Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska has been getting a lot of attention lately, with the Scott Cooper-helmed biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere and Nebraska ‘82: Expanded Edition both released in October.
In 1984, Springsteen released Born in the U.S.A., his first political album, a commentary on national identity, disillusionment, and patriotism through the eyes of Vietnam veterans and the working class.
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In the 10 years after the success of Born in the U.S.A., Springsteen had been having an inner debate with himself, which centered around his place as a “rich man.” Now that he had amassed wealth and superstardom, what was his role? No longer among the working class, what work still needed to be done to address those who were less fortunate than him?
The Ghost of Tom Joad was his answer. Released on November 21, 1995, Springsteen’s 11th album is a companion piece to both of these earlier groundbreaking records, continuing his narrative-driven songwriting about the overlooked and forgotten. Sonically, its stripped-down, acoustic-heavy songs are reminiscent of Nebraska, though, of course, with much more production. There’s also the literary element that inspired this album, much like Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find helped inspire songwriting in Nebraska, so too did John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, with Tom Joad serving as the connection between the plight of Dust Bowl migrant workers during the Great Depression and the poor and marginalized in contemporary America and Mexico.
Like Born in the U.S.A., The Ghost of Tom Joad reflects on political issues, most directly, illegal immigration—which is arguably more relevant now with thousands of ICE raids happening across the country—and national identity, with a corrupt government forcing Americans to choose sides.
While some rightly argue that The Ghost of Tom Joad is a starkly depressing album, with songs such as “Straight Time,” about an ex-convict struggling to live a normal life, the decline of the Ohio steel industry in “Youngstown,” and “Sinaloa Cowboys,” about two Mexican immigrant brothers chasing the American dream, with dire consequences, Springsteen does offer hope.
The album’s title track—which Springsteen later re-recorded with Tom Morello in an almost eight-minute-long rock version (and also covered by Rage Against the Machine)—is an ode to those who fall prey to the contradictions of capitalism. Springsteen employs Steinbeck’s Tom Joad as a symbol of aspiration: “Now Tom said, ‘Mom, wherever there’s a cop beating a guy / Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries / Where there’s a fight against the blood and hatred in the air / Look for me, Mom, I’ll be there / Wherever somebody’s fighting for a place to stand / Or a decent job or a helping hand / Wherever somebody’s struggling to be free / Look in their eyes, ma, and you’ll see me’”
Thirty years later, The Ghost of Tom Joad reminds us that there’s still plenty of work that needs to be done in America, that it’s our job to give a voice to the voiceless, to stand up for what’s fair and right, and even during our hardest times, we as a nation must endure.
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