AMAZING ANTHEM, NAIVE ARTISTS …
For those of you not hip to Steinbeck, Tom Joad is the protagonist from The Grapes of Wrath – the 1939 Dust Bowl novel chronicling the plight of Oklahoma tenant farmers beaten down by, well, everything.
Especially “the man.”
Joad, the leader of a family of tenant farmers, has become an icon in the social justice movement – and was the subject of far left songwriter Bruce Springsteen’s 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad. The title track of that album has been redone for Springsteen’s latest release High Hopes – which features former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, another champion of the far left.
So … what on earth is a rabidly “right wing” website doing promoting an uber-anthem from the far left? Easy: We feel a kinship with these lyrics …
“Mom, wherever there’s a cop beatin’ 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 there’s somebody fightin’ for a place to stand
Or a decent job or a helpin’ hand
Wherever somebody’s strugglin’ to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you’ll see me.”
Exactly ….
We hate to break it to the bleeding hearts, but we libertarian-leaning fiscal conservatives are every bit as committed to social justice as they are: We simply believe it is better achieved by confining government to its core functions – not expanding its crony capitalist, welfare statist, global interventionist reach.
That was true in Tom Joad’s day … and it’s true in ours.
Maybe one day Springsteen and Morello will figure that out …
22 comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkeVjkUKwF4&noredirect=1
“…wherever there’s a cop beatin’ a guy”
Now wait a minute, Bruce. I hate police brutality as much as the next guy, but can’t we agree that some people just need a beatin’? You should have qualified that statement.
some people just need a beatin’?
——
yeah, but why let the cops have all the fun?
True, true. Take care of bidness as you see fit. I’m old now (almost 50) so I’m a little more selective in regard to who I jump on these days. Some folks just need it, though. There’s just no avoiding that.
50? Old?
Hah! No, wait, yeah, that IS old. Which makes me half past dead. OK, I’ll take that. Just turned 67 a half hour ago, and so far half past dead ain’t all that bad.
Steinbeck’s original words, not Springsteen’s. But I agree. Some people just need killin’, too.
True indeed; done that too (but never someone who didn’t need it). I called Bruce on it (as opposed to ol’ JB) because he paraphrased Steinbeck’s language from the book to clean it up for use as musical lyrics…
what on earth is a rabidly “right wing” website doing promoting an uber-anthem from the far left?
Read more at https://www.fitsnews.com/2014/02/26/todays-tuneage-ghost-tom-joad/#oJdiGf47KLubvwqT.99
what on earth is a rabidly “right wing” website doing promoting an uber-anthem from the far left?
Read more at https://www.fitsnews.com/2014/02/26/todays-tuneage-ghost-tom-joad/#oJdiGf47KLubvwqT.99
what on earth is a rabidly “right wing” website doing promoting an uber-anthem from the far left?
Read more at https://www.fitsnews.com/2014/02/26/todays-tuneage-ghost-tom-joad/#oJdiGf47KLubvwqT.99
what on earth is a rabidly “right wing” website doing promoting an uber-anthem from the far left? Easy:
Read more at https://www.fitsnews.com/2014/02/26/todays-tuneage-ghost-tom-joad/#oJdiGf47KLubvwqT.99
So … what on earth is a rabidly “right wing” website doing promoting an uber-anthem from the far left? Easy: We feel a kinship with these lyrics …
Read more at https://www.fitsnews.com/2014/02/26/todays-tuneage-ghost-tom-joad/#oJdiGf47KLubvwqT.99
So … what on earth is a rabidly “right wing” website doing promoting an uber-anthem from the far left? Easy: We feel a kinship with these lyrics …
Read more at https://www.fitsnews.com/2014/02/26/todays-tuneage-ghost-tom-joad/#oJdiGf47KLubvwqT.99
Right Wing Website????…LMAO….Did CNS post this song??…
As for you co-opting these lyrics, and claiming any sort of Conservatism…every Liberal in America claims virtue, moral clarity, concern, truth and justice…it’s called pop culture populism…It’s how these ultra-leftwingers can get ungodly rich and famous off the simple minded, who worship them, pay them…but have NO idea of true character or compassion…
IOW: You CLAIM it, but in your liberal religion… you DEFAME it…
As for the song..that version (above) is GREAT…I love the street truth that Springsteen sells in his voice and style…always have…it comes from reality, even if he has not a clue about politics…
I saw him do Tom Joad at the Township, all acoustical…it was HORRIBLE….But that POWERFUL electric version is The Bomb…..
Holy shit! Admiration for Springsteen. Something I have in common with both Will and GT/BT.
The world is coming to an end.
“We simply believe it is better achieved by confining government to its core functions – not expanding its crony capitalist, welfare statist, global interventionist reach”
With all due respect, Will, we (as an actual liberal person I say this, not Fox’s definition of an evil “liberal”) don’t want corporations to be “the man” either. That’s where we differ. You don’t want government to control it, we don’t want corporations to control it, but we both want the people to control it. Both sides should pull together under this anthem and leave the bullshit out.
-Rodney
You want the people to control it???…That’s Bull-$#!*… Is that why liberal Obama is controlling our healthcare…to a disasterous level???
Be honest…you are just P!$$#d because the people who EARN it want to control what they produce…but you want it….and you think you’re so superior, you deserve it, w/o working for it…
I read a lot of your idiotic shit on here and I’m not impressed.
Like most liberals, you can one-line insult or regurgitate how I define you, as if you created the thought. But (and I mean this sincerely) you are too F*#king stupid and programmed to counter w/ any substance…
Most of the Bull-$#!* you, and those like you, post is obtained from some clichéd rhetoric, that is fed to you. True ignorance and lethargy in America is in the liberal movement. You are the disease that takes down societies. And you personally are a good example of the ignorance embodied by your radical extremism.
Like most ignorant, egotistical trolls, you can only regurgitate what opinions you are told to have. Sorry, GT, I don’t do that. My post was to only highlight what we can do unite our schools of thought around common ground, not to have you choose me as your jerk off material. You’re a joke, and not even a good one. If you wanted to sincerely reply to me you could have, but that’s not your game, is it? Your game is outdated and lame. I don’t normally reply to anything on here and this is why. Not that you can’t be handled, but trolls are trolls… and I’d rather spend my time in honest debate.
You don’t UNITE w/ Hate and Revenge…
You want to Dominate. Why do LIE about what and who you are???? (Don’t answer, I, and you, know why)……
Haha, “don’t reply.” More like don’t feed the troll. I’m not sure you read what I wrote, GT. I don’t want hate or revenge. I come from a small town. I grew up in a trailer with a single mom who worked her tail off to succeed. I have a wife and 3 kids that I cherish and I, and my wife, work hard for what we give to our family. There’s no ‘dominate’ in my vocabulary, GT. I’m not the ‘lie’ in this comment thread, you are.
Good day, man. I don’t think anyone here takes you seriously, so I’m not going to bother replying seriously, or sincerely, any longer.
Like so many self-important, self-centered liberals, you think we’re supposed to fall down in worship because you claim a tough upbringing story.
If you really were deprived, you should be open-minded to ALL Americans, instead of the hatred and polarization, based on race, gender or class, that your party perpetuates…
If you did have it tough coming up (as I did) it seems you learned nothing from it, if you are a liberal.
I learned from my rough childhood that poverty and upward mobility are hard, but know no color, gender or prejudice in this country. You are judged on your effort (or should be)…not on the myths those in the democrat party put forth to feed their greed and political power..
If you really struggled you would know that…That said: it not only saddens me to see people like you ranting…but it disgusts me, also…
I didn’t rant, GT, you have. For no other apparent reason than to hear (see) your own voice. I’m not a democrat, FWIW, but you wouldn’t know that because you’re not arguing with me, but your made-up fantasy of what you think I am. Carry on without me, please.
Regardless…based on your initial comments…you’re lost….You see neither the real problem…or the answer.
Therefore, you should not have any voice. Giving rise to those who are confused and/or politically dull, is what has us in this mess..
Should not a have a voice?
How very fascist of you.
My initial comments were:
“You don’t want government to control it, we don’t want corporations to control it, but we both want the people to control it.”
I want the people to control everything. Will is focused on the govt, I’m focused on corps.. but in the end, we both agree. I’m not sure what you read into that but your initial comments, and subsequent ones, show me that you’re just as asshole. Given I’ve read this site since it was actually faith in the sound, I knew that about you.
Point is: people like you have had THE ONLY voice…..and you’ve made a complete and total mess of this country. If we don’t stop you…which means telling you to STFU…we’re headed for collapse. We can’t afford you any longer.
Also: you impress me as one who wants to have a voice. Yet you are not thoughtful or educated enough, or maybe you act only on emotion.
You present rhetoric fed to you..and you Blame FOX news. You are a broken cliché w/o a clue….
Again: Stupid liberals (see Obama) are the problem. You have had your VOICE, and you have FAILED miserably. Therefore, we cannot begin to fix this nation, and head in the right direction, until we shut your stupid @$$ up. Not because you don’t deserve a voice, but because of the disaster you’ve made by being THE ONLY voice for the last few years…
Right, because it all went downhill only a few years ago, am I right?
Not thoughtful or educated enough? You’re a neo-con fascist, Big T. Problem is, I would still defend your right to speak. Silly me.
You are what’s wrong with this country. No, not that you’re a ‘conservative’, but that you refuse anyone the right to a voice who doesn’t follow you hook, line and sinker. Your divisiveness is old now. You are out-classed, T. Pop another Bud heavy and watch your TV, I’ve got to step outside in the real world.