Did anybody else catch Tom Waits on Letterman last week? He was terrific.
Dale
It’ll probably turn up on cable here in a few months time.The British monthly music magazine - Mojo - as an interview with the great man in the current edition.The mag is available in the ststes as well and the website is http://www.mojo4music.com/
His new album is out tomorrow as well!
Slan,
D.
No, but I’ve been listening to Waits quite a bit recently.
I had a bad day a few weeks ago, and there’s nobody better to help you feel bad than Tom Waits. That night I listened to “Putnam County” and “Better off without a wife” (the bad day had nothing to do with my wife, BTW) from Nighthawks at the diner, “The Heart of Saturday night”, “Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis,” and “Somewhere,” from Blue Valentine, and “Soldier’s things,” from Swordfish Trombones. That’s what I remember, probably some other stuff, too. Lawdy, I felt bad after all that (which was the goal), but I knew I’d listened to some great music, and I felt much better the next morning.
I have to admit that I wasn’t crazy about Waits’s stuff from the mid-late '80’s, so I haven’t listened to his stuff since then. Does anyone have any suggestions for stuff that might appeal to one who loves his earlier stuff?
Edited to add that it’s not necessarily the subject of Waits’s songs that evoke the response from me. It’s the all-out romantic (as in appealing to the emotions) nature of some of his music. For a guy who supposedly can’t sing, he can tug on the heart strings like almost nobody else.
Here’s a little something that might be of interest to fellow Waits fans -
Click](http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/fa/20020521.fa.ram%22%3EClick) here to listen to a great interview with Tom Waits on NPR’s ‘Fresh Air’ from May 21, 2002
This is a wonderful interview. Waits is a genius with an amazingly ironic, funny way of talking. Extremely entertaining.
Best wishes,
Jerry
hiccup! oops! the tin whistle has been drinking.
Knowing and loving the musical and cultural traditions from which Waits comes, when I first heard him I thought ‘this is good but I do hope people listen to his influences; he’s not all that original.’ The more I listened, the more I realised that he had put things together in a distinctive package—nobody had done it quite like that before. Then of course I asked myself what hundreds of blues-singing, jazzy tinkling, white folks must have asked themselves: why didn’t I think of it first?
Well, I would not have wanted to have been trapped in Waits’ persona. I would not want to have felt compelled to appear wasted all the time. (The most convincing way of appearing wasted is to be wasted.)
The only thing about Waits that I have reservations about—I really like the guy—is that he reinforces the fiction that the gravel-voiced black sterotype sings that way because he or she is always wasted. The technique is actually known as voice masking and I, and others, can do it without smoking or drinking to excess. Culturally, it is actually associated with West African religion and cult houses. Voice masking is a sign of spirit possession rather than dissipation and that, if you really think about it, is a much more threatening thought.
in a downbeat magazine interview from the 70’s the last question was how waits rated a diner. he replied “any place that can give me enough gas to open up a mobil station is alright by me” such genius!
Waits has been clean since he got married (15 years or so ago). No butts or booze for a long time, he goes to the gym, etc.
A couple of weeks ago I was on my way to a doctor appointment, and there were excerpts from a couple of interviews with him on Fresh Air. I think from 1988 and 2000. He did discuss the origin of the gravelly voice – IIRC, he started it for effect and it’s kind of become second nature.
They got on the subject of the Brill Building, the place in New York where all the songwriters chugged out hits in the 50’s and 60’s. Waits had recently visited it, and he said how much he would have liked to work there, because in the little cubby hole he could hear everything that was going on around him. Terry asked him why he thought that would be a good atmosphere. He replied, “I like that kind of sound. I listen to two radios tuned to different stations. I like mishearing lyrics.”
Thanks for the interview link, I’m a big fan. Back in the early 90’s I traveled the southeast with a roadhouse band. When we got to that part of the night where we introduced the Hank Williams medley the keys player and I would glance at each and say “Whether you like it or not”.
His new album “Real Gone” is absolutely stunning, amazing, a masterpiece, breath-taking, genious, a must have, all of the above. I would recommend anyone to buy this album asap.
I myself would not. I have it and I like it alot. But it is exceptionally eccentric, even for Tom Waits, and not for everyone. His voice, on most songs, sounds like a cross between Captain Beefheart and the Cookie Monster. The bass and percussion sounds are distorted. I like it—not for everybody.
Consistently great lyrics, though.
Dale
When I first saw Waits on The Old Grey Whistle Test on TV in the 70’s I thought he was a genius. Gradually, over the years, I have realised that I no longer think that.
Genius isn’t the right word. There have been s***loads of geniuses. Waits is unique. Also, genius suggests something a bit cerebral. Despite the sharp wit, perceptiveness and skill of Waits the man is pure emotion. He is heart more than head.
IMHO, Waits cannot be overstated.
I meant a genious of the Thelonius Monk variety.
Doesn’t matter, he is a fantastic artist.
There is a live concert clip of Tom Waits playing “Tom Trauberts Blues” on The old grey whistle test DVD Vol.1 with sax and bowed bass replacing the string section thats on the record. It is incredibly moving and often,when under the influence,I put it on repeat and savour it for about an hour (or until Mrs. D. clobbers me with the dreaded Bb generation - a formidable weapon I assure you)
Slan,
D.
If you’re gonna do that, you’re wise to hide the Overton low D. 