A Soundtrack The Grapes of Wrath

Often, whilst devouring the latest read, songs rolled through my head.   They might have matched the tone of the passage or the language of the writer.  They crept into my brain and imprinted the scenes like pictures in a movie.   My dream job would be Music Supervisor.  Short of that, I humbly put forward the soundtrack to The Grapes of Wrath, as I hear it:

1.  "The Worrisome Years" - Greg Brown.  Minus the anachronistic mention of television, this song fits the beginning of the book, as they prepare for their journey.  I like the feel of the music for this section.

2.  "All That You Need" - Joe Ely.  This was the first song that came to mind reading of the plight of a farmer.  This Texas songwriter exemplifies the hard-work and stone-faced determination of the entire generation.

3. "I've Seen That Old Highway" - Ray Wylie Hubbard.  After Granpa passes.

4. "Poor Man" - Old Crow Medicine Show.  This one speaks for itself.  Refrain: "And there ain't a thing for a poor man in this world."

5. "Lungs" - Townes Van Zandt.  A reference to one of my favorite lines from Ma.

6.  "All the Rain" - Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez.  For the dance scene at the government camp.

7.  "Pa" - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals.  Captures the sense of loss the Joad's experienced along the way.  Favorite pertinent line: "Like a joining of hands." 

8.  "Broken Plow" - Chris Knight.  Texas songwriter inspired by The Grapes of Wrath.  A recap of the story.

9.  "Shelter Me" - Buddy Miller.  For the flood.

10.  "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" - Woody Guthrie.  Speaks specifically to the dust bowl experience.  Guthrie actually wrote a bunch of songs about the dust bowl, including two specifically about Tom Joad.

11.  "To the Harvest Look Ahead" - Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch, Fats Kaplin.   Closing song of hope.

12.  Bonus track: "This Land is Your Land" - Woodie Guthrie.  Touches on the "red" undertones of the novel.  Bet you never thought about one of the "great" patriotic songs being socialist?

The Grapes of Wrath

And here's a story you can hardly believe, but it's true and it's funny, and it's beautiful.

For the past week, I have been sneaking reading time to get through The Grapes of Wrath.  Unlike many high school and college students, I passed through every school (and there were many) without reading a single Steinbeck work.  It would be wrong to say I missed out.  I think the works of John Steinbeck are not meant for teenage consumption.  They are not easily understood without the context, understanding of history, and general maturation adulthood provides.   Just think about the phenomenon of Twilight sweeping the globe for the uniformed and sadly behind on their reading-level masses.  The entirety of Stephanie Meyer's work could not rival one single sentence from Steinbeck.  And his work is chock full of sentences sturdy enough to carry the full weight of his stories.  I am glad I didn't read any of his works before a couple years ago.  I needed context - Biblical and practical.  I needed empathy.  I needed patience.  Steinbeck's prose is like the gold in the hills of California, just laying in a river waiting to be discovered.  It need not be mined to be understood, it is evident upon one single read.  But it's beauty brings you back, causes you to reread passages time and again. 

There are so many great things about this book and I am sure many people have already written exhaustive volumes about each of them; but my favorites are the characterization and the structure (I have to leave out the quotes because I can't choose just a few, I could quote entire chapters!).  

On the characterization side, Steinbeck created his characters early.  He spends little time on character development before diving into plot development.  He introduces most of the characters in Chapter 8.  The reader meets the Joad family as one would meet characters in a short story:  briefly but meaty.  He fleshes out these characters through the struggles of their journey; but we feel we know exactly who they are in a mere paragraph.    My favorites are Ma and Tom.  Bound by fierce loyalty and hope, these two keep the Joad clan together.  Ma becomes the de-facto head of household through the story, while offering sage advice I feel my grandmother would have heard from her mom.  My favorite: "Don't worry yourself, Rosasharn.  Take you breath in when you need it, and let it go when you need to." 

The other great thing about Steinbeck's writing is the big picture saga forcing the main story forward.  He switches between chapters from telling the tale of the Joad's, gone to California, to a sort of prophetic chapter where he tells the reader the events that will shape the Joad's story.  The interspersed chapters are harbingers of good and of doom for the Joad's.  In them we have forewarning of impending problems and future successes.   In this way, they help the story along while being completely outside the story.   The alternate chapters shed light on the juxtaposition of the inevitability of the hard times facing the Joad's and the intense hope they have in the future.  They have "prophets" who tell them what to expect along the way, but they are not deterred from their course, bent on survival, at least and a white house, at best. 

The quote at the top of the page describes this story very well.  Steinbeck knew he had written something great by the time he was 100 pages in (he had me at the end of chapter 1).  It is at times unbelievable, funny, and beautiful; and at other times it is unbelievably funny beautiful.  No more is this shown than in the last two pages.  I will not ruin it for anybody, but are you kidding me - craziest ending ever!

Rating; 6.5 out of 7

-L