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The Ghost of Tom Joad (RATM song)
Encyclopedia
"The Ghost of Tom Joad" is a song by Bruce Springsteen
. It is the title track to his eleventh studio album
, released on November 21, 1995. The character Tom Joad
, from John Steinbeck
's classic 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 in a radically louder and harsher arrangement 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.
, which in turn was inspired by the John Ford
film The Grapes of Wrath
. 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:
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 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 musician
s 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 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.
photo montage constrained to a subsection of the screen resembling a rear-view mirror
. Depressed U.S. Route 66
-area American scenes were featured; though set in the 1990s, many could have passed for the 1930s. Occasionally a line from the song would flash on the screen.
, and gave audience members a clear indication as to what the night would be like. (For a few shows before and after a September 1996 Woody Guthrie-oriented benefit concert, he played "Tom Joad" instead.) On February 26, 1997, while the tour was still going on, he performed "The Ghost of Tom Joad" at the Grammy Awards of 1997
, where the album won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album
.
This and "Youngstown
" are the only songs from The Ghost of Tom Joad
album that have continued to have a significant presence in Springsteen's concert repertoire. "The Ghost of Tom Joad" was featured during the 1999–2000 E Street Band Reunion Tour
, in arrangement fairly close to the album's, albeit with Federici often playing accordion and Tallent on stand-up bass. In the U.S., the large arena audiences frequently treated the song's appearance as the signal for a bathroom or beer run. The song became an infrequent appearer after that, perhaps surprisingly only showing twice on the 2005 solo Devils & Dust Tour
.
The song made several appearances on Springsteen's 2006 "big folk" Sessions Band Tour, in a new arrangement that featured member Frank Bruno handling some of the vocals, and two extended instrumental passages that saw soaring interplay between violin, pedal steel guitar, trumpet, and harmonica. One such rendition was captured on the subsequent Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band: Live in Dublin
album as a bonus track for PBS
begathon pledgers, and was also included as the lead track of the 2007 World Hunger Year
/Hard Rock Café
benefit album Serve2.
A live version of the song from the 2008 third leg of Springsteen and the E Street Band's Magic Tour
featured guesting Rage Against the Machine
member Tom Morello
singing a verse and joining Springsteen on the choruses, and playing two long guitar solos using sounds not otherwise found in the E Street Band palette. This performance was subsequently included on the 2008 Springsteen EP Magic Tour Highlights
in audio and video manifestations.
Springsteen and Morello performed this song in acoustic fashion near the end of Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Concert at Madison Square Garden
on May 3, 2009. The video was broadcast on public television later in that year.
Later in 2009, at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
25th Anniversary Concert held at Madison Square Garden, Springsteen, the E Street Band, and Morello reprised their full-tilt electric rendition of the song.
Highlighting the song's political import, Springsteen included it in the "Change Rocks" acoustic performances he made at rallies in early October 2008 on behalf of Barack Obama's presidential campaign
.
The next year, Springsteen re-recorded the song, at his New Jersey home and accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar and harmonica, for the November 2009 documentary The People Speak
.
by Rage Against the Machine
. Their release of the song was initially included as a 'free single' which shipped with an early release of the VHS version of their 1997 home video.
The Rage rendition was in the style of thrash rap
, with live vocals echoed heavily.
While thus radically different from the Springsteen original, it too was considered to be in line with the Guthrie tradition. It was a modest commercial success, in 1997 reaching number 35 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks
chart and number 34 on the Modern Rock Tracks
chart. It thus became the group's second charted song, following "Bulls on Parade
".
The 1998 single version differs slightly from one on the post-breakup Renegades album, as the band had re-recorded the song by then. Only a limited number of copies exist but this version would be later included in the No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees
compilation album
. The cover artwork is called "Police Riot" by Eric Drooker.
"The Ghost of Tom Joad" made its live debut on April 25th, 1997, at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, NV.
produced and directed a live video for the song, shot in Irvine Meadows on September 18 and 19. It is identical to the version on the self-titled Rage Against the Machine
video.
occasionally uses the song live, and has recorded it on his album of cover versions, Run To Cover.
The Swedish
band Junip
later covered the song on their Black Refuge EP
in 2005.
Nickelback
has been known to perform "The Ghost of Tom Joad" in their concerts, in an arrangement very similar to Rage Against the Machine's. Indeed, in introductions they have identified the song as Rage's, and play it as a tribute to the band's having (at that time) broken up. Modern Irish traditional band Solas covered the song in their February 2010 release The Turning Tide.
