Tom Joad - Springsteen

**Capo 2nd fret**  (All chords relative to capo)

 

 

[Intro]

 

(Studio Version): Am

Intro W/Harmonica*: Am F C C/B Am G Am

 

*Some live versions and his recording for "The People Speak"

 

 

[Verse]

 

Am                     Am/G   Am

Man walkin‘ long the railroad tracks

C                                 G

Goin‘ some place there’s no going back

Highway patrol choppers comin‘ up over the ridge

    Am                  Am/G      Am

Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge

                        Am/G      Am

Shelter line stretchin‘ round the corner

C                        G

Welcome to the new world order

Families sleepin‘ in their cars in the Southwest

Am                Am/G     Am

No home no job no peace no rest

 

 

[Chorus]

 

F

The highway is alive tonight

             C                    C/B      Am

But nobody’s kiddin‘ nobody about where it goes

G

I’m sittin‘ down here in the campfire light

Am                Am/G         Am

Searchin‘ for the ghost of Tom Joad

 

 

[Verse]

 

Am                     Am/G   Am

He pulls a prayer book out of his sleeping bag

C                                 G

Preacher lights up a butt and talks a drag

Waitin‘ for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last

    Am                  Am/G      Am

In a cardboard box neath the underpass

                        Am/G      Am

Got a one-way ticket to the promised land

C                        G

You got hole in your belly and a gun in your hand

Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock

Am                Am/G     Am

Bathin‘ in the city aquaeduct

 

 

[Chorus]

 

F

The highway is alive tonight

             C                    C/B      Am

Where it’s headed everybody knows

G

I’m sittin‘ down here in the campfire light

Am                Am/G         Am

Waitin' on the ghost of Tom Joad

 

 

[Harmonica Break]

 

F  C  C/B  Am  G  Am

 

 

[Verse]

 

Am                     Am/G   Am

Now Tom said: "Mom, wherever there’s cop beatin‘ a guy

C                                 G

Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries

Where there’s a fight gainst blood and hatred in the air

    Am                  Am/G      Am

Look for me Mom I’ll be there

                        Am/G      Am

Wherever there’s somebody fightin‘ for a place to stand

C                        G

Or decent job or helping hand

Wherever somebody’s strugglin‘ to be free

Am                Am/G     Am

Look in their eyes Mom you’ll see me"

 

 

[Chorus]

 

F

Well the highway is alive tonight

             C                    C/B      Am

But nobody’s kiddin‘ nobody about where it goes

G

I’m sittin‘ down here in the campfire light

Am                Am/G         Am

With the ghost of old Tom Joad

 

 

 

[Outro]

 

F C C/B Am G Am x2

Last time: Am Am/G Am