Song Showdown: Sleep Now In The Friday

"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures)
03/04/2016 at 13:00 • Filed to: Song Showdown

Despite all this Rage I’m still just co-driving a cage.

...and that’s why there might not be any showdowns for the first few days next week. Boom. Segway.
Now, our final showdown of Rage week, and the one that, by far, was the most voted for battle, Bruce Springsteen’s ballad “The Ghost of Tom Joad.” There’s more depth to “The Ghost of Tom Joad” than I can get into here, the only way you can truly appreciate the full meaning of the song is by doing what Springsteen did to write the song: read John Steinbeck’s fantastic and very moving novel about The Great Depression, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , then watch the John Ford film adaptation of the same name. The character of Tom Joad was pulled straight from the book (the book revolves around a family called the Joads), and the third verse of the song “wherever you see ____ you’ll see me” is almost a direct take of Tom’s best known speech in the story, but Bruce also adapted his song to fit in the modern world, mentioning highway patrol helicopters and George H.W. Bush’s “new world order.”

Bruce played a number of variations of the song over the years, including !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! with Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello. Bruce even !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of the song in 2013 with Morello. This made it tough choosing a variation to use for the battle, but ultimately I decided the original had the most feeling to it.

Bit of a warning on this one, for the Rage video I chose what, while not an official Rage music video, is closest to the spirit of the band. If you’re at all familiar with the band, or have ever taken a good look at the cover of their self-titled debut album and realized it’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! you know what I’m saying here. Some of the footage might be difficult to view or NSFW, so you should scroll the page up or down once it starts playing if the video might be personally or situationally objectionable. The video also starts with the “Mad as hell” speech from “Network,” so if you want to go straight to the song skip to about 1:00 in.

Bruce Springsteen - (1995)

Rage Against The Machine - (2000)

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Rage part 3 closes in two hours, Rage part 4 closes tomorrow:

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/preview/song-s…

DISCUSSION (7)

Ash78, voting early and often > Dusty Ventures
03/04/2016 at 13:05

I first heard the Rage version for years before I even knew it was a Bruce song. So in a weird, way, I got to hear the original AS IF it was a cover of the RATM version. Bruce's is much better. I still like Rage, but Zack's talk-rap-sing didn't really do it for me. Quieter, more soulful acoustic is the way to go.

Mattbob > Dusty Ventures
03/04/2016 at 13:09

Rage version is awesome. Also I can’t stand Bruce Springsteen.

Your boy, BJR > Dusty Ventures
03/04/2016 at 13:09

As an Asbury Park, NJ naitive, I might be biased...

Although I like the RATM version, it is physically impossible for me to not vote for Bruce.

RallyWrench > Dusty Ventures
03/04/2016 at 13:25

I love me some Rage, but it’s PARTY NOISES PITTSBURGH on this one. Gotta go with the Boss.

luvMeSome142 & some Lincoln! > Dusty Ventures
03/04/2016 at 13:45

I only knew the Rage version. Bruce’s version is so damn boring in comparison. Snore.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Dusty Ventures
03/04/2016 at 14:03

Obvious RATM is obvious. Bruce wishes he still had half of the heart of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie but tries harder to do it. Phony. RATM are kind of the real deal.

Birddog > Dusty Ventures
03/04/2016 at 21:55

Sorry Bruce.