orpahns - tom waits
for three decades tom waits has been writing songs about the underbelly of modern life where the losers and loners inhabit dark towns of tragedy and savage humour. gifted with a voice perpetually soaked in gin that manages to sound defiant and world-weary in the same breath, waits has a consistent history of delivering inventive music that’s hard to define as it transcends the blues into a feral primitive kind of rock and beyond into what could be thought of as storytelling supported by percussion. orphans is a collection of songs not previously released, encompassing the three different moods of waits’ music: brawlers, bawlers and bastards.
it would be a mistake to think of the brawlers as all up tempo stomps, because even at the heart of ‘fish in the jailhouse’ is a desperation about a man planning a prison breakout just as soon as he can find a fishbone in the mealtime slop to pick the lock of his cell door. but this first group of songs all have about them the trademark defiance of people dealt a bad hand and still wanting to gamble – ‘bottom of the world’ defines the resolve and respectability some people posses even in the most hopeless situations. ‘the road to peace’ tackles the middle-east war between isreal and palistine in way that condemns both the futility of the conflict, the stalement of constant killing and the inability of people look beyond the next counter-attack. a surprising cover version of the ramones’ ‘the return of jackie and judy’ also appears, taken from its punk roots and transformed into a fight between the percussion section that threatens to implode at any moment.
bawlers too goes far beyond what might initially be thought as just a collection of a-typical love songs; this is the fragility of existence laid bare where men take the ‘long way home’ to enjoy the expectation of seeing a lover again for as long as possible, that some women are addictive and dangerous [little drop of poison] and even in the sorrow of death the ‘world keeps turning’ regardless. but if these are love songs then the love goes beyond relationships to greater heights; ‘take care of all my children’ is a stirring song about a man on his deathbed defiantly telling the world to look after his family as he strides out to meet god in the afterlife.
and finally bastards bridges the gap between song writing and story telling for a bizarre group of tales backed less by music and more an atmospheric soundscape that increases the creepy feeling some of these tales have. ‘children’s story’ is an horrific bedtime story so desolate and devoid of hope most adults wouldn’t be able to sleep after hearing it - if there was a chance of a happy ending it got clubbed to death before the end of the first chapter. ‘the pontiac’ is a fascinating family history told through what cars different relatives owned through the years, and ‘spidery’s wild ride’ is the self-destruction of a teen-tearaway destroying everything he comes into contact with.
waits has long been a maverick song writer in the best traditions of music that look for more depth than the aimless guitar strumming of dylan. An inventive wickedly funny genius who will always be ignored because the industry doesn’t like success artists it cant pigeon hole
orphans
children's story
Once upon a time there was a poor child,
with no father and no mother
And everything was dead
And no one was left in the whole world
Everything was dead
And the child went on search, day and night
And since nobody was left on the earth,
he wanted to go up into the heavens
And the moon was looking at him so friendly
And when he finally got to the moon,
the moon was a piece of rotten wood
And then he went to the sun
And when he got there, the sun was a wilted sunflower
And when he got to the stars, they were little golden flies.
Stuck up there, like the shrike sticks 'em on a blackthorn
And when he wanted to go back, down to earth,
the earth was an overturned piss pot
And he was all alone, and he sat down and he cried
And he is there till this day
All alone:
Okay, there's your story!
Night-night!
Once upon a time there was a poor child,
with no father and no mother
And everything was dead
And no one was left in the whole world
Everything was dead
And the child went on search, day and night
And since nobody was left on the earth,
he wanted to go up into the heavens
And the moon was looking at him so friendly
And when he finally got to the moon,
the moon was a piece of rotten wood
And then he went to the sun
And when he got there, the sun was a wilted sunflower
And when he got to the stars, they were little golden flies.
Stuck up there, like the shrike sticks 'em on a blackthorn
And when he wanted to go back, down to earth,
the earth was an overturned piss pot
And he was all alone, and he sat down and he cried
And he is there till this day
All alone:
Okay, there's your story!
Night-night!
I came, I saw, I bought the T-shirt