robert Mitchum), a bootlegger during the 1950s, who would deliver moonshine along local roads at excessive speeds to avoid "

revenuers The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevent ...

". After receiving word (on April 1, 1954) that the revenuers had "200 agents, covering the state", Lucas' father advises him to "make this run your last", and that he should not attempt to outrun the revenuers, but if he could not get through safely, to turn himself in. However, Lucas ignores his father's request, and attempts to outrun the law, but fails to evade them and dies as a result (the last lines read: "Then right outside of Bearden, they made the fatal strike./He left the road at 90, that's all there is to say/The Devil got the moonshine and the mountain boy that day"). Mitchum got the tune for the song from a Norwegian folk-dance ("''Gammel Reinlender''") song his mother used to sing to him. He also played the bootlegger in the movie. Bluegrass performers

Jim & Jesse Jim & Jesse were an American bluegrass music duo composed of brothers Jim McReynolds (February 13, 1927 – December 31, 2002) and Jesse McReynolds (born July 9, 1929). The two were born and raised in Carfax, a community near Coeburn, Virginia, ...

(McReynolds) brought the song to the national country charts in the fall of 1967. The song in the movie soundtrack itself is a softer, more ballad-like version than the hit single recorded by Mitchum, and was sung by

Randy Sparks Randy Sparks (born July 29, 1933, Leavenworth, Kansas) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and founder of The New Christy Minstrels and The Back Porch Majority. Biography Sparks grew up in Oakland, California, and attended the Universit ...

. DJ Allyn The Soundtrack of My Life

References

External links

Moonshine Myths: So Who Was That 'Mountain Boy' From 'Thunder Road?'
– ''

Metro Pulse ''Metro Pulse'' was a weekly newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1991 by Ashley Capps, Rand Pearson, Ian Blackburn, and Margaret Weston, and was a member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. In 2007, ''Metro Pulse'' ...

'' article by Brooks Clark Songs about roads 1958 songs 1950s ballads Robert Mitchum songs Jim & Jesse songs Songs written for films Vehicle wreck ballads {{1950s-song-stub