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
. It is the title track to his eleventh studio album
The Ghost of Tom Joad
The Ghost of Tom Joad is the eleventh studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1995 . The album was recorded and mixed at Thrill Hill during the spring and summer of 1995. Musically and lyrically reminiscent of Springsteen's 1982 critically acclaimed album Nebraska, The Ghost of Tom Joad...
, released on November 21, 1995. The character Tom Joad
Tom Joad
Tom Joad is a fictional character from John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath portrayed by Henry Fonda in John Ford's film adaption.-Role in the novel:...
, from John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
's classic novel The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962....
, is mentioned in the title and narrative. Recorded as a quiet folk song, "The Ghost of Tom Joad" has also been recorded in a radically louder and harsher arrangement by Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
. Springsteen himself has performed the song in a variety of arrangements, including with the E Street Band
E Street Band
The E Street Band has been rock musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Tom Morello, Sting, Ian...
and a live recording featuring Rage's Tom Morello
Tom Morello
Thomas Baptiste "Tom" Morello is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchman, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club...
as guest.
Springsteen original
Besides The Grapes of Wrath, the song also takes inspiration from "The Ballad of Tom Joad" by Woody GuthrieWoody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
, which in turn was inspired by the John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
film The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath (film)
The Grapes of Wrath is a 1940 drama film directed by John Ford. It was based on John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Nunnally Johnson and the executive producer was Darryl F...
. 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
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936...
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
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
'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
Tom Joad
Tom Joad is a fictional character from John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath portrayed by Henry Fonda in John Ford's film adaption.-Role in the novel:...
's famous "Wherever there's a ..." speech.
"The Ghost of Tom Joad" was originally recorded as an E Street Band
E Street Band
The E Street Band has been rock musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Tom Morello, Sting, Ian...
number, intended for inclusion as one of the new tracks on his February 1995 Greatest Hits
Greatest Hits (Bruce Springsteen album)
Greatest Hits is Bruce Springsteen's first compilation album, released February 27, 1995 on Columbia Records. It is a collection of some of Springsteen's hit singles and popular album tracks through the years and four extra numbers at the end, mostly recorded with the E Street Band in 1995...
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
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
home studio. It was recorded with a light and muted accompaniment, featuring Springsteen on guitar and harmonica, E Street Band
E Street Band
The E Street Band has been rock musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Tom Morello, Sting, Ian...
members Danny Federici
Danny Federici
Daniel Paul "Danny" Federici was an American musician, best known as the longtime organ, glockenspiel, and accordion player for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.- Career :...
on keyboards and Garry Tallent
Garry Tallent
Garry Wayne Tallent , sometimes billed as Garry W. Tallent, is an American musician and record producer, best known for being the longtime bass player in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band....
on bass, and session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
s Marty Rifkin on pedal steel guitar and dobro and Gary Mallaber
Gary Mallaber
Gary Mallaber is a Los Angeles session drummer, percussionist and singer. He got his start playing drums in a band from Buffalo, New York, known as Raven....
on drums. Springsteen's vocal phrasing tends to fade off at the end of each line of the song.
Springsteen's recording 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
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. It was not released as a single in the U.S., and radio airplay on album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...
stations was practically non-existent.
Music video
A non-representational music video was made of "The Ghost of Tom Joad", directed by Arnold Levine. It featured a black-and-whiteBlack-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
photo montage constrained to a subsection of the screen resembling a rear-view mirror
Rear-view mirror
A rear-view mirror is a mirror in automobiles and other vehicles, designed to allow the driver to see rearward through the vehicle's backlight ....
. Depressed U.S. Route 66
U.S. Route 66
U.S. Route 66 was a highway within the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926 -- with road signs erected the following year...
-area American scenes were featured; though set in the 1990s, many could have passed for the 1930s. Occasionally a line from the song would flash on the screen.
Live performance history
The song opened most of the shows on the 1995–1997 solo acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad TourGhost of Tom Joad Tour
The Ghost of Tom Joad Tour was a lengthy, worldwide concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen performing alone on stage in small halls and theatres, that ran off and on from late 1995 through the middle of 1997. It followed the release of his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad.-Itinerary:The tour...
, and gave audience members a clear indication as to what the night would be like. (For a few shows before and after a September 1996 Woody Guthrie-oriented benefit concert, he played "Tom Joad" instead.) On February 26, 1997, while the tour was still going on, he performed "The Ghost of Tom Joad" at the Grammy Awards of 1997
Grammy Awards of 1997
The 39th Grammy Awards were held on February 26, 1997. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.- Award winners :*Record of the Year**Babyface & Eric Clapton for "Change the World"*Album of the Year...
