Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello: The Ghost of Tom Joad returns

Wikipedia

Tom Joad is a key character in John Steinbeck's classic novel The Grapes of Wrath, which was published in 1939, and is set in the era of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The book focuses on a family of farmers who are financially destroyed, lose their farm, and migrate from Oklahoma to California, where they now have to struggle against their exploitation as labourers. This is one of the best and most popular novels of the 20th century, as well as a manifestation of the argument put forward by John Steinbeck when he received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962: "the writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit—for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally flags of hope and of emulation."  The book has been a consistent cultural reference against social injustice, and the following excerpt, articulated by the character of Tom Joad, is a case in point: 

Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there... I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad an'—I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready. An' when our folk eat the stuff they raise an' live in the houses they build—why, I'll be there.

brucespringsteen.net

Bruce Springsteen reflected upon the book in a contemporary context, as well as made reference to the above excerpt, in the title track of his 1995 release The Ghost of Tom Joad. This album offered a politically aware exploration of social inequality, and included references to the struggle of Mexican migrants to find a better future in the US. The title track has also been covered by Rage Against the Machine in 1997; it was released as a single, the cover of which featured Eric Drooker's artwork Police Riot. 

 Wikipedia

The Ghost of Tom Joad has been performed live in various arrangements, by Bruce Springsteen alone or together with the E Street Band. Three of these performances featured Tom Morello, the guitarist of Rage Against the Machine, who has also expressed his folk side in The Nightwatchman. In one of these cases, at the 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert in Madison Square Garden in 2009, Bruce Springsteen introduced a particularly powerful version of The Ghost of Tom Joad by addressing the context of the current economic crisis. He also made reference to the long tradition of musicians who were interested in and wrote about the world around them; as he put it, "if Woody Guthrie were alive today, he'd have a lot to write about." And indeed he would; during the 1930's, Woody Guthrie had made the trip from Oklahoma to California, which is depicted in the Grapes of Wrath, and subsequently wrote the song Tom Joad. And in this respect, both the character and the book illustrate the significance of the link between culture and politics to this day.

Men walkin' 'long the railroad tracks
Goin' someplace there's no goin' back
Highway patrol choppers comin' up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Shelter line stretchin' round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleepin' in their cars in the southwest
No home no job no peace no rest

 The highway is alive tonight

But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes

I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light

Searchin' for the ghost of Tom Joad

He pulls prayer book out of his sleeping bag

Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag

Waitin' for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last

In a cardboard box 'neath the underpass

Got a one-way ticket to the promised land

You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand

Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock

Bathin' in the city aqueduct

The highway is alive tonight

But where it's headed everybody knows

I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light

Waitin' on the ghost of Tom Joad

Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy

Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries

Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air

Look for me Mom I'll be there

Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand

Or decent job or a helpin' hand

Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free

Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me."

The highway is alive tonight

But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes

I'm sittin' downhere in the campfire light

With the ghost of old Tom Joad

brucespringsteen.net