Bruce Springsteen finally corrects the lyrics to “Thunder Road”

Sometimes people get fixated on things that are, oh, let’s say silly or meaningless or completely wrong, but that’s definitely not what about the “debate” surrounding the lyrics to “thunder road” by Bruce Springsteen. No sir, it’s a legitimate thing that people interpret in different ways, like this dress or any other example of it, and it’s not for us to say which thing is correct or not… No, just kidding. There is very clearly one correct thing here, it is just that – for four decades – Bruce Springsteen himself was wrong. Here is a quiz: in “Thunder Road”, what is does Marie’s dress? The screen door just slammed and she dances across the porch like a vision while the radio broadcasts “Only The Lonely”, but what? does her dress do the trick?

It “rocks”, of course. Come on. It rhymes with plays. Swaying is something dresses do. How could there be an argument? Well, for 46 years every official version of the lyrics has said “waves” instead of “swings,” even though that doesn’t fit into the rhyme or basic logic. It’s apparently been a thing Springsteen fans will be arguing over which word is the right one for quite some time now, as one can clearly be heard in the song but the other is printed on Springsteen’s website and in their official songbook. .

Write for The New Yorker, David Remnick decided to investigate this mystery and try to figure out which word is the correct one by talking to people on both sides of the debate and… yeah, it’s “rocking”. Come on. This comes straight from longtime friend and Springsteen manager Jon Landau, who said it was “the influence” and that “all typos in Bruce’s official material will be corrected.” He also added that the dresses “don’t know how to ‘wave’. Other mysteries should be solved by simply asking the right people. Sounds easy enough. Now, could anyone find the lyrics to “Dancing In The Dark” next? Why can’t you light a fire without a shark? And in “Born To Run”, who is this tramp Gus? What’s his business? And while we’re here, what are literally all of the lyrics to “Born In The USA” besides the chorus? It sounds like a fun song about America’s greatness, but we just want to check it out.