" Wayne & Wayne "
" On Thunder Road "
"...Don't run back inside
Darlin' you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinkin'
That maybe we ain't that young anymore..."
From: wayne&wayne@darlington.com
Subject: A visit with Mary....on Thunder Road!!
Wayne and I headed down to Ocean Grove, New Jersey; a little beach town just South of Asbury Park.
We were trying to locate "Mary", of "Thunder Road" fame. We have been searching for her for ages, and we were almost ready
to give up our quest when we received an email from Mary Halbershatt, a rapidly agin' woman from Upstate New York. Mary had
seen our stories about Rosie and Sherry's Mom, and felt that we were honorable guys who would give her a fair shake. She wanted
to tell her story as she feels the general public is much too influenced by Bruce's comments about her in the song.
Mary is still single, and she never did jump into Bruce's car that day.
In fact, interestingly enough, it seems that Bruce would stop
by her house two or three times a month, with the same plea, "Mary jump in.....its a town for losers and we're pullin' out of here
to win!". "I was wise to him", Mary told us, "that was one of his favorite things....tellin' these women he wanted to "escape" somwhere
with them......they'd escape all right......right to the nearest motel room....and that's where you would discover...exactly what "the door's
open but the ride it ain't free" really meant! It hasn't been easy for Mary over the years. For years she dealt with autograph hounds
around the old house, she eventually had to move when she discorvered that memorabilia collectors were removing the planks from
her porch....piece by piece...to add to their Bruce collections. She continued to describe the problems that the song caused her:
"People were obsessed with me. It became ridiculous! There was a newsgroup controversy which raged on for months. People spent
hours discussing the different lyrics in differing versions of the song. This particular controversy involved whether my dress "waved" or
"swayed" in the opening verse! I dont' care what Bruce sang! A dress don't sway! A person wearing a dress can sway, but a dress can't!
A dress can wave......and so can the person dressed in it....and you can even "wave"..with a dress......or "wave" without a dress...but
believe me.....my dress waved!! It didn't sway, and neither did I....not for him anyway!.....my
phone was ringing off the hook for days! "Mary...did your dress wave? or did it sway? We have to know Mary...you're the only one who
can tell us how it really was!"
Some nut named HAL even went back to Ocean Grove, to the old house, and set up a "reenactment" on
what was left of the front porch. At least he agreed with me......the dress WAVED!! Now.....my next complaint...Bruce really made me
seem like some sort of weirdo in that song! He had me pegged as some sort of "Hilda Dawn" character..you remember the one.....the
lonely agin' late 30ish type....desperate for some "saviour to rise from these streets"...I guarantee you....I"ve never "wasted my summers
prayin' in vain"...if I have...its for a guy with a real job!! a decent car (without a dirty hood) and somebody who can offer me more than
a ride to the next lousy town down the road! So I told him to take his talkin' guitar.....get his jalopy outta my driveway....and come back
when he was EMPLOYED! And maybe i'd go take that ride with him.."
Wayne then asked Mary about Wendy, the girl Bruce sang about on "Born to Run". Mary told us that Wendy is her second cousin....twice
removed, on her mother's side. Bruce had a thing for her too. And he had the same lines for her. "Read the lyrics", said Mary, "it's the
same old song....just dumbed down a bit for the trampy side of the family". Mary has no regrets on how things turned out. She's better
off being single, and though she knows she's not a beauty she knows she's allright. She plans to move back to Thunder Road in the spring,
get the front porch fixed, get rid of them rusted old Chevy's in the yard....and maybe start a flea market business on the weekends. She told
us we ought to try and look up "Sarah"......who is actually "Jersey Girl", who might be willing to talk to us. We left Mary and headed back
up the Turnpike.....Wayne was a little disappointed that he hadn't asked her about the graduation gown. That always has bothered him!
Until Next Time!
ROCK ON!!!
Wayne & Wayne
To Comment on Wayne&Wayne's Visit with Mary.......
