Music: Bruce Springsteen
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