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The news today gets me thinking about the Dust Bowl, this looming spectre of the past that I never lived through but which I have grown to appreciate through my vicarious admiration of the works of Ford and Steinbeck. The faux-nostalgia of borrowed cinematic memories has conjured a vision of the Great Depression that feels more real to me now then my domesticated life. As part of one of the first generations in Western civilization unburdened with the hardships of war and financial instability, yet privy to the knowledge of past events, I feel the absence of burden all the more acutely as an affront to my more primal instincts. It is sad to think that in spite of the security I possess there is some additional impulse that longs for upset. Perhaps it is the pull of my biological capacities which require and are designed for more than convenience. Perhaps it is the sublime pull of aesthetics that seeks the sensation of immediacy which conflict offers. Or maybe it is that I am not as young as I used to be and all I can think of is entropy, the personal and the impersonal histories (the Great Depressions) superimposed on one another as a single running narrative.
In the last week I have become deeply disheartened with the state of the world, a sensibility I am usually able to factor out of my thoughts with little trouble – man’s frail absurdity was always something I could sidestep as I pursued my personal interests – but the vile hypocrisies of Church and State have become too boorish to ignore. I want to purge it all, and escape to a place that better suits my newly enflamed mood.
The Ghost of Tom Joad is just such a place. How I want to live inside this song, and sit beside that campfire away from the highway that is kidding no one. Both the original version by Bruce Springsteen and the recent cover by Jose Gonzales (Junip is his side project) do the trick, but if I had to choose I would go with the stark power of Jose’s rendition. I originally conceived of this post around Junip’s version but as I became more enthusiastic with the Great Depression mythology underlying it, I soon decided to make an entire playlist out of it, to flesh out the world of Tom Joad that I long to be a part of. I include the infamous final speech of John Ford’s classic ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, a speech that has yet to make it to YouTube unfortunately, so the printed word will have to suffice. A fervent idealist from a faraway reality, Tom Joad is a man of action who confronts the social injustices he sees all around him, something I admire but do not yet emulate.
01 Junip – The Ghost of Tom Joad
01 Junip – The Ghost of Tom Joad
02 Woody Guthrie – Tom Joad Part 1
02 Woody Guthrie – Tom Joad Part 1
03 Bob Dylan – Workingman’s Blues #2
03 Bob Dylan – Workingman’s Blues #2
04 Tom Waits – Time
05 Leadbelly – Midnight Special
05 Leadbelly – Midnight Special
06 Blind Willie Johnson – John the Revelator
06 Blind Willie Johnson – John the Revelator
07 Bob Dylan – Man of Constant Sorrows
07 Bob Dylan – Man of Constant Sorrows
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Henry Fonda’s classic speech from ‘Grapes of Wrath’:
Tom Joad: I been thinking about us, too, about our people living like pigs and good rich land layin’ fallow. Or maybe one guy with a million acres and a hundred thousand farmers starvin’. And I been wonderin’ if all our folks got together and yelled -
Ma Joad: Tommy, they’d drag you out and cut you down just like they done to Casey.
Tom: They’d drag me anyways. Sooner or later they’ll get me one way or another. Till then -
Ma: Tommy, you’re not aimin’ to kill nobody.
Tom: No, Ma, not that. That ain’t it. Just, as long as I’m an outlaw anyways, maybe I can do something, just find out somethin’, just scrounge around and maybe find out what it is that’s wrong and see if they ain’t somethin’ that can be done about it. I ain’t thought it out that clear, Ma. I can’t. I don’t know enough.
Ma: How am I gonna know about ya, Tommy? They could kill ya and I’d never know. They could hurt ya. How am I gonna know?
Tom: Maybe it’s like Casey says. A fellow ain’t got a soul of his own, just little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody, then -
Ma: Then what, Tom?
Tom: Then it don’t matter. I’ll be all around in the dark. I’ll be everywhere, wherever you can look. Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad. I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry and they know supper’s ready and where people are eatin’ the stuff they raise and livin’ in the houses they build. I’ll be there, too.
Ma: I don’t understand it, Tom.
Tom: Me, neither, Ma, but – just somethin’ I been thinkin’ about.
This discussion currently has 2 responses.
May 12, 2009
Wow, what a fantastic mix. I'm digging that The Ghost of Tom Joad cover, for sure. The Grapes of Wrath is one of my favorite novels, as well. I think I know what the quote of the week is going to be from…
I do my best to confront social injustices around me, although it's difficult and any one man can only do so much with the resources and opportunities they are given. Not every man can be like Paul Newman (or Fonda's Tom Joad, for that matter), although he's a shining example to everyone.
May 12, 2009
Listening to Workman's blues again, I gotta say how disappointed I am in the latest Dylan album, I really thought he was going to blow me away like Modern Times did. Every song on Modern Times is awesome.
I have a “Best Damn Lyrics” mixtape to add as well, and if any of the contributing writers feel inspired maybe we could have a mixtape competition sometime. Anyways, Ghost of Tom Joad is on that lyrics mixtape, that is a killer song by Bruce, and I really like both the original and this Junip cover.