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"The Ghost of Tom Joad" is a song by Bruce Springsteen. It is the title track to his eleventh studio album, released in 1995. The character Tom Joad, from John Steinbeck's classic 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, is mentioned in the title and narrative. Recorded as a quiet folk song, "The Ghost of Tom Joad" has also been recorded by Rage Against the Machine. Springsteen himself has performed the song in a variety of arrangements, including with the E Street Band and a live recording featuring Rage's Tom Morello as guest.
Besides The Grapes of Wrath, the song also takes inspiration from "The Ballad of Tom Joad" by Woody Guthrie, which in turn was inspired by John Ford's film adaptation of Steinbeck's novel. Springsteen had in fact read the book, watched the film, and listened to the song, before writing "The Ghost of Tom Joad", and the result was viewed as being true to Guthrie's tradition. Springsteen identified with 1930s-style social activism, and sought to give voice to the invisible and unheard, the destitute and the disenfranchised. His use of characterization was similarly influenced by Steinbeck and Ford.
However, like the rest of the album, "The Ghost of Tom Joad" is set in the early-to-mid-1990s, with contemporary times being likened to Dust Bowl images:
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.
President George H. W. Bush's New world order gains ironic mention, as is the contemporary demographic migration to the Southwest United States. The chorus makes clear the titular allusion:
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.
The third verse is the most direct link to The Grapes of Wrath, being an extensive paraphrase of Tom Joad's famous "Wherever there's a ..." speech.
"The Ghost of Tom Joad" was originally recorded as an E Street Band number, intended for inclusion as one of the new tracks on his February 1995 Greatest Hits album. However, Springsteen did not like the arrangement, and he put the song aside for his next project.
The released "The Ghost of Tom Joad" was recorded between April and June 1995, at Springsteen's Los Angeles home studio. It was recorded with a light and muted accompaniment, featuring Springsteen on guitar and harmonica, E Street Band members Danny Federici on keyboards and Garry Tallent on bass, and session musicians Marty Rifkin on pedal steel guitar and dobro and Gary Mallaber on drums. Springsteen's vocal phrasing tends to fade off at the end of each line of the song.
Springsteen's recording was released with the album on November 21, 1995. It was given limited release as a single in The Netherlands and the UK, wherein the later it reached number 26 on the UK Singles Chart. It was not released as a single in the U.S., and radio airplay on album-oriented rock stations was practically non-existent.
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"The Ghost of Tom Joad" is a song by Bruce Springsteen. It is the title track to his eleventh studio album, released in 1995. The character Tom Joad, from John Steinbeck's classic 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, is mentioned in the title and narrative. Recorded as a quiet folk song, "The Ghost of Tom Joad" has also been recorded by Rage Against the Machine. Springsteen himself has performed the song in a variety of arrangements, including with the E Street Band and a live recording featuring Rage's Tom Morello as guest.
Besides The Grapes of Wrath, the song also takes inspiration from "The Ballad of Tom Joad" by Woody Guthrie, which in turn was inspired by John Ford's film adaptation of Steinbeck's novel. Springsteen had in fact read the book, watched the film, and listened to the song, before writing "The Ghost of Tom Joad", and the result was viewed as being true to Guthrie's tradition. Springsteen identified with 1930s-style social activism, and sought to give voice to the invisible and unheard, the destitute and the disenfranchised. His use of characterization was similarly influenced by Steinbeck and Ford.
However, like the rest of the album, "The Ghost of Tom Joad" is set in the early-to-mid-1990s, with contemporary times being likened to Dust Bowl images:
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.
President George H. W. Bush's New world order gains ironic mention, as is the contemporary demographic migration to the Southwest United States. The chorus makes clear the titular allusion:
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.
The third verse is the most direct link to The Grapes of Wrath, being an extensive paraphrase of Tom Joad's famous "Wherever there's a ..." speech.
"The Ghost of Tom Joad" was originally recorded as an E Street Band number, intended for inclusion as one of the new tracks on his February 1995 Greatest Hits album. However, Springsteen did not like the arrangement, and he put the song aside for his next project.
The released "The Ghost of Tom Joad" was recorded between April and June 1995, at Springsteen's Los Angeles home studio. It was recorded with a light and muted accompaniment, featuring Springsteen on guitar and harmonica, E Street Band members Danny Federici on keyboards and Garry Tallent on bass, and session musicians Marty Rifkin on pedal steel guitar and dobro and Gary Mallaber on drums. Springsteen's vocal phrasing tends to fade off at the end of each line of the song.
Springsteen's recording was released with the album on November 21, 1995. It was given limited release as a single in The Netherlands and the UK, wherein the later it reached number 26 on the UK Singles Chart. It was not released as a single in the U.S., and radio airplay on album-oriented rock stations was practically non-existent.
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