The Ballad of Thunder Road

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The Ballad of Thunder Road is a song written by actor Robert Mitchum in 1957. It was the theme song of the movie Thunder Road.

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

Lucas' father asks him for his next run 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 an old folk-dance song his mother used to sing to him. He also played the bootlegger in the movie.

The song is subtly referenced in Steve Earle's song Copperhead Road, another song about moonshine running (it is implied that the bootlegger left behind a wife and son, the son would later abandon the moonshine business for marijuana).