Live 19 Nov 2006 version
| Bruce Springsteen: | Yeah men walking 'long the railroad tracks |
| Going someplace and no going back | |
| Highway patrol choppers coming up over the ridge | |
| Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge | |
| Shelter line stretching 'round the corner | |
| Welcome to the new world order | |
| Families sleeping in their cars in the southwest | |
| No home, no job, no peace, no rest | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | Well the highway is alive tonight |
| But nobody's kidding nobody about where it goes | |
| I'm sitting down here in the campfire light | |
| Searching for the ghost of Tom Joad | |
| Frank Bruno: | He pulls a prayer book out of his sleeping bag |
| Preacher lights up a butt and he takes a drag | |
| Waiting for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last | |
| In a cardboard box 'neath the underpass | |
| You got a one-way ticket to the promised land | |
| You got a hole in your belly and a gun in your hand | |
| Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock | |
| Bathing in the city aqueduct | |
| Springsteen and Bruno: | Well the highway is alive tonight |
| Where it's headed everybody knows | |
| Well I'm sitting down here in the campfire light | |
| Waiting on the ghost of Tom Joad | |
| Bruce Springsteen: | Now Tom said, "Mom, wherever there's a cop beating a guy |
| Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries | |
| Where there's a fight against the blood and hatred in the air | |
| Look for me, Mom, I'll be there | |
| Frank Bruno: | Where there's somebody fighting for a place to stand |
| Or a decent job or a helping hand | |
| Wherever somebody's struggling to be free | |
| Yeah look in their eyes, Mom, and you'll see me" | |
| Springsteen and Bruno: | Well the highway is alive tonight |
| But nobody's kidding nobody about where it goes | |
| I'm sitting down here in the campfire light | |
| With the ghost of old Tom Joad | |
| Springsteen and Bruno: | Well the highway is alive tonight |
| Where it's headed everybody knows | |
| I'm sitting down here in the campfire light | |
| With the ghost of old Tom Joad |
The above lyrics are for the live 19 Nov 2006 performance of THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD at Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, during The Seeger Sessions Tour. The song was played in a revamped full-band arrangement as a duet with Frank Bruno.
The live 19 Nov 2006 version of THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD was exclusively released on the Bruce Springsteen With The Sessions Band PBS Exclusive EP in 2007. It was also included on a various artists charity album.
List of available versions of THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD on this website:
THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD [1995 album version]
