Tom Joad

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"