Tunnel of Love

Album: Tunnel of Love (1987)
Charted: 45 9
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  • Fat man sitting on a little stool
    Takes the money from my hand while his eyes take a walk all over you
    Hands me the ticket, smiles and whispers good luck
    Cuddle up angel, cuddle up my little dove
    We'll ride down, baby, into this tunnel of love

    Well, I can feel the soft silk of your blouse
    And them soft thrills in our little fun house
    Then the lights go out and it's just the three of us, yeah
    You, me and all that stuff we're so scared of
    Gotta ride down baby into this tunnel of love

    Well, there's a crazy mirror showing us both in five D
    I'm laughing at you you're laughing at me
    There's a room of shadows that gets so dark brother
    It's easy for two people to lose each other in this tunnel of love

    Well, it ought to be easy ought to be simple enough, yeah
    Man meets woman and they fall in love
    But the house is haunted and the ride gets rough
    And you've got to learn to live with what you can't rise above
    If you want to ride on down, down in through this tunnel of love
    Tunnel of love
    This tunnel of love
    This tunnel of love Writer/s: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 16

  • Maryann from Outer Banks North CarolinaYdur from Knoxville
    Gimme Shelter is hands down my favorite Rolling Stones song. A huge part is because Merry Clayton's haunting backing vocals. The emotional power of her voice gives an eerie intensity to the only protest song the Stones wrote about Vietnam and societal upheaval of the 1960s.
  • Maryann from Outer Banks North Carolinalines from song lyrics will imprint themselves on my emotional mind's memory.
    it doesn't happen to me with every song but some lines just stick like gum on the sole of a pair of my kicks.

    for whatever reason far too deep in my subconscious to excise, these four lines from bruce springsteen's 1987 classic, 'tunnel of love' return to my thoughts-out of the blue-time and again to my mind.

    whispered to me like a the ghost of a summer breeze in october catching my ear. a phantom smell so strong, and undeniable to my sense memory. juicy fruit gum spit out in the exact spot needed to hitch a ride on the bottom of a pair of canvas high-tops.

    those two lines written by the Boss in 'tunnel of love'

    But this house is haunted and the ride gets rough
    You've got to learn to live with what you can't rise above

    perhaps because those lines can be interpreted
    in a myriad of ways depending on the person
    and what obstacle they need to rise above.

    sorry for droning on but I've often wondered
    'why' those lines.
    never took any time to try to figure
    out 'why'

    sometimes things that make us question why
    remain a secret for a reason.
  • Pat from Nashville, TnI agree with Eric from So Cal & Ydur from Knoxville. The backing vocals can only be topped by Merry Clayton’s Gimme Shelter. After all these years, still gives me goosebumps. The lyrics are vintage Springsteen. Maybe his best. The only other that compares is Blinded By the Light, IMO.
  • Bill Lassiter from Little River,sc My favorite Bruce tune.
  • Mez from Westwood, MaCoolest line in this song. "The lights go out and just the 3 of us. You, me and all that stuff we're so scared of" One of Bruce's best!
  • Eric from So Cal, CaI find myself constantly going back to this song. Takes me back in time. I completely agree with yduR of Knoxville. Merry Clayton on Gimme Shelter and Patty Scialfa on this song are on par with each other!! Simply fantastic.
  • Jeff from Beverly Hills, MaMy favorite Bruce Springsteen song. Like others, I found meaning in the line that you've got learn to live with what you can't rise above.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOur 37 year old son was killed in 2007, a line from Tunnel of Love helped us greatly dealing with this ordeal. That line was 'you've got to learn to live with what you can't rise above' Thanks Bruce!!!
  • Scott from Detroit, MiTraveling with a co-worker from Fresno to Bakersfield...I ask him what he would like to listen to.
    He said he only liked country music...so I put in "Tunnel Of Love" and when it was done he said it was the best country album he'd ever heard.
  • Don from Indianapolis, InI could easily call "Tunnel of Love" my favorite, and best performed Springsteen song. His vocals, along with those of Sciafla's are both powerful...and convincing about the "rollercoaster" emotion of love.
  • Gene from San Diego, CaAll so true. A song about the ups and downs of a relationship. The use of the theme park ride as a metaphor is nothing short of incredible.
  • Brian from Chalfont, PaThis song is the greatest pop song to describe the craziness of "LOVE".
  • Ydur from Knoxville, TnPatty Sciafla's backing vocals are perhaps the best backing vocal track in rock history, especially considering the relationship between Bruce, Patti, and Julie Ann at the time. The only other real contender in this catagory is Merry Clayton on the Stones "Gimmie Shelter".
  • Richard from Newport, Isle Of Wight, EnglandAlthough a nice song, the idea could be seen as a rip-off of Dire Straits' earlier song of the same name, which, as far as I can make out, uses a similar metaphorical meaning for the fairground ride.
  • Wes from Springfield, VaOne of the better metaphorical songs in pop, I think. Also, the video does a good job of reinforcing the lyrics, as I recall. When it came out I sort of considered that it represented the maturation of 1980's songwriting.
  • Paul from Detroit, MiThe rollercoaster sound effects at the end of Tunnel of Love are from The Cowsills song "The Rain, The Park & Other Things". The Cowsills were a 60's family group and the inspiration for The Partridge Family.
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