, where the album won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album
Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album
The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album was awarded from 1987 to 2011. Until 1993 the award was known as the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Recording. In 2007, this category was renamed Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album...
.
This and "Youngstown
Youngstown (song)
"Youngstown" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad. Although many of the songs on the album were performed by Springsteen solo, the lineup for the "Youngstown" includes Soozie Tyrell on violin, Jim Hanson on bass, Gary Mallaber on drums, co-producer Chuck Plotkin...
" are the only songs from The Ghost of Tom Joad
The Ghost of Tom Joad
The Ghost of Tom Joad is the eleventh studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1995 . The album was recorded and mixed at Thrill Hill during the spring and summer of 1995. Musically and lyrically reminiscent of Springsteen's 1982 critically acclaimed album Nebraska, The Ghost of Tom Joad...
album that have continued to have a significant presence in Springsteen's concert repertoire. "The Ghost of Tom Joad" was featured during the 1999–2000 E Street Band Reunion Tour
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour
The Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour was a lengthy, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place over 1999 and 2000....
, in arrangement fairly close to the album's, albeit with Federici often playing accordion and Tallent on stand-up bass. In the U.S., the large arena audiences frequently treated the song's appearance as the signal for a bathroom or beer run. The song became an infrequent appearer after that, perhaps surprisingly only showing twice on the 2005 solo Devils & Dust Tour
Devils & Dust Tour
The Devils & Dust Tour was a 2005 concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen performing alone on stage on a variety of instruments. It followed the release of his 2005 album Devils & Dust.-Approach:...
.
The song made several appearances on Springsteen's 2006 "big folk" Sessions Band Tour, in a new arrangement that featured member Frank Bruno handling some of the vocals, and two extended instrumental passages that saw soaring interplay between violin, pedal steel guitar, trumpet, and harmonica. One such rendition was captured on the subsequent Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band: Live in Dublin
Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band: Live in Dublin
Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band: Live in Dublin is a 2007 video and audio offering that captures in-concert performances from the Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour recorded in November 2006 at The Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. The release consists of a concert DVD,...
album as a bonus track for PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
begathon pledgers, and was also included as the lead track of the 2007 World Hunger Year
World Hunger Year
WhyHunger is an organization that seeks to address the root causes of hunger and poverty. WhyHunger was founded in 1975 by folk singer Harry Chapin, a social activist who was as well known for his humanitarian efforts as for his guitar ballads, and 95.5 WPLJ New York, legendary radio D.J. Bill...
/Hard Rock Café
Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe is a chain of theme restaurants founded in 1971 by Americans Peter Morton & Isaac Tigrett. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia, a tradition which expanded to others in the chain. In 2006, Hard Rock was sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and...
benefit album Serve2.
A live version of the song from the 2008 third leg of Springsteen and the E Street Band's Magic Tour
Magic Tour (Bruce Springsteen)
The Magic Tour was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2007–2008 concert tour of North America and Western Europe.The tour began October 2, 2007, in Hartford, Connecticut, and concluded August 30, 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin...
featured guesting Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
member Tom Morello
Tom Morello
Thomas Baptiste "Tom" Morello is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchman, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club...
singing a verse and joining Springsteen on the choruses, and playing two long guitar solos using sounds not otherwise found in the E Street Band palette. This performance was subsequently included on the 2008 Springsteen EP Magic Tour Highlights
Magic Tour Highlights
Magic Tour Highlights is an EP by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which consists of four live audio tracks and their accompanying videos, and was released for digital download on July 15, 2008...
in audio and video manifestations.
Springsteen and Morello performed this song in acoustic fashion near the end of Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Concert at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
on May 3, 2009. The video was broadcast on public television later in that year.
Later in 2009, at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
25th Anniversary Concert held at Madison Square Garden, Springsteen, the E Street Band, and Morello reprised their full-tilt electric rendition of the song.
Highlighting the song's political import, Springsteen included it in the "Change Rocks" acoustic performances he made at rallies in early October 2008 on behalf of Barack Obama's presidential campaign
Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008
Barack Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois, on February 10, 2007. On August 27, 2008, he was declared nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election...
.
The next year, Springsteen re-recorded the song, at his New Jersey home and accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar and harmonica, for the November 2009 documentary The People Speak
The People Speak (film)
The People Speak is a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans. The film gives voice to those who, by insisting on equality and justice, spoke up for social change throughout U.S...
.
Rage Against the Machine version
The song was coveredCover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
. Their release of the song was initially included as a 'free single' which shipped with an early release of the VHS version of their 1997 home video.
The Rage rendition was in the style of thrash rap
Rap rock
Rap rock is a cross-genre fusing vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with various forms of rock. Rap rock is often confused with rap metal and rapcore, subgenres that include heavy metal-oriented and hardcore punk-oriented bands, respectively....
, with live vocals echoed heavily.
While thus radically different from the Springsteen original, it too was considered to be in line with the Guthrie tradition. It was a modest commercial success, in 1997 reaching number 35 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks
Mainstream Rock Tracks
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue...
chart and number 34 on the Modern Rock Tracks
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
chart. It thus became the group's second charted song, following "Bulls on Parade
Bulls on Parade
"Bulls on Parade" is a song released by Rage Against the Machine in 1996, and can be found on their second album Evil Empire.-Context:"Bulls on Parade" addresses the American military-industrial complex, a situation in which industry urges government to take military action, with the intent of...
".
The 1998 single version differs slightly from one on the post-breakup Renegades album, as the band had re-recorded the song by then. Only a limited number of copies exist but this version would be later included in the No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees
No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees
No Boundaries: A Benefit For The Kosovar Refugees was released on June 15, 1999 by Epic Records featuring a handful of various artists to help raise money for ethnic Albanians sent by aeroplane to Australia during the Kosovo War. It was released in Australia on June 21, 1999 and that also has music...
compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
. The cover artwork is called "Police Riot" by Eric Drooker.
"The Ghost of Tom Joad" made its live debut on April 25th, 1997, at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, NV.
Music video
Heather ParryHeather Parry
Heather Parry is a film and television producer and currently Head of Film with Happy Madison Productions.She is a 1989 graduate of Emmaus High School in Emmaus, Pennsylvania....
produced and directed a live video for the song, shot in Irvine Meadows on September 18 and 19. It is identical to the version on the self-titled Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine (video)
Rage Against the Machine is the official self-titled debut video release by Rage Against the Machine. The video was released in 1997 after their Evil Empire world tour and includes footage from various performances as well as video clips....
video.
Track listing
- "The Ghost of Tom Joad"
- "Vietnow [Live in Detroit on the 23rd of August, 1997]"
- "The Ghost of Tom Joad [Live Version]"
Other versions
UK singer/songwriter Martyn JosephMartyn Joseph
Martyn Joseph is a Welsh singer-songwriter whose music exhibits primarily a brand of Celtic and folk, while his songwriting is often focused on social lament or protest...
occasionally uses the song live, and has recorded it on his album of cover versions, Run To Cover.
The Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
band Junip
Junip
Junip is a Swedish band featuring Elias Araya, Tobias Winterkorn, and José González, known for his solo work. They released Black Refuge EP at the end of 2005. After a five year hiatus, they released Fields on September 14, 2010.-EPs:...
later covered the song on their Black Refuge EP
Black Refuge EP
Black Refuge EP is the first physical EP released by the Swedish band Junip. It is composed of mostly original songs, but also includes a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad".-Track listing:# "Black Refuge" – 3:25...
in 2005.
Nickelback
Nickelback
Nickelback is a Canadian rock band from Hanna, Alberta. Since 1995 the band has included guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Kroeger, guitarist and back-up vocalist Ryan Peake and bassist Mike Kroeger.. The band's current drummer and percussionist is Daniel Adair who has been with the band since 2005....
has been known to perform "The Ghost of Tom Joad" in their concerts, in an arrangement very similar to Rage Against the Machine's. Indeed, in introductions they have identified the song as Rage's, and play it as a tribute to the band's having (at that time) broken up. Modern Irish traditional band Solas covered the song in their February 2010 release The Turning Tide.
External links
- Lyrics, at official Springsteen website
- Axis of Justice Tom MorelloTom MorelloThomas Baptiste "Tom" Morello is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchman, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club...
and Serj TankianSerj TankianSerj Tankian is a Lebanese-born Armenian-American singer–songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, playwright, record producer, poet, and political activist...
's Activist Website "Axis Of JusticeAxis of JusticeAxis of Justice is a non-profit organization co-founded by Serj Tankian and Tom Morello. Its purpose is to bring together musicians, fans of music, and grassroots progressivism to fight for social justice together.-Formation:...
"