2009 (first) studio version
[Spoken intro:] I wrote the song the mid-nineties. It was uh... some conversation I was having with myself. As you're all alone here your better angels come in and out of sight. I was lucky to fill my music with purpose once again. Living in California, there were a lot of migrant worker issues and immigration issues constantly. It was really... you had a sense that where California was in the mid-nineties was where the rest of the country was going... to be going in the next decade, and it really has. A combination of sort of running around by myself and with the band and coming in contact with a lot of people that work at a variety of— for a different, different of grass roots social organizations who were saying that demand for their services for food banks and such had been going up and up and up even as we heard about the economic bubble on top, so... From this song I wrote an album of songs kinda set in the West. And uh... let me just sing it.
Men walking 'long 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 '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
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
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
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
Well the highway is alive tonight
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, "Ma, 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
Wherever somebody's fighting for a place to stand
Or a decent job or a helping hand
Wherever somebody's struggling to be free
Look in their eyes, Mom, you'll see me
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
The above lyrics are for a solo acoustic studio version of THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD recorded in 2009. It was posted on Bruce Springsteen's official website in January 2010.
Bruce Springsteen was inspired by the works of historian and activist Howard Zinn. In an interview published in the 15 Nov 2007 issue of Rolling Stone, he told Joe Levy: "Howard Zinn's A People's History Of The United States had an enormous impact on me. It set me down in a place that I recognized and felt I had a claim to. It made me feel that I was a player in this moment in history, as we all are, and that this moment in history was mine, somehow, to do with whatever I could. It gave me a sense of myself in the context of this huge American experience and empowered me to feel that in my small way, I had something to say, I could do something. It made me feel a part of history, and gave me life as a participant."
The People Speak is a 2009 documentary narrated by historian Howard Zinn and is based on his books A People's History Of The United States and, with Anthony Arnove, Voices Of A People's History Of The United States. It premiered on History on 13 Dec 2009. The film weaves archival footage and interviews with musical performances and dramatic readings of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans throughout the country's history. Most of the movie was shot on location in front of a live audiences at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston, MA, in January 2008 and at the Malibu Performing Arts Center in Malibu, CA, in 2008. Other performances from around the country filmed in 2008 and 2009 were also used.
For the film, Bruce Springsteen recorded two new solo acoustic renditions (guitar and harmonica) of THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD and Woody Guthrie's THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND. The performances were filmed live at his home studio in New Jersey probably around early 2009. Interestingly, promotional footage for The People Speak shows that Howard Zinn was present at Springsteen's home when the two songs were recorded. THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND was used in the documentary, closing the film before the credits roll, while THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD was posted on Bruce Springsteen's official website in January 2010. Later in 2009 a new version of THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD was recorded (in the same arrangement) and released exclusively on The People Speak soundtrack album.
Actor Josh Brolin (who's featured in the film and also co-produced it) was instrumental in getting some of the production's biggest names on board, including Bruce Springsteen. "We brought in Bruce Springsteen. It turned out Bruce was a massive fan of Howard's," Brolin told USA Today in a 2009 interview. Springsteen taped his parts in New Jersey while Brolin was at work. "They ended up spending five or six hours. And I got this little card from Bruce Springsteen that said, 'Josh, thank you so much for making my childhood dream come true. I had the greatest day of my life.' I was very stoked," Brolin said.
List of available versions of THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD on this website:
THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD [1995 album version]