The Ghost of Tom Joad de Bruce Springsteen

Listado de Canciones

1. The Ghost Of Tom Joad4:23

   Letra

   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 Shelter line stretchin' 'round the corner Welcome to the new world order Families sleepin' in their cars in the Southwest No home no job no peace no rest The highway is alive tonight But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light Searchin' 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 Waitin' 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 gun in your hand Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock Bathin' in the city aqueduct The highway is alive tonight Where it's headed everybody knows I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light Waitin' on the ghost of Tom Joad Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air Look for me Mom I'll be there Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand Or decent job or a helpin' hand Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me." Well the highway is alive tonight But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light With the ghost of old Tom Joad
2. Straight Time3:25

   Letra

   Got out of prison back in '86 and I found a wife Walked the clean and narrow Just tryin' to stay out and stay alive Got a job at the rendering plant, it ain't gonna make me rich In the darkness before dinner comes Sometimes I can feel the itch I got a cold mind to go tripping 'cross that thin line I'm sick of doin' straight time My uncle's at the evenin' table, makes his living runnin' hot cars Slips me a hundred dollar bill says "Charlie you best remember who your friends are." Got a cold mind to go tripping 'cross that thin line I ain't makin' straight time Eight years in it feels like you're gonna die But you get used to anything Sooner or later it just becomes your life Kitchen floor in the evening tossin' my little babies high Mary's smiling but she's watching me out of the corner of her eye Seems you can't get any more than half free I step out onto the front porch and suck the cold air deep inside of me Got a cold mind to go tripping 'cross that thin line I'm sick of doin' straight time In the basement huntin' gun and a hacksaw Sip a beer and thirteen inches of barrel drop to the floor Come home in the evening, can't get the smell from my hands Lay my head down on the pillow And go driftin' off into foreign lands
3. Highway 293:39

   Letra

   I slipped on her shoe, she was a perfect size 7 I said "There's no smokin' in the store ma'am" She crossed her legs and then We made some small talk that's where it should have stopped She slipped me her number, I put it in my pocket My hand slipped up her skirt, everything slipped my mind In that little roadhouse On highway 29 It was a small town bank it was a mess Well I had a gun you know the rest Money on the floorboards, shirt was covered in blood And she was cryin', her and me we headed south On highway 29 In a little desert motel the air was hot and clean I slept the sleep of the dead, I didn't dream I woke in the morning, washed my face in the sink We headed into the Sierra Madres 'cross the border line The winter sun shot thru the black trees I told myself it was all something in her But as we drove I knew it was something in me Something that had been comin' for a long time And something that was here with me now On highway 29 The road was filled with broken glass and gasoline She wasn't sayin' nothin', it was just a dream The wind was coming silent thru the windshield All I could see was snow, sky and pines I closed my eyes and was runnin' I was runnin' then I was flyin'
4. Youngstown3:52

   Letra

   Here in northeast Ohio Back in eighteen-o-three James and Dan Heaton Found the ore that was linin' Yellow Creek They built a blast furnace Here along the shore And they made the cannonballs That helped the Union win the war Here in Youngstown Here in Youngstown My sweet Jenny I'm sinkin' down Here darlin' in Youngstown Well my daddy worked the furnaces Kept 'em hotter than hell I come home from 'Nam worked my way to scarfer A job that'd suit the devil as well Taconite coke and limestone Fed my children and make my pay Them smokestacks reachin' like the arms of God Into a beautiful sky of soot and clay Here in Youngstown Here in Youngstown Sweet Jenny I'm sinkin' down Here darlin' in Youngstown Well my daddy come on the Ohio works When he come home from World War Two Now the yard's just scrap and rubble He said "Them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do." These mills they built the tanks and bombs That won this country's wars We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam Now we're wondering what they were dyin' for Here in Youngstown Here in Youngstown My sweet Jenny I'm sinkin' down Here darlin' in Youngstown From the Monongahela valley To the Mesabi iron range To the coal mines of Appalachia The story's always the same Seven hundred tons of metal a day Now sir you tell me the world's changed Once I made you rich enough Rich enough to forget my name And Youngstown And Youngstown My sweet Jenny I'm sinkin' down Here darlin' in Youngstown When I die I don't want no part of heaven I would not do heaven's work well I pray the devil comes and takes me To stand in the fiery furnaces of hell
5. Sinaloa Cowboys3:51

