When You're Really Pissed Off

[Ari Rankum]

Sometimes you just got to let your guard down and be happy there are geniuses. You need only spin some Tom Waits to find something like this:

A cab combs the snake,

Tryin' to rake in that last night's fare,

And a solitary sailor

Who spends the facts of his life like small change on strangers...

Paws his inside P-coat pocket for a welcome twenty-five cents,

And the last bent butt from a package of Kents,

As he dreams of a waitress with Maxwell House eyes

And marmalade thighs with scrambled yellow hair.

Her rhinestone-studded moniker says, "Irene"

As she wipes the wisps of dishwater blonde from her eyes

And the Texaco beacon burns on,

The steel-belted attendant with a 'Ring and Valve Special'...

Cryin' "Fill'er up and check that oil"

"You know it could be your distributor and it could be your coil."

The early mornin' final edition's on the stands,

And that town cryer's cryin' there with nickels in his hands.

Pigs in a blanket sixty-nine cents,

Eggs - roll 'em over and a package of Kents,

Adam and Eve on a log, you can sink 'em damn straight,

Hash browns, hash browns, you know I can't be late.

And the early dawn cracks out a carpet of diamond

Across a cash crop car lot filled with twilight Coupe Devilles,

Leaving the town in the keeping

Of the one who is sweeping

Up the ghosts of Saturday night...

 

[odot]

tom wait rules. Check that dudes fingers out sometimes. Brilliant songwriter...great pianist. Coolest voice known to the smoking man. That dude is cool.

 

[TheAxeman]

and you can't find your waitress

with a Geiger counter

And she hates you and your friends

and you just can't get served

without her

and the box-office is drooling

and the bar stools are on fire

and the newspapers were fooling

and the ash-trays have retired

the piano has been drinking

the piano has been drinking

The piano has been drinking

not me, not me, not me, not me, not me

Absolute genius +1

 

[odot]

heathen.

 

[Bounce]

A patient guy, eh?

 

[HIGHLANDER]

What's he building in there?

What the hell is he building

In there?

He has subscriptions to those

Magazines... He never

Waves when he goes by

He's hiding something from

The rest of us... He's all

To himself... I think I know

Why... He took down the

Tire swing from the Peppertree

He has no children of his

Own you see... He has no dog

And he has no friends and

His lawn is dying... and

What about all those packages

He sends. What's he building in there?

With that hook light

On the stairs. What's he building

In there... I'll tell you one thing

He's not building a playhouse for

The children

what's he building

In there?

He has the raspiest voice in America. Great song writer !!! Have another ciggy Tom !

 

[dcarver]

Best TW cd to start with is? Advice?

 

[Ari Rankum]

Best TW cd to start with is? Advice?

No doubt about it (but get ready for the argument) this one.

I must listen to this CD a couple times a month (out of about 400 CDs).

Here's an Amazon link that may allow you to listen to samples, depending on your browser/OS.

 

[TheAxeman]

Small Change, Heart of Saturday Night, Mule Variations....Check out some of the compilation CD's you usually can't go wrong. His original version of "Ole 55" which was covered and made famous by the Eagles is fantastic.

 

[dcarver]

you've got my interest tweaked now..

whatch'all think of john prine? how do the two compare?

 

[TheAxeman]

I listen to alot of John Prine also. They are both excellent lyricists. Its probably easier for folks to like John Prine because he is a little less "eccentric" in his singing style. One thing about Tom Waits is that people either really like him or really can't stand him, there doesn't seem to be alot of middle ground.

 

[HIGHLANDER]

Well since we're talking about Wait and Prine , I gotta throw John Hiatt's hat in the ring, another great song writer along the same lines

 

[TheAxeman]

Well since we're talking about Wait and Prine , I gotta throw John Hiatt's hat in the ring, another great song writer along the same lines

That's funny, we saw John Hiatt once last month at an aboretum and once on 8/11. The second time we saw him was on Block Island, RI outside with the stage set up at the bottom of a hill backing up to the ocean....Great show, great location.

 

[evil_henchman]

Tom Waits lives in the Napa area like my buddy Harry who owns Route 44 Studio. Harry's a huge Tom Waits fan too. One day Harry spots TW at an outdoor bar and just can't stand it so he walks over and and accuses him of being TW. He denies it but Harry won't let it go and things get crazy. What a priceless memory, TW chasing Harry around swinging a whisky bottle :lol: BTW, TW lives there too and has been known to do spontaneous performances from time to time.