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In popular culture

The novel has had a strong impact on popular culture.

Adaptations

• A film version was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck in 1940 and directed by John Ford. Ford won the Academy Award for Directing and Jane Darwell won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The film was also nominated for several other awards: Academy Award for Best Picture, Henry Fonda for Best Actor, Robert L. Simpson for Best Film Editing, Edmund H. Hansen for Best Sound Recording, and Nunnally Johnson for Best Screenplay Writing. It has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
• The Steppenwolf Theatre Company produced a stage version of the book, adapted by Frank Galati. Gary Sinise played Tom Joad for its entire run of 188 performances on Broadway in 1990.^[1] One of these performances was shown on PBS the following year.^[2]
• An opera based on the novel was co-produced by the Minnesota Opera and Utah Symphony and Opera, with music by Ricky Ian Gordon and libretto by Michael Korie. The world premiere performance of the opera was given in February 2007, to favorable local reviews.^[3]

Literature

• Tom Joad appears as a background figure in the short story "Tom Joad" by Kim Newman and Eugene Byrne, in part of the short story collection Back in the USSA.

Music

• In 1940, Woody Guthrie recorded a ballad called "Tom Joad". This ballad, set to the tune of "John Hardy", summarizes the plot of the book and movie. It was so long that it had to be recorded in two parts. Guthrie, a native of Oklahoma, wrote the song after seeing the movie, which he described as the "best cussed pitcher I ever seen".
• The Norwegian composer Geirr Tveitt composed a cantata for mezzo-soprano and orchestra called "The Turtle", using an excerpt from The Grapes of Wrath.
• Kris Kristofferson's 1981 single "Here Comes That Rainbow Again" is based on a scene from the book.
• The Grapes of Wrath was a popular Canadian alternative rock band from 1984 to 1994.
• On Pink Floyd's 1987 album A Momentary Lapse of Reason, the opening lines for the song "Sorrow" are paraphrased from the beginning of a chapter in The Grapes of Wrath: "Sweet smell of a great sorrow lies over the land."
• In 1991, the English progressive rock band Camel recorded an album Dust and Dreams inspired by The Grapes of Wrath.
• In 1995, Bruce Springsteen recorded his song "The Ghost of Tom Joad" on the album of the same name. The lyric is set in contemporary times, but the third verse quotes Tom's famous "wherever there's a ..." lines. The song was later recorded by Rage Against The Machine, José González's band Junip, and others. Springsteen has stated that he was first inspired by the John Ford film.
• "Broken Plow", a song on Chris Knight's 2003 album "The Jealous Kind", closely follows the books plot and captures the feeling of it. In his own words he "basically paraphrased the book."^{[citation needed]}