Mr. Eutychus said something here that made me think…
*
Well it’s Ninth and Hennepin
All the doughnuts have names that sound like prostitutes
And the moon’s teeth marks are on the sky
Like a tarp thrown all over this
And the broken umbrellas like dead birds
And the steam comes out of the grill
Like the whole goddamn town’s ready to blow…
And the bricks are all scarred with jailhouse tattoos
And everyone is behaving like dogs
And the horses are coming down Violin Road
And Dutch is dead on his feet
And all the rooms they smell like diesel
And you take on the dreams of the ones who have slept here
And I’m lost in the window, and I hide in the stairway
And I hang in the curtain, and I sleep in your hat…
And no one brings anything small into a bar around here
They all started out with bad directions
And the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear
“One for every year he’s away”, she said
Such a crumbling beauty, ah
There’s nothing wrong with her that a hundred dollars won’t fix
She has that razor sadness that only gets worse
With the clang and the thunder of the Southern Pacific going by
And the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet
'til you’re full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin
And you spill out over the side to anyone who will listen…
And I’ve seen it all, I’ve seen it all
Through the yellow windows of the evening train…
*
sigh Poetry, that is. Poetry.
What Tom Waits songs/lyrics do you love?
Fave tunes are:
Time
Innocent when you Dream
Hohnsburg, Illinois
Emotional Weather Report (“Cold front coming from the bedroom” is such a cool line.)
November
Good Old World
I also like I Don’t Wanna Grow Up and even like the Ramones’ version.
Most of the new album is superb, IMHO.
Many people are surprised when they find out that a song they like from some band was written by TW. Kinda like when you find out “Forever Young” was written by Dylan, etc.
One night back in 1976, I was driving from Mobile, AL to Macon, GA. Somewhere in south Alabama I tuned into a radio station from God knows where and heard Waits’ rendition of “Big Joe and Phantom 309” in its entirety. I had heard “Heart of Saturday Night,” so I knew who Waits was, but I had never heard this song. (Hell, at the time, I didn’t even know who Red Sovine was!) It was transcendental; the type of thing where you merge with your radio while driving through the dark and your soul is out there in the ether somewhere bound up in the radio transmission. I had a companion in the car with me. We both sat transfixed in silence for six and a half minutes or so, and then my companion applauded at the end of the song. In the twenty-five years since, there have been only had two or three times that I’ve had an equivalent radio experience.
I LOVE it when I hear a Waits song for the first time on the radio! That was the case with “Step Right Up.” I had to pull over to the side of the road I was laughing so hard after Tom said, “Christ, you don’t know the meaning of heartbreak, buddy!”
Some other faves:
“It’s colder than a ticket taker’s smile at the Ivar theater on a Saturday night.”
“Colleen’s belly was shakin’ like jelly and I’m gettin’ harder than Chinese algebra.”
“I know a girl, she been married so many times, she got rice marks all over her face”
“I was using parking meters as walking sticks.”
“I’d like to get some Danger! High Voltage! slacks.”
I was introduced to “Frank’s Wild Years” long ago, and immediately fell in love. It was utterly unlike anything I’d heard before.
My favorite Waits album is “Bone Machine.” I love the dark, sinister songs on it, especially “Murder in the Red Barn.”
There’s nothin’ strange about an axe with bloodstains in the barn,
there’s always some killin’ you got to do around the farm.
I have Bone Machine, Frank’s Wild Years, Blue Valentine, Swordfishtrombones, Nighthawks at the Diner, The Black Rider, and Mule Variations. All are excellent.
Aw man, you’re missing Rain Dogs, my favorite disc of all time. You even get the original (and infinitely superior) version of Downtown Train later done by Rod Stewart and Patti Smyth.
Don’t forget the early stuff too. Granted, he get’s really interesting when he jumped over to Island records, but his early Elektra stuff rules too. Titles like: Closing Time, Small Change, and The Heart of Saturday Night are all worthy.
Also of note, Tom has done some guest work on tunes like the Replacements song Date to Church and Primus’ Tommy the Cat that are pretty cool.
Then of course there was a tribute album called Step Right Up that has some good covers on it.
It aint what the moon did.
“Small change” is an album that had a profound effect on my view of vocalists.
The imagery he creates on that album (and on Closing Time) is absolutely beautiful, and can connect with totally, even though I probably will never be in the situation he describes
No one, no one, can say the word “pistol” like Tom Waits. That word now belongs to him. I just borrow it.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it. By my estimation I’ve seen over one thousand shows, and Tom Waits was hands down the best live show ever. Ever.
I think Rain Dogs is my favorite. Also Swordfishtrombones and Frank’s Wild Years.
*I’ve got hair on my chest, I look good without a shirt
Sixteen shells from a thirty-ought six
I got a telephone call from Istanbul, my baby’s comin home today
Cut me a switch an’ hold your breath til the sun goes down
He once killed a man with a guitar string; he’s been seen at the table with kings
I first encountered Tom about 11 years ago when I got a tape of collected songs in a Secret Santa exchange. It had Ol’ 55, The Piano Has Been Drinking, Diamonds on My Windshield (my absolute fave) and a cover of Somewhere that absolutely blew my freakin’ socks off. And I really dig Down By Law, too.
I have a dub of Rain Dogs on tape somewhere but I gotta start getting CDs of this stuff - but I had to step in and give a shout 'cos the man is indeed a poet.
My favorite album is Nighthawks at the Diner. He’s playing for an audience, setting up his songs with patter. Very charming. I’ve heard it claimed that this is the inspiration behind Rowlf the Dog from The Muppet Show.
