Posts Tagged ‘Tom Waits’

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“Find what you love and let it kill you.” – Charles Bukowski

“Without music, life would be a mistake.” – Fredrich Nietzsche

“Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio.” – Hunter S. Thompson

“If one should desire to know whether a kingdom is well governed, if its morals are good or bad, the quality of its music will furnish the answer.” – Confucius

“Virtually every writer I know would rather be a musician.” – Kurt Vonnegut

“When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.” – Henry David Thoreau

“I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things.” – Tom Waits

“What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? – it’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.” – Jack Kerouac

“I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy myself, but I didn’t.” – Woody Allen

“Goodbye is too good a word. So I’ll just say fairly well.” – Bob Dylan

“I came. I saw. I left.” – RDubbs

“This is the end …” – Jim Morrison

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Tune du Jour: “Downtown Train” – Tom Waits
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes: Mary Chapin Carpenter vs. Rocking Chairs vs. Patty Smyth
VOTE, COMMENT, then CHASE THOSE FACTORY GIRLS (UNDERNEATH THE BOARDWALK)
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Everybody’s Dressin’ Funny … Cover Me Impressed!

From Waits’ sublime masterpiece, Rain Dogs, Downtown Train beautifully captures the romance, hopes and desires, insecurity and confusion, and, at times, overcrowded-loneliness of a New York City weekend. 

As Bill Janovitz of AllMusic puts it: “The verses of Downtown Train are chock-full with more concrete and evocative images than all of the contemporary Top 40 pop hits combined; images like ‘another yellow moon has punched a hole in the nighttime,’ ‘The downtown trains are full/With all those Brooklyn girls/They try so hard to break out of their little worlds,’ and ‘you wave your hands and they scatter like crows’ ring of Ira Gershwin and Cole Porter.”

One rock critic observed “a Lou-Reedish guitar lead pervading the song” but, personally, I think Downtown Train has much more of a Springsteen-esque feel to it. Although, whether Waits was influenced by Springsteen or vice versa is difficult to say. 

 

The Original

 

Tom Waits:

That’s former World Middleweight Boxing Champion, Jake LaMotta, in the video. 

 

TheMost Popular

 

Rod Stewart:

Rod Stewart recorded a lousy cover version of Downtown Train that became a #3 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in late 1989, and was also a number-one single on the album rock and adult contemporary charts. Strangely enough, Stewart’s lackluster debasing of Downtown Train went to number-one in Canada – a country where people generally make intelligent choices – and made the top ten on the UK Singles Chart in 1990. And if all that wasn’t putrefying enough, Stewart also received a Grammy nomination for the song in the category Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. When asked to comment on Stewart’s version of Downtown Train, world renowned scholar and preeminent expert on cover songs, R.J. Dubbengoth IV, vomited profusely.

 

THE CLASH of Cover Tunes

 

Mary Chapin Carpenter vs. Rocking Chairs vs. Patty Smyth
Mary Chapin Carpenter:

Rocking Chairs:

Patty Smyth:

SPACE

Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. It is your solemn responsibility to decide which cover song prevails. In other words … Which Side Are You On?!!? 

 

Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.

Tune du Jour: “Temptation” – Tom Waits
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes: The Bobs vs. Martynas vs. Southside Johnny & The La Bamba Big Band
VOTE, COMMENT, then GIVE THE PIANO A REFILL
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I’ve Been Made Blue, I’ve Been Lied To, When Will I Be Loved?

 

 

The Original

 

 

Tom Waits:

 

THE CLASH of Cover Tunes

 

The Bobs vs. Martynas vs. Southside Johnny & The La Bamba Big Band
The Bobs:

Martynas:

Southside Johnny & The La Bamba Big Band:

SPACE

Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. It is your solemn responsibility to decide which cover song prevails. In other words … Which Side Are You On?!!? 

 

Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.

Tune du Jour: “Anywhere I Lay My Head” – Tom Waits
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes: Bomb the Music Industry vs. Anna Ternheim
Peruse, Comment and Vote (I Beseech, Implore and Urge Thee, respectively)
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"Free markets will not prevail without unfettered competition among cover songs." - Milton Friedbyrd

“Free markets will not prevail without unfettered competition among cover songs.” – Milton Friedbyrd

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The demented splendor that is Tom Waits! Anywhere I Lay My Head is from Waits’ 1985 release Rain Dogs, the middle album of his brilliant trilogy (i.e. Swordfishtrombone, Rain Dogs, Frank’s Wild Years) sketching the lives of society’s misfits, outcasts, odd romantics and exceedingly eccentric characters.

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The Original

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Tom Waits:

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THE CLASH of Cover Tunes

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Bomb the Music Industry vs. Anna Ternheim

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Bomb the Music Industry:

Anna Ternheim:

Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. Only one cover tune will live to play another day and it is your solemn responsibility to decide which one prevails. So tell me … Which Side Are You On?!!?

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Votes can be cast up to seven days from the day and time of the original post.

Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.

"Free markets will not prevail without unfettered competition among cover songs." - Milton Friedbyrd

“Free markets will not prevail without unfettered competition among cover songs.” – Milton Friedbyrd

Ol’ 55 is one of Waits’ early masterpieces. Typical of his early work the delivery, imagery and rhythm of Ol’ 55 conjure up a scene as real as any you’ve actually experienced. This period of Waits’ work is akin to reading classic Bukowski, peering into the underbelly of society and, for that period of time, feeling as if you’re right alongside the protagonist, eager to continue observing, without actually having to experience the highs and lows of a unique and bizarre, yet somehow endearing, subculture that resides somewhere on the other side of town …

The Original

Tom Waits:

Ask yourself this: How many musicians can work the words “lickety-splitly” into a flawless number?

Wait’s original, stripped down version, which I think I like best.

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The more polished version that opened Tom’s debut album (i.e. Closing Time):

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The Most Popular

The Eagles:

The Eagles’ uninspiring, vanilla rendition of Ol’ 55 was sadly the song’s most popular version. In Wait’s words he was “not that particularly crazy about [the Eagles’] rendition of it … I thought their version was a little antiseptic.” Waits was being kind …

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The Cover Songs Competition

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Dave Alvin vs. Sarah McLachlan

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Dave Alvin:

Sarah McLachlan:

Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. Only one cover tune will live to play another day and it is your solemn responsibility to decide which one prevails. So tell me … Which Side Are You On?!!?

Also, keep in mind that if you should spontaneously self-actualize while playing a cover then you could – and probably should – nominate it for Top 10 (i.e. “Impeccable”) consideration.

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Votes can be cast up to seven days from the day and time of the original post.

Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.