Tom Joad

I'd like to make a quick post about Bruce Springsteen's album "The Ghost of Tom Joad". I remember when it came out in 1995 and I wanted to hear it but knew it was an all acoustic album and I guess I was just never in the mood. Having been a fan of his acoustic "Nebraska" album, I figured I would get around to it sooner or later. Well, 13 years later, I got around to it. I can't seem to stop listening to it. It is a fantastic album and tells some wonderful, if not very sad, stories of the hardships of life. Funny how he has a way of moving you to caring about a guy who blows himself up cooking Meth.

The title, Tom Joad, comes from the novel "The Grapes of Wrath". Woodie Guthrie sang "The Ballad of Tom Joad" and here the Boss talks about issues of modern times with the same desperation of the dust bowl era. "Hunger is a powerful thing."

Anywho, I wonder if I had gotten it 13 years ago would it have impressed me as much. Probably not. Times change and people change. Then I would have let it go as another CD that was just OK. I wonder if some other CDs that I don't care much for would have greater impact on me at other times in my life. You know how they say if you didn't read "The Catcher in the Rye" when you were in High School, you just won't get it.? I guess I know what they mean.

I don't think of it as 13 years of not knowing this album. I'm glad I waited. I'm glad I have it now and will always have it as one of my favorites for years to come.