   Letra

   Miguel came from a small town in northen Mexico He came north with his brother Louis to California three years ago They crossed at the river levee when Louis was just sixteen And found work together in the fields of the San Joaquin They left their homes and family Their father said "My sons one thing you will learn For everything the north gives it exacts a price in return." They worked side by side in the orchards From morning till the day was through Doing the work the hueros wouldn't do. Word was out some men in from Sinaloa were looking for some hands Well deep in Fresno county there was a deserted chicken ranch There in a small tin shack on the edge of a ravine Miguel and Louis stood cooking methamphetamine. You could spend a year in the orchards Or make half as much in one ten-hour shift Working for the men from Sinaloa But if you slipped the hydriodic acid Could burn right through your skin They'd leave you spittin' up blood in the desert If you breathed those fumes in It was early one winter evening as Miguel stood watch outside When the shack exploded lighting up the valley night Miguel carried Louis' body over his shoulder down a swale To the creekside and there in the tall grass Louis Rosales died Miguel lifted Louis' body into his truck and then he drove To where the morning sunlight fell on a eucalyptus grove There in the dirt he dug up ten thousand dollars all that they'd saved Kissed his brother's lips and placed him in his grave
6. The Line5:14

   Letra

   I got my discharge from Fort Irwin Took a place on the San Diego county line Felt funny bein' a civilian again It'd been some time My wife had died a year ago I was still tryin' to find my way back whole Went to work for the INS on the line With the California border patrol Bobby Ramirez was a ten-year veteran We became friends His family was from Guanajuato So the job it was different for him He said "They risk death in the deserts and mountains Pay all they got to the smugglers rings We send 'em home and they come right back again Carl hunger is a powerful thing." Well I was good at doin' what I was told Kept my uniform pressed and clean At night I chased their shadows Through the arroyos and ravines Drug runners farmers with their families Young women with little children by their sides Come night we'd wait out in the canyons And try to keep 'em from crossin' the line Well the first time that I saw her She was in the holdin' pen Our eyes met and she looked away Then she looked back again Her hair was black as coal Her eyes reminded me of what I'd lost She had a young child cryin' in her arms I asked "Senora is there anything I can do ?" There's a bar in Tijuana Where me and Bobby drink alongside The same people we'd sent back the day before She said her name was Louisa She was from Sonora and had just come north We danced and I held her in my arms And I knew what I would do She said she had some family in Madera county If she her child and younger brother could just get through At night they come across the levee In the searchlight's dusty glow We'd rush 'em in our Broncos Force 'em back down into the river below She climbed into my truck She leaned toward me and we kissed As we drove her brother's shirt slipped open And I saw the tape across his chest We were just about on the highway When Bobby's jeep come up in the dust on my right I pulled over and let my engine run And stepped out into his lights I felt myself movin' My gun restin' 'neath my hand We stood there starin' at each other As off through the arroyo she ran Bobby Ramirez he never said nothin' Six months later I left the line I drifted to the central valley And took what work that I could find At night I searched the local bars And the migrant towns Lookin' for my Louisa With the black hair fallin' down
7. Balboa Park3:19

   Letra

   He lay his blanket underneath the freeway As the evening sky grew dark Took a sniff of toncho from his cocaine And headed thru Balboa Park Where the men in their Mercedes Come nightly to employ In the cool San Diego evening The services of the border boys He grew up near the Zona Norte With the hustlers and smugglers he hung out with He swallowed their balloons of cocaine Brought them across to the 12th streetstrip Sleepin' in a shelter If the night got to cold Runnin' from the migra Of the border patrol Past the salvage yard 'cross the train tracks And in thru the storm drain They stretched their blankets out 'neath the freeway And each one took a name There was X-man and Cochise Little Spider his sneakers covered in river mud They come north to California End up with the poison in their blood He did what he had to for the money Sometimes he sent home what he could spare The rest went to high-top sneakers and toncho And jeans like the gavachos wear One night the border patrol swept 12th Street A big car came fast down the Boulevard Spider stood caught in its headlights Got hit and went down hard As the car sped away Spider held his stomach Limped to his blanket 'neath the freeway Lay there tasting his own blood on his tongue Closed his eyes and listened to he cars Rushin' by so fast
8. Day Lightning3:30
9. The New Timer5:45

   Letra

   He rode the rails since the Great Depression Fifty years out on the skids He said "You don't cross nobody You'll be all right out here kid." Left my family in Pennsylvania Searchin' for work I hit the road I met Frank in East Texas In a freight yard blown through with snow From New Mexico to Colorado California to the sea Frank he showed me the ropes sir Just till I could get back on my feet I hoed sugar beets outside of Firebaugh I picked the peaches from the Marysville trees They bunked us in a barn just like animals Me and a hundred others just like me We split up come the springtime I never seen Frank again 'Cept one rainy night he blew by me on a grainer Shouted my name and disappeared in the rain and wind They found him shot dead outside of Stockton His body lyin' on a muddy hill Nothin' taken nothin' stolen Somebody killin' just to kill Late that summer I was rollin' through the plains of Texas A vision passed before my eyes A small house sittin' trackside With the glow of the savior's beautiful light A woman stood cookin' in the kitchen Kid sat at a table with his old man Now I wonder does my son miss me Does he wonder where I am Tonight I pick my campsite carefully Outside the Sacramento yard Gather some wood and light a fire In the early winter dark Wind whistling cold I pull my coat around me Heat some coffee and stare out into the black night I lie awake I lie awake sir With my machete by my side My Jesus your gracious love and mercy Tonight I'm sorry could not fill my heart Like one good rifle And the name of who I ought to kill
10. Across The Border5:24

    Letra

    Tonight my bag is packed Tomorrow I'll walk these tracks That will lead me across the border Tomorrow my love and I will sleep neath auburn skies Somewhere across the border Well leave behind my dear The pain and sadness we found here And well drink from the bravos muddy water Where the sky grows grey and wide Well meet on the other side There across the border For you I'll build a house High upon a grassy hill Somewhere across the border Where pain and memory Pain and memory have been stilled There across the border And sweet blossoms fill the air Pastures of gold and green Roll down into cool clear waters And in your arms neath open skies Ill kiss the sorrow from your eyes There across the border Tonight well sing the songs Ill dream of you my coraz_n And tomorrow my heart will be strong And may the saints blessing and grace Carry me safely into your arms There across the border For what are we Without hope in our hearts That someday well drink from gods blessed waters And eat the fruit from the vine I know love and fortune will be mine Somewhere across the border
11. Galveston Bay5:04

    Letra

    For 15 years Le Bin Son fought side by side with the Americans In the mountains and deltas of Vietnam In '75 Saigon fell and he left his command And brought his family to the promised land Seabrook, Texas and the small towns in the Gulf of Mexico It was delta country and reminded him of home He worked as a machinist, put his money away And bought a shrimp boat with his cousin And together they harvested Galveston Bay In the mornin' 'fore the sun come up He'd kiss his sleepin' daughter Steer out thru thechannel And cast his nets into the water Billy Sutter fought with Charlie Company In the highlands of Quang Tri He was wounded in the battle of Chu Lai Shipped home in '68 There he married and worked the gulf fishing grounds In a boat that'd been his father's In the morning he'd kiss his sleeping son And cast his nets into the water Billy sat in front of his tv as the South fell And the communists rolled into Saigon He and his friends watched as the refugees came Settled on the same streets and worked the coast they'd grew up on Soon in the bars around the harbor was talk Of America for the Americans Someone said 'You want 'em out, you got to burn 'em out. ' And brought in the Texas Klan One humid Texas night there were three shadows on the harbor Come to burn the Vietnamese into the sea In the fire's light shots rang out Two Texans lay dead on the ground Le stood with a pistol in his hand A jury acquitted him in self-defense As before the judge he did stand But as Le walked down the courthouse steps Billy said 'My friend you're a dead man. ' One late summer night Le stood watch along the waterside Billy stood in the shadows His K-bar knife in his hand And the moon slipped behind the clouds Le lit a cigarette, the bay was still as glass As he walked by Billy stuck his knife into his pocket Took a breath and let him pass In the early darkness Billy rose up Went into the kitchen for a drink of water Kissed his sleeping wife Headed into the channel And cast his nets into the water Of Galveston Bay
12. My Best Was Never Good Enough2:00

    Letra

    "Every cloud has a silver lining, every dog has his day." She said "Now don't stay nothin' If you don't have something nice to say The tough now they get going when the going gets tough." But for you my best was never good enough "Now don't try for a home run baby If you can get the job done with a hit Remember a quitter never wins And a winner never quits The sun don't shine on a sleepin' dog's ass." And all the rest of that stuff But for you my best was never good enough "If God gives you nothin' but lemons then you make some lemonade The early bird catches the fuckin' worm, Rome wasn't built in a day Now life's like a box of chocolates You never know what you're going to get Stupid is as stupid does" and all the rest of that shit Come on pretty baby call my bluff 'Cause for you my best was never good enough