Live 19 Mar 1999 version
[Spoken intro:] Thank you. (tuning guitar) A little more ???. Uh... tonight we're here for the, uh, After School Tutorial Education Program. And uh... the West Side Community Center of Asbury Park. And thank you for coming out for those folks. They're working to make uh... Asbury Park a better place to live, so.
Hoo-hoo-hoo
[Spoken:] A little bit more ???.
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo
Hoo-hoo-hoo
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo
Hoo-hoo-hoo
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo
Hoo-hoo-hoo
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo
Yeah men walking 'long railroad tracks
Yeah they're going someplace, there's no going back
Highway patrol choppers coming up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Well shelter line stretching 'round the corner
Yeah 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
Yeah 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
Come on!
Alright now old man
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
Well look for me, Mom, I'll be there
Wherever somebody's fighting for a place to stand
For a decent job or a helping hand
Wherever somebody's struggling to be free
Yeah look in their eyes, Ma, you'll see me"
Well the highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kidding nobody about where it go
I'm sitting down here in the campfire light
Yeah with the ghost of old Tom Joad
The above lyrics are for the live 19 Mar 1999 performance of THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD at Convention Hall in Asbury Park, NJ, during a public warm-up rehearsal show for The Reunion Tour. The song was played in a full-band arrangement featuring a vocal warm-up intro.
List of available versions of THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD on this website:
THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD [1995 album version]