TOM WAITS PART ONE: Rain Dogs

I worked at my local hometown library for almost twenty years and in my early years I spent more time exploring my curiosity and finding what to read and or listen to.  We had over 5000 records in the library collection and when the weekend came I would pick a few records to bring home and play on the turntable. It was always difficult to find something that would find my interest.  If I did not work on Saturday and got my homework done I would go record shopping with a friend or go to tag sales.  I was always listening to music on the radio and I also would ask a co-worker for a little help for ideas and suggestions.  These suggestions I would take to the record stores in case I could not find anything at the tag sale.

One day while grabbing a few records for the weekend I stumbled by an album of an artist I never heard of.  I looked at an album by Tom Waits called Rain Dogs. I showed it to the co-worker.  His laugh was all I needed to get my curiosity started.  The co-worker told me when you listen to Rain Dogs, your life will never be the same.  I'm not sure if this was a ringing endorsement or a warning about Tom Waits. Either way I decided to take it out and give it a listen. My co-worker never steered me the wrong path.  was more impressed that there were nineteen songs on the album.  Most album have a dozen or so but this many means he has a lot to say.

When I got home I decided to put it on while I was helping my mom make dinner.  The music did not go over to well for sure, but she laughed and thought this voice as just acting or being funny.  She hated his voice by the third song and I almost turned it off when my dad stopped me.  My dad thought he had some unique lyrics to the songs. He laughed at the Beat Poetry piece called "9th and Hennepin"because some of the words do sound like living in the dirty, back streets of the most depressing city in the world.  Here it is:

Well, it's Ninth and Hennepin
All the doughnuts have names that sound like prostitutes
And the moon's teeth marks are on the sky
Like a tarp thrown all over this
And the broken umbrellas like dead birds
And the steam comes out of the grill like the whole goddamn town's ready to blow
And the bricks are all scarred with jailhouse tattoos
And everyone is behaving like dogs
And the horses are coming down Violin Road and Dutch is dead on his feet
And all the rooms they smell like diesel
And you take on the dreams of the ones who have slept here
And I'm lost in the window, and I hide in the stairway
And I hang in the curtain, and I sleep in your hat
And no one brings anything small into a bar around here
They all started out with bad directions
And the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear
One for every year he's away, she said
Such a crumbling beauty
Ah, there's nothing wrong with her that a hundred dollars won't fix
She has that razor sadness that only gets worse
With the clang and the thunder of the Southern Pacific going by
And the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet
Till you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin
And you spill out over the side to anyone who will listen
And I've seen it all
I've seen it all through the yellow windows of the evening train

It sure does sound like it was either taken from a crime novel or a section of Beat poetry. It was amazing. My dad liked it so much he wanted to hear it again and placed the needle on the song again. My mother on the other hand got disgusted with the music. She told me that it sounds like he has like three frogs in his throat.  I liked it, and did not care what they thought.  The music was different and that is what made me smile.  It did not sound like 80's music at all and most of all the instruments were not the normal instruments you hear in a "Rock" setting.  The unique percussion sounds, upright  bass, saxophone, marimba accordion, and other awesome sounds.  

After hearing all the instruments pit together it was time to hear the words that go with all this nutty and fun chaos.  The words here are awesome too; I'll tell you all my secrets, but I lie about my past 
Great stuff and there is so many more. His albums are full of them. He makes you think and laugh about the whole world that he is in. It's not normal, but we love it. It's like a warped carnival or a weird dream. Reading up on the album I agree it had a a vibe of urban decay and New York City. As the article stated he took a home cassette recorder and recorded sounds of the city. It was very imaginative and I think that is why I liked it with each listen.

Tom Waits is a unique individual and every time he puts out new music it has his unique spin on it. Each song even has it's little signature touch to it. I love it because of these touches he adds to them. He even adds great musicians on Rain Dogs. Thanks to him I got turned on to Marc Ribot, Robert Quine, John Lurie, Greg Cohen and so many others. There is even a cameo appearance by Keith Richards. The album as a whole is a masterpiece. It gets me every time I listen to. It sounds fresh and unique and seriously not of the year 1985 that it came from.  

All in all this is classic Tom Waits.  If your new to his music, this might be one of his most accessible.  There are a few tunes on here you have heard before.  "Downtown Train" covered really bad by Rod Stewart and "Jockey Full of Bourbon" has been on endless soundtracks for films.  I'm not sure they film in the film or this is to keep Tom Waits relevant to everyone who has not heard him, or even maybe they put that song in soundtracks to mix it up.  If any song was his signature hit it would be "Jockey Full of Bourbon" This is album is not the commercial break through that we would expect from any other artist.  Tom is an artist who is anti-commercial.  People like myself love anything he does.  His acting us just as odd and unique as his music.  This album is the best place to start.  There will be further Waits posts and each will be just as unique this one. You will be glad you got into his music and if you know this album it may be time to revisit a classic.  Enjoy!!!!