Let me tell a story, I can tell it all
'Bout the mountain boy who ran illegal alcohol
His daddy made the whiskey, the son, he drove the load
And 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
And he'd go by like they were standing still on Thunder Road

Thunder, thunder over Thunder Road
Thunder was his engine and white lightning was his load
Moonshine, moonshine quenched the Devil's thirst
The law, they never got him 'cause the Devil got him first

On the first of April, 1954
The federal man sent word he'd better make his run no more
He said two hundred agents were covering the state
Whichever road he'd try to take, they'd get him sure as 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 and if you can't get through
I'd rather have you back again than all that Mountain Dew

Thunder, thunder over Thunder Road
Thunder was his engine and white lightning was his load
Moonshine, moonshine quenched the Devil's thirst
The law, they never got him 'cause the Devil got him first

Roaring out of Harlan, revving up his mill
He shot the gap at Cumberland and screamed by Maynardville
With G-men 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 ninety, that's all there is to say
The Devil got the moonshine and the mountain boy that day

Thunder, thunder over Thunder Road
Thunder was his engine and white lightning was his load
Moonshine, moonshine quenched the Devil's thirst
The law, they never got him 'cause the Devil got him first

The law, they never got him 'cause the Devil got him first