///*****/// [Intro] Heat lightning on the ridge And a screen door left unlatched [Verse 1] The air went heavy at about eleven And the crickets all went still And you came up from the river With your hair against your neck And the pressure kept on dropping And the dogs got in the shed And you stood there in the doorway And you did not say a word And I have known you seven summers And I have wanted six of those And tonight the whole sky knew it Before either of us spoke [Pre-Chorus] And the first fork hit the water tower And it lit you up in white And I have never in my life Been so certain and so frightened [Chorus] There is thunder in the valley And it's rolling up the hill There is thunder in the valley And the whole night's going to spill Come inside before it takes us Or stay out here and let it come There is thunder in the valley And I am not going to run Thunder in the valley [Verse 2] The power went at midnight And we did not light the lamp And the rain came down like something That had waited far too long And the window was wide open And the curtains went like flags And the whole room smelled of iron And of everything we had And the thunder took the answer And it rolled it down the valley [Pre-Chorus] And there was nothing careful in it And there was nothing safe And I have been careful all my life And look at what it made [Chorus] There is thunder in the valley And it's rolling up the hill There is thunder in the valley And the whole night's going to spill Come inside before it takes us Or stay out here and let it come There is thunder in the valley And I am not going to run Thunder in the valley [Verse 3] It broke about four-thirty And the fields came up like glass And you were still there in the morning Which I had not dared to ask And we drank the coffee black Because the milk had gone in the heat And we did not speak of after And we did not speak of Pete But I have been alive since midnight For the first time in my life [Pre-Chorus] So let them talk in the diner Let them say what they will say There is a version of a life And there is a version of a grave [Bridge] Some storms you shelter from And some storms you walk into And you know which one you're facing By the way it looks at you And this one had my name on it And it had it from the start [Guitar Solo] [Final Chorus] There is thunder in the valley And it's rolling up the hill There is thunder in the valley And the whole night's going to spill I am not going to shelter And I am not going to hide There is thunder in the valley And I am walking out to it Thunder in the valley [Coda] Let it come across the water Let it come across the corn Let it take the whole of August Let it take me where it wants I have been a careful person For the better part of thirty years And I would trade the whole careful For that one night in the rain [Outro] Heat lightning on the ridge And a screen door left unlatched And a storm that never really ended And a man who never went back
