The Ghost of Tom Joad

Men walkin' along the railroad tracks

Goin' someplace and 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 the cars in the Southwest

No home, no job, no peace, no rest

Well, the highway is alive tonight

But nobody's kiddin' 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

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

The highway is alive tonight

Where it's headed, everybody knows

Sitting down here in the campfire light

Waiting on the ghost of Tom Joad

Tom said

"Mama, whenever there's a cop beating a guy

Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries

There's a fight against the blood and hatred in the air

Look for me, mom, I'll be there

There's somebody fighting for a place to stand

A decent job or a helping hand

Where there's somebody struggling 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

Sitting down here in the campfire light

With the ghost of ol' Tom Joad