'The Thunder Rolls': The Story Behind Garth Brooks' 1991 No. 1 and its Banned Video

"The Thunder Rolls" has become one of Garth Brooks most beloved country music hits as well as one of his most recognizable. The fourth single from Brooks' 1991 album No Fences was co-writted by the superstar and renowned Nashville songwriter, Pat Alger.

Brooks was just getting started when he sat down with Alger to work on the song. In a 2012 interview with WSLC, Alger explains that Brooks found inspiration for the original concept of the song from another song that Alger had written.

"I’d written a song with Mark Sanders, who’s a great songwriter, and he’s a good friend. We’d written a song called ‘Like a Hurricane’ that Kathy Mattea had recorded. It was the B-side of ’18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses.’ There’s a line about thunder rolling in the song. Garth had been listening to that song – he’d been listening to stuff that (producer) Allen Reynolds had given him. He came in and said, ‘What if we write a song about somebody who’s cheating on his wife, and every time he does it, the thunder rolls.’ And I kind of laughed."

Though he initially thought the idea was a joke, the two men sat down to discuss the idea and actually made it work and ended up with something really special.

"And when we wrote it, I really did think it was kind of different, Alger continued. "And of course we were trying to pitch that song immediately. We were trying to get Reba McEntire and Tanya Tucker to record that.”

Tucker ended up initially attaching herself to the song, but her producer Jerry Crutchfield felt like the song was finished and requested a third verse. Though Tucker did end up recording her own version, it was dropped from her initial album so Brooks decided to make his own recording.

The original single didn't include the fourth verse that Brooks had added, which added a darker tone to the story. When the music video captured the full story that centered on a cheating husband coming home to his wife after being wife another woman, it was considered incredibly controversial. Some networks, including CMT wouldn't even air it.

“She runs back down the hallway, and through the bedroom door
She reaches for the pistol, kept in the dresser drawer
Tells the lady in mirror, he won’t do this again
‘Cause tonight will be the last time, she’ll wonder where he’s been.”

But women's shelters were supportive of the song and video, claiming that it was raising awareness for domestic violence. Though this notorious extra verse was not in a recording, the "Friends In Low Places" singer regularly performs the song in its entirety at live performances for his fans. Despite all of the controversy at the time, the music video won the CMA Video of the Year award as well as a Grammy nomination.

"The Thunder Rolls" Lyrics

Three thirty in the morning
Not a soul in sight
The city's lookin' like a ghost town
On a moonless summer night
Raindrops on the windshield
There's a storm movin' 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 a 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