Hi, Tom. Hi.
I eased slowly into Tom's music, and I only knew a few songs by him before I went from casual listener to a diehard follower. I've known his name for at least a decade, seeing it in magazines, or hearing other musicians talk about him but I never dove in. Frankly, I think it's good that I didn't jump in immediately because, as I've mentioned before I'm sure, I think you need to be ready for the art you love. When it comes to books, music, movies and the like, I honestly believe you have to meet them at the right place and time in your life in order for them to fit with you best. I'd love to say I was a cool eight year old who listened to guys like Tom and grew up on him, but I didn't, and had I encounter him as a young'n, I wouldn't have appreciated his music at all.
For me, one thing I love about Tom is the way he combines the binaries of light and darkness, and also that his darkness isn't engendered in something artificial, but rather from the human condition. He can create a song with beautiful, romantic lyrics, yet his voice sounds hardly like the balladeer of a movie musical rom-com (although his early music did with songs like In Between Love which are completely swoon-worthy and his voice sounds nothing like the one we know and love him for now). While he combines the binaries, he is also quite grand at keeping them apart with songs that are nothing but dark in lyric or orchestration. I like to think his darkness is beyond the superficial because he expresses the pain that every single person experiences, and his voice just sounds like the monsters in your head, 3:00AM insomnia, whiskey, and cigarettes. He's storyteller (and he often writes about characters you don't really want to meet, yet somehow you know them), and honestly, just too complicated to explain well, so here's my list of favorite songs in no particular order. The fun of being a fan of Tom is that every fan you encounter will have a list that varies wildly, like Nick Cave.
This song got me through my wild anxiety during my Spring 2013 semester where I'd literally feel like my skin was on fire and turned inside out. Lyrically, I think he's just on point. "Watch your back, keep your eyes shut tight, your love's the only thing I've ever known." And don't we all take the long way home at sometime or another, be it metaphorically or actually just taking your time to get where you want to be? Unquestionably one of my all-time favorite songs by Mr. Waits (it's tied for the very favorite with Fannin' Street).
Also identifiable by the chorus of "waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, you, come waltzing Matilda with me." I don't think this song needs to be explained. There's nothing unlovable about it.
If this isn't one of the most heart wrenching songs you've ever heard, you probably are void of a pulse. The story in this song is so sad. AAAAH. I love that he mentions a "chest of drawers" in the song, and there's something about a little detail like the chest of drawers which I love in a song. And how could lyrics like "I'll feel my way down the darken hall, and out into the morning, the hobos
at the freightyards, have kept their fires burning. So Jesus Christ this goddamn rain! Will someone put me on a train? I'll never kiss your lips again, or break your heart, as I say goodbye, I'll say goodbye, say goodbye to Ruby's arms." Excuse me while I sit in the dark and weep.
at the freightyards, have kept their fires burning. So Jesus Christ this goddamn rain! Will someone put me on a train? I'll never kiss your lips again, or break your heart, as I say goodbye, I'll say goodbye, say goodbye to Ruby's arms." Excuse me while I sit in the dark and weep.
This is without a doubt one of my favorite songs by Tom, and if I made a top five, this would be in there. I posted the link to the live version because I prefer the way his voice songs, but I adore the studio recording as well. I personally love the way he sings "you'll be lost and never found" and "I know just where the sidewalk ends" in the live version because of the way his voice echoes. My favorite lyrics, "Once I held you in my arms, I was sure, and I took that silent step through the gilded door. The desire to have much more, all the glitter and the roar. Now I know just where the sidewalk ends." Just beautiful, tragic, and perfect. The grass isn't always greener, and the things/people you meet who seem great and perfect are not always as they seem (a lesson I've certainly learned with some disappointment and sadness). This song tells me what type of mood I'm in because the good days, I'll smile when I listen to it, and sit in awe that a song in possession of such magic exists. On the bad days, I know exactly what he's singing about, and feeling like I now "know just where the sidewalk ends."
This song is just sinister because it's about the terribleness of people and the damage they bring. Personally, I think Shakespeare's King Lear would listen to this song and it would resonate. The tragedy he endures would surely make him thing God was away on business.
This pretty song about love that got away is hard not to love. "I remember quiet evenings, trembling close to you." Talk about a way to end a song! I'm also quite partial to the way he sings "all that really matter then was that I was a man." If you need an explanation for this one, I cannot help you. This is one of the first songs of his I really fell in love with.
So few words, yet painfully clear. I don't think this song needs a lot of words to convey the meaning, especially with the accompanying piano. " Lonely eyes, Lonely eyes, Lonely lonely in your place."
I don't have a lot of words for this one, but it's one of the first songs by Tom I ever listened to. It's zany, macabre, and oddly humorous. "Auntie Mame has gone insane she lives in the doorway of an old hotel. And the radio's playing opera and all she ever says is "go to Hell."
I have no idea what a "tidy Mexican divorce" is meant to mean, but man does he sing it well! Personally, I like this live version better than the studio because his voice is more raw. I find I like a lot of his songs live over their studio recordings because there's a different quality to his voice, and he conveys the emotions more effectively. I think the studio versions are a bit more tangible to someone who isn't a fan of his, and a good way to ease someone into his music because not everyone can handle that growl right away.
I include this one because it's grown on me profoundly in the past few months. At first I thought it was a good song. A nice song. However, the more I listen to it the more I love it. "The world is round and so I'll go around. You must risk something that matters. My hands are strong, I'll take any man here. If it's worth the going, It's worth the ride." The final verse will break your stone heart.
Another live version I love much, much more than the studio recording. I don't think the studio version holds a candle to the live versions out there. The lyrics are pure poetry as well, "Sky's the autumn grey of a lonely wren." Lovely. I also am obsessed with how he sings "I know that rose just like I know my name, the one I give my love. I swear, it was the same. Now I find it in the street, a trampled rose."
I don't know how anyone could dislike this one, from the orchestration to the lyrics. It's just really interesting and pretty in it's way. "Small time Napoleon's shattered his knees but he stays in the saddle for Rose." Virtually incapable of being unlovable.
Here's where I'll end it for tonight. Perhaps, as I said with my Nick Cave post, I'll do a part two, because, yet again, I'm remembering other brilliant songs. But here are some of my most favorite at the moment. In conclusion, Tom Waits is just good for the soul.
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