The Thunder Rolls

“The Thunder Rolls” by Garth Brooks

Three thirty in the morning
Not a soul insight
The city's lookin' like a ghost town
On a moonless summer night

Raindrops on the windshield
There's a storm moving in He's headin' back from somewhere
That he never should have been
And the thunder rolls
And the thunder rolls

Every light is burnin'
In a house across town
She's pacin' by the telephone
In her faded flannel gown
Askin' for miracle
Hopin' she's not right
Prayin' it's the weather
That's kept him out all night
And the thunder rolls
And the thunder rolls
The thunder rolls
And the lightnin' strikes
Another love grows cold
On a sleepless night
As the storm blows on
Out of control
Deep in her heart
The thunder rolls

She's waitin' by the window
When he pulls into the drive
She rushes out to hold him
Thankful he's alive
But on the wind and rain
A strange new perfume blows
And the lightnin' flashes in her eyes
And he knows that she knows
And the thunder rolls
And the thunder rolls

The thunder rolls
And the lightnin' strikes
Another love grows cold
On a sleepless night
As the storm blows on
Out of control
Deep in her heart
The thunder rolls

[3rd Verse:]
She runs back down the hallway
To the bedroom door
She reaches for the pistol Kept in the dresser drawer
Tells the lady in the mirror
He won't do this again
Cause tonight will be the last time
She'll wonder where he's been

 Analysis:

I chose this poem because of the tale and the fact that I like the song. This song is about a woman who figures out that her man is cheating on a stormy night then when it happens again she promises herself it will be the last time because she will shoot herself rather than worry about a cheating man. This song makes it possible to relate what is going through a person’s mind when they know they are being cheated on. It shows how much worrying can break you down. This song questions the theme: two wrongs don’t make a right. No matter how much you heart it should never cost your life.



Garth Brooks writes this song in third person omniscient meaning we know what both of the characters are thinking in the song. “The thunder rolls” is repeated thought the song to symbolize how upsetting what the man is doing is to the woman and that she knows what is going on. The woman in the song waits anxiously for her significant other to return home to her, while trying to convince herself that what the weather is what has kept him out all night. The male counterpart knows that what he is doing is wrong but lets the female worry about him during the nights and the storms. However, the wind from the storm causes her to get a whiff of perfume that was not hers, and then she knows what he has been up too. “The thunder rolls/And the lightnin’ strikes/Another love grows cold/On a sleepless night/As the storm blows on/Out of control/Deep in her heart/The thunder rolls”, many elements of nature are made into metaphors for what he is doing and how she is feeling. The storm is a metaphor for her man being out so late cheating, the thunder rolls is the upsetting feeling that she has, and cold love is because they are becoming more distant because of his bad habit. Many elements of nature are used to figuratively explain how she is feeling. She’s hurt, alone and sees her only way out as taking her life, so she can’t experience the hurt of worrying about someone that is out cheating.

source:
video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdsJI8Wc2D4
lyrics:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/garthbrooks/thethunderrolls.html
Released: 1990