TOM JOAD
(learned from Martin Choate at Teton Tea parties; written by Woody Guthrie-based on the novel Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck)
Tom Joad got out of McAlister pen, there he got his parole;
Tom Joad, he met him a truck-drivin' man, there he caught him a ride;
That truck rolled away in a cloud of dust, Tommy turned his face toward home;
He found his mother's fashion shoe, found his daddy's hat,
Tom Joad went to a neighbor's farm, found his family;
Now the twelve of the Joads made a might heavy Joad, and Grandpa Joad did cry,
They fed him short ribs and coffee and syrup, but Grandpa Joad did die;
They stood on a mountain and they looked to the West, and it looked like the Promised land;
The Joads rolled away to the Jungle Camp, there they cooked a stew;
Now a deputy sheriff fired loose at a man, shot a woman in the back;
They handcuffed Casey and took him to jail, but then he got away;
I've preached for the Lord for a mighty long time, preached 'bout the rich and the poor;
The deputies come and Tom and Casey run, to the bridge where the waters run down;
Tom Joad, he grabbed that deputy's club, hit him over the head;
Tom, he run back to where his mother lay asleep, he woke her out of bed;
Now everybody might be one big soul, well, that's the way it looks to me;
Wherever little children are hungry and cry, wherever people ain't free,
(from miriam berg's folksong collection)
After four long years on a mankillin' charge, Tom Joad come a-walkin' down the road, poor boy,
Tom Joad come a-walkin' down the road.
He said, I just got out of McAlister's pen on a charge called homicide, poor boy,
On a charge called homicide.
He met Preacher Casey and they had a little drink, but he found his family all gone, poor boy
Found his family all gone.
He found little Muley and Muley said, They've been tractored out by the cats, poor boy.....
They took Preacher Casey and loaded up a car, his mother said, We got to get away, poor boy.....
He picked up a handful of dirt in his hand, said, I'm stayin' with the farm till i die, poor boy.....
They buried Grandpa Joad by the side of the road, buried Grandma on the California side, poor boy.....
That bright green valley with the river runnin' through, there was work for every single hand, they thought.....
And the hungry little kids of the Jungle Camp said, We'd like to have some, too, poor boy.....
Before he could take his aim again, Preacher Casey dropped him in his track, poor boy.....
He met Tom Joad by the old river bridge, and these few words he did say, poor boy.....
We workin' folks gotta all stick together, or we ain't got a chance anymore, he said.....
But the vigilantes, they hit Casey with a club, they laid Preacher Casey on the ground, poor boy.....
Tom Joad took flight in that dark rainy night, with a deputy and a preacher lyin' dead, poor boy.....
He kissed good-bye to the mother that he loved, and told her what Preacher Casey said, Tom Joad.....
Everywhere you look in the day or the night, that's where I'm gonna be, Mama.....
Wherever men are fightin' for their rights, that's where I'm gonna be, Mama.....