Tom Joad Songtext

Tom Joad got out of the old McAlester pen There he got his parole After four long years on a man-killing charge Tom Joad came a-walking down the road Tom Joad came a walking down the road Tom Joad he met with a truck driving man There he took a little ride He said, "I just got loose from McAlester's pen On a charge called homicide" Well, that truck rolled away in a cloud of dust Tommy set his face towards home He met Preacher Casey and they had a little drink And he found that his family they was gone They found his mother's old fashioned shoe They found his daddy's hat They found little Muley and Muley did say "They've been tractored out by the cats" Tom Joad went down to a neighbour's farm And he found his family They took Preacher Casey and they loaded up a car And his mother said "We got to get away" Now the twelve of the Joads made a mighty heavy load And Grandpa Joad he did cry He picked up a handful of earth in his hand He said, "I'm stayin' with my farm until I die" They fed him short ribs and coffee and soothing syrup But Grandpa Joad he did die They buried Grandpa Joad by the side of the road Buried Grandma on the California side They stood on a mountain and they looked to the west And it looked like the promised land That bright green valley with the river running through There'd be work for every single hand, they thought The Joads rolled away to the jungle camp There they cooked them up a stew And the hungry little children of the jungle camp They said, "We'd like to have some too" Then a deputy sheriff fired loose at a man And he shot a woman in the back But before he could take his aim once again Preacher Casey dropped him in his tracks They handcuffed Casey and they took him to jail But then he got away He met Tom Joad by the side of the road And these few words he did say "Well, I've preached for the Lord for a mighty long time I've preached about the rich and the poor But us working people got to all stand together Or we ain't got a chance anymore." Then the deputies come and Tom and Casey did run To the bridge where the river runs down But a deputy sheriff got Casey with a club And he laid Preacher Casey in the ground. Tom Joad he grabbed that deputy's club And he hit him over the head Tom Joad took flight in the dark and rainy night With a preacher and a deputy lying dead Tom Joad he run where his mother lay asleep He woke her out of her bed He kissed goodbye to the mother that he loved And he told her what Preacher Casey said "Everybody might be but one big soul It looks that way to me Wherever you look in the day or the night That's where I'm gonna be, Ma" "Wherever little children go hungry and cry Wherever people aren't free Where working people are fighting for their rights That's where I'm gonna be, Ma"