[James Brown] had all the pageantry of the Catholic Church.
April 4, 2016 5:25 PM   Subscribe

 
The Delivery Man is a hell of an album. Costello started writing a concept album and then decided to hell with it and just kept the songs he liked and put them in any order he wanted. You can still get a sense that there's a world being built (a southern town - a delivery man who is having affairs with three women, including maybe a mother and daughter) but as a whole its just filled with this immense sense of longing. Longing to get out.

I like every song on the album at least passing well and love more than half of them. I think my favorite might be "Country Darkness," but obviously your mileage may vary. The chorus ("she daydreams of forbidden sins, there must be something more/The prison she lives in - the one with the open door") just kills me every time - its partly the lyrics, partly the composition, but mostly Costello's vocal delivery. Man.
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:38 PM on April 4, 2016 [7 favorites]


Tom Waits likes Captain Beefheart?

You don't say...
posted by crazylegs at 5:43 PM on April 4, 2016 [3 favorites]


I heard 'Nessun Dorma' in the kitchen at Coppola's with Raul Julia one night, and it changed my life, that particular Aria. I had never heard it. He asked me if I had ever heard it, and I said no, and he was like, as if I said I've never had spaghetti and meatballs - 'Oh My God, Oh My God!' - and he grabbed me and he brought me into the jukebox (there was a jukebox in the kitchen) and he put that on and he just kind of left me there. It was like giving a cigar to a five-year old. I turned blue, and I cried.
This exactly describes what it was like to hear Rain Dogs for the first time. Except it wasn't, um, Coppola's, it was a dorm room, and it wasn't Raul Julia, it was a guy on my hall I had just met who would become my best friend, partially because he didn't kick me out of his room when I said "Who the hell is Tom Waits?"
posted by gwint at 5:43 PM on April 4, 2016 [8 favorites]


You don't say...

Asked to concoct a recipe for Tom Waits I think it would consist of most of these. So... I guess he's got a very consistent, particular thing going on.
posted by Artw at 5:49 PM on April 4, 2016 [2 favorites]


I feel the need to add my "Tom Waits for no man" punchline-without-a-joke here and in all entries related to the man.
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:51 PM on April 4, 2016 [13 favorites]


I first discovered Waits about 20 years ago. A librarian I worked with was leaving for a job in Tampa and left a bunch of audio cassettes on a table in the lounge for people to take if they wanted them. I took two: A Billie Holiday with no cover, and Tom Waits' "Small Change".

There was no going back after that.

Incidentally, as a companion to this, back in 2010 he created a mix-tape... er, CD of some of his favorite tunes for MOJO magazine. Here is the track listing.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 5:55 PM on April 4, 2016 [4 favorites]


The manager of the mall store I worked at would blast Bone Machine after closing. I only knew Tom Waits as "Frank's Annoying Music" until I went to college and my knowledge of Bone Machine helped me make cool friends.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:59 PM on April 4, 2016 [2 favorites]


[John Lurie]'s very musical, works with the best musicians, but never go fishing with him.
posted by theodolite at 6:04 PM on April 4, 2016 [6 favorites]


Fun! Thanks for posting.
posted by aka burlap at 6:05 PM on April 4, 2016


Describing Les Claypool's lyrics as "songs for big kids" is sublime.
posted by furtive at 6:11 PM on April 4, 2016 [3 favorites]


Tom Waits for no man

Not true. Sometimes Tom Waits while Jeremy Irons.
posted by dephlogisticated at 6:17 PM on April 4, 2016 [12 favorites]


Speaking of John Lurie...
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 6:28 PM on April 4, 2016


Huh. I like some of these albums.

Maybe I should give this Tom Waits guy a listen.
posted by eyeballkid at 6:44 PM on April 4, 2016 [7 favorites]


My intro was this episode of Fernwood Tonight. My dad laughed his ass off at the "bottle in front of me" line.
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:46 PM on April 4, 2016 [2 favorites]


Zappa? Beefheart? Together, making my worst day at work seem not so bad. What this has to do with Tom Waits is an exercise I leave to the reader. Also good to hear that Waits is a Bill Hicks fan, but wonder if he thinks the marketing rant has been overdone a bit.
posted by TedW at 6:47 PM on April 4, 