Wasted and Wounded ...

My pal Bucky posted a piece about her career as a child performer (doing a carnival barker act for her parents' amusement), and in the piece she evokes the name of Tom Waits.  In the run of comments that inevitably followed, I see that another good friend, WTF? Opera , (whose site is always a joy to visit for the streaming opera music) is also a fan.

I first started listening to Tom Waits back in 1976.  I was in University, and my girlfriend (who later became my first wife) (I call her my "first wife" because hey, I don't want her getting all cocky) was going to a different school.  One of her classmates was a girl named Jackie, who had a boyfriend named Mich from Sioux Lookout, Ontario.  And Mich had the most incredible, eclectic record collection I have ever seen, before or since.

Mich was about the funniest guy I had ever met in my life, and the girls were close friends, too, so it was one of those things where you have two couples who never got tired of being around one another.  I would love it when Mich would reach into his enormous trunk of records and pull out his latest acquisition.  I might not always share his taste in music - often, it was a bit too weird for me - but it was always interesting.

One night he said "You just have to hear this guy," and he passed over the album jacket for "Small Change".  On that jacket, a dessicated and drunk looking Tom Waits is in a stripper's dressing room - she is in the background, bored, and he doesn't look all that interested, either.  Okay.

The first cut is "Tom Traubert's Blues".  To this day I remember being surprised by the opening swell of strings , and expecting ... well, something different once the intro ended and the singing began.  Certainly nothing like Tom Waits voice ...

"Wasted and wounded .. it ain't what the moon did ..."  That voice.  All gravel and smoke and gargled shards of broken whiskey glasses.  My eyes popped wide, and Mich just grinned.

From the other room, my future wife:  "What the hell is HIS problem?  Throat cancer?"  Not a fan, never became one.

Not even after I started buying every one of his albums I could find - which, in those days before Amazon.com and CDNow, was a spotty proposition.  It wasn't exactly top 40 pop - so you weren't going to find Tom Waits in the Record Department at K-Mart.  I began scouring used record stores, scoring rare victories.  I found "Small Change" and played it incessantly, albeit with the headphones on to spare my wife's delicate music sensibilities.  Then I found "Heart of Saturday Night", and again played the hell out of it.

His voice?  Well, I'll concede it's a taste thing.  I love the richness, the sadness, the pain and anger and disappointment and bitter experience in every syllable.  Others (my wife, for example) can only hear the phlem and the long reach for the higher notes and the gritty growl, and find his voice annoying at best and disturbing at worst.

But the music and the lyrics are imperically gorgeous.  No arguments accepted, at least not here.  There's a reason why hundreds of artists have covered his songs - artists like Shawn Colvin, The Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, Bette Midler, Holly Cole, Moxy Fruvous, Johnny Cash ... my God, the tribute album you could make and still have to leave out Rod Stewart, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Dion, John Hammond, Bob Seger, and Elvis Costello.  Hundreds of covers of dozens of different songs, and I haven't heard many of them done better than Waits does his own.

In fact, I can break out my own dead-on impersonation of Tom Waits, usually singing "The Piano Has Been Drinking" or "Ol' 55".  I only do it when I've had a bit too much to drink (which seems, somehow, fitting), and the cost to my vocal chords is dear.  I'll wake up the next day, look ruefully at my wife, and in a hoarse whisper I'll say "I did it again, didn't I?"  "Yes, dear.  We were all royally entertained by your catarrh solo."

I fell off the Tom Waits wagon when he started to get more and more experimental with his music and sound.  I feel like that's probably my loss, but it's a subjective thing - and if I'm being too stubborn and resistant to change, well, I can live with that.  I don't have to love every play written by Shakespeare, every movie made by Rob Reiner, every TV show made by Steven Bochko, nor every song made by Tom Waits.  He's given me enough, he owes me nothing.

The other night, when they had the Red Cross Telethon for Katrina Victims, after appearances by virtually every huge name in the music business ... they played a short piece of film showing some of the devastation.  The music behind it was "I Wish I Was In New Orleans", by Tom Waits.  They couldn't have picked a better way to go out ...

Comments

[Bucky Four-Eyes]

Aaaaaaah, The Tom.
I got hooked at about age 13 when, as a fan of Rickie Lee Jones, I heard that the two of them dated, and was curious enough to find one of his albums. I thought he'd be some pretty-boy singer/songwriter...um, I was wrong about the pretty part.
My first find was "Foreign Affair" and hooked I was. I started to buy up what I could find - I think "Blue Valentines" was the new album at the time - and, not surprisingly, I didn't have a single little teenage friend who wanted to listen to "Whistlin' Past the Graveyard" with me. Squirl did, however, take me to see Mr. Waits perform when I was 13. Still one of the best concerts I've ever seen, right up there with the last time I saw him in '87.
I was OK with some of his experimental stuff ("Swordfishtrombones" - love it), but I just don't have any taste for the likes of "Black Rider" or "Alice." Just a little too disjointed for me.

OK, I'll stop before this turns into a post within a post. If I'm ever up your way, I owe you a drink and a big Tom Waits mix CD.

[suburban misfit]

LOVE Tom Waits. I'm a big fan of the different, so there you go.

[Nils]

Ohh, screw the drink (well, don't) (well, OK) ... but a Tom Waits mix CD? I'm all ears ....

By the way, you commented when I was back editing and adding to the post ... and no need to worry about the whole "Comment becoming a post" thing - I'd be the very last person to take anyone to task for that ...

[jessica_deva]

I was fourteen when my boyfriend played Tom Waits for me the first time. I thought he was black. (TW, not my boyfirend.) (Hey, I was ignorant, what can I say?) Whenever I thought about breaking up with him, he'd play "....and it's time, time, time, that you loved, and it's time, time, time...." and I would give up and stay with him. Eventually, though, I was "Walking Spanish Down the Hall" and out the door, as well. Still love Tom Waits - he's an original.

[Bucky Four-Eyes]

Audio post, Nilbo, PLEASE!

[Ern]

OK, I don't know Tom Waits' music, so brace yourself for a piece of randomness:

Your writing reminds me of Bill Bryson. That is all.

[whfropera]

I have some of his demo work - REALLY early stuff - Nils, your wife might like it better - he actually doesn't sound as "though he is gargling with kerosene". Its a prettier vocal sound, but not nearly as gut-wrenching to your vitals emotionally.
~I can't take credit for that kerosene quote, I read it somewhere.~
wod

[Nils]

Bucky: I tried, and seriously: sober, it just doesn't work. I need the liquor to loosen up the cords. It's a physical thing - I can get close, but it's not that jaw-dropping, dead on, holy God you DO sound like him! experience. Without the leekor, it's just another geek making croaking sounds.

Ern: a high compliment indeed. Now find thee a Tom Waits album and give it a listen. I recommend "Heart of Saturday Night" for neophytes.

WTF: my wife's feelings on TW are entrenched and unchangeable. You could have a tape of him as a 10 year old soprano with the American Boy's Choir, and she'd still wince.

JD: First time I heard him, I was holding his album cover, looking at his face .. and STILL thought the voice I was hearing HAD to come from a black man ...

SM: they don't come much different than TW.

[jessica_deva]

I have to agree with Ern, your writing does remind me of Bill Bryson as well. I know that for a writer it's a mixed compliment to hear that you sound like anyone else - and, of course, it's a generalization - even if that writer is brilliant. But mainly I think it's the astute observations coupled with the self-deprecating humor.

I've now blown enough smoke...

That is all.

[Ern]

I hope you don't take it as a mixed complement. I love comparing writing styles, and I'll jot a note in the margin when a section of a book particularly reminds me of another author.

[Nils]

Oh, I took it as a very real compliment - I'm a big Bill Bryson fan, and if people see some similarities in our writing styles, that's better than fine by me.

[Squirl]

I do like Tom Waits. I'm very fussy about singing voices. Voices that are trained for the stage are my favorite. But some that aren't "perfect" still appeal to me. Tom Waits is one of those. Thank Miss Bucky for introducing me to his music.

[Closet Metro]

After Sarah McLachlan covered his "Ol 55" I thought he should cover her song "Possession," which was written about a stalker that she had. I'd love to hear his delivery of the twisted lines like "I'll hold you down and kiss you so hard. I'll take your breath away."

[Jim Fogg]

Ah Tom Waits, I was introduced to his music in the late 70's, until then I had never heard that raspy voice. I lived in an area of Winnipeg called Cresentwood. The main floor of an an old home, and had escaped St James. A friend of mine was out of town for the weekend and his girlfriend at the time was at loose ends as was I. On Friday evening I took her to dinner at a rest called Victors, high end, fairly expensive, very nice, we had a ball. At the end of the evening after much tugging, I insisted on paying the bill and we went our separate ways. Late on Saturday night actually early Sunday morning i arrived home after much fun that evening and stuck between the door of may apartment was a thank you note and 5 albums wrapped in brown paper. The note thanked me for my generosity and she thought I may enjoy the music she had selected as a thank you. Inside the wrapping was, Closing Time, The Heart of Saturday Night, Blue Valentine, Night Hawks at the Dinner and Heart Attack and Wine. Even though it was about 2:00 am, I was curious and lit a fire, rolled a fatty and cued up Closing Time. I was blown away and proceeded to play all five one after another. Until well into the daylight. I was hooked. Like Nils I'm more of a fan of the older stuff. I won't ever forget Kathy nor Tom and for a moment I think I was her IceCream Man......sorry for the long post......

[Dauddythade]

[url=http://droday.info/otto/cats1/vepoty.html]сайт знакомств майкоп[/url] А это он с тобой разговаривает, между прочим. Хотелось бы встретиться с ней. Этим лекарством можно стимулировать превращение в любое время месяца? Они были в шкафу! Кто дал вам разрешение на вечеринку? Спросите у босса, он там. Соколоза своими размерами под стать птице. Он иногда приезжает чуть раньше, иногда опаздывает.

Если бы я ждала, то мне пришлось бы ждать восемь лет. Черт возьми, первый раз в кабриолете поеду! Мы друзья, мы не такие как все остальные. Это странное место, мужик. Я пришел пораньше, потому что нам надо поговорить. Где тебя носило последние два дня? Я телепортировался в будущее! Здесь описывается вся история моего героического путешествия.

Бруно, принеси пива и сэндвичей. У вас нет выбора. Но теперь требуется немного другое отношение. Мы понесли большие потери. Теперь у него нет проблем. [url=http://ori.filekd.info/menu1/page3962.html]сайт знакомств с австралийцами[/url]
Эти плотные облака, да еще кучевые. Я с ним справлюсь. Говорим, каких игроков нужно сохранить. Тебя отпустили на побывку? Нет, я сбежал и привел с собой еще троих. Джорджиана, как ты это допустила? Помоги мне, пожалуйста, мама.

[John]

I discovered Tom Waits roughly about the same time I discovered an affinity for train tracks and whiskey. Mr. Waits is about the only poet who can rival Mr. Dylan.