Live 04 Oct 2008 version
Men walking along the railroad tracks
Going someplace, there's no going back
Highway patrol choppers coming up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Shelter line stretching around the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleeping in their cars in the southwest
No home, no job, no peace, no rest
Well the highway is alive tonight
Nobody's kidding nobody about where it goes
I'm sitting down here in the campfire light
Searching for the ghost of Tom Joad
He pulls a prayer book out of his sleeping bag
Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag
Waiting for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last
In a cardboard box 'neath the underpass
I 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
Well the highway is alive tonight
But where it's headed everybody knows
I'm sitting down here in the campfire light
Waiting on the ghost of Tom Joad
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
Well look for me, Mom, I'll be there
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
Well look in their eyes, Mom, you'll see me"
The highway is alive tonight
Nobody's kidding nobody about where it goes
I'm sitting down here in the campfire light
With the ghost of old Tom Joad
The above lyrics are for the live 04 Oct 2008 performance of THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD at Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, PA, during the first of the four Vote For Change events on which Bruce Springsteen appeared. The song was played in a slightly revamped solo acoustic guitar and harmonica arrangement.
In 2008, Bruce Springsteen appeared on four election rallies for U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama. These election rallies were billed as "Vote For Change". Accompanied only by his acoustic guitar and harmonica, Springsteen performed six to eight songs on each of the four rallies.
Please contact me if you have a ticket stub for this event. You can contact me via the below form or by email: .
List of available versions of THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD on this website:
THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD [1995 album version]
