I come from down in the valley
Where, mister, when you're young
They bring you up to do like your daddy done
Me and Mary, we met in high school
When she was just seventeen
We'd drive out of this valley
Down to where the fields were green

We'd go down to the river
And into the river we'd drive
Oh, down to the river we'd drive

Then I got Mary pregnant
And man, that was all she wrote
And for my 19th birthday
I got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse
And the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles, no walk down the aisle
No flowers, no wedding dress

That night we went down to the river
And into the river we'd drive
Oh, down to the river we did ride

I got a job working construction
For the Johnstown Company
But lately there ain't been much work
On account of the economy
Now all them things that seemed so important
Well mister, they vanished right into the air
Now I just act like I don't remember
Mary acts like she don't care

But I remember us riding in my brother's car
Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir
At night on them banks I'd lie awake
And pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take
Now those memories come back to haunt me
They haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
Or is it something worse

That sends me down to the river
Though I know the river is dry
That sends me down to the river tonight
Down to the river
My baby and I
Oh, down to the river we ride . . .



Me walkin''long the railroad tracks
Goin' someplace there's no goin' back
Highway patrol choppers comin'up over the ridge

Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Shelter line stretchin''round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleepin'in their cars in the Southwest
No home no job no peace no rest

The highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Searchin' for the ghost of Tom Joad

He pulls a prayer book out of his sleeping bag
Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag
Waitin' for when the last shall be first and the first
shall be last
In a cardboard box 'neath the underpass
Got a one-way ticket to the promised land
You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand
Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock
Bathin'in the city aqueduct

The highway is alive tonight
Where it's headed everybody knows
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Waitin'on the ghost of Tom Joad

Now Tom said: " Mom, wherever there's a cop
beatin' a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred
in the air
Look for me Mom I'll be there
Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place
to stand
Or decent job or a helpin'hand
wherever in their eyes Mom you'll see me."


Well the highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes
I'm sittin'down here in the campfire light
With the ghost of old Tom Joad