Wiki
-
Length
5:43
This song was Originally Written by Bruce Springsteen and later covered by Rage Against the Machine. Their release of the song was initially included as a 'free single' which shipped with an early release of the VHS version of their 1997 home video.
The Rage rendition was in the style of thrash rap, with live vocals echoed heavily. While thus radically different from the Springsteen original, it too was considered to be in line with the Guthrie tradition. It was a modest commercial success, in 1997 reaching number 35 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and number 34 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. It thus became the group's second charted song, following "Bulls on Parade".
The 1998 single version differs slightly from one on the post-breakup Renegades album, as the band had re-recorded the song by then. Only a limited number of copies exist but this version would be later included in the No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees compilation album. The cover artwork is called "Police Riot" by Eric Drooker.
"The Ghost of Tom Joad" made its live debut on April 25th, 1997, at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, NV.
Music video
Heather Parry produced and directed a live video for the song, shot in Irvine Meadows on September 18 and 19. It is identical to the version on the self-titled Rage Against the Machine video.
Track listing
1. "The Ghost of Tom Joad"
2. "Vietnow "
3. "The Ghost of Tom Joad "
Other versions
The Swedish band Junip later covered the song on their Black Refuge EP in 2005.
Nickelback has been known to perform "The Ghost of Tom Joad" in their concerts, in an arrangement very similar to Rage Against the Machine's. Indeed, in introductions they have identified the song as Rage's, and play it as a tribute to the band's having (at that time) broken up.#
Other connections
The eponymous German Post-Punk-Band named themselves after this song.
Track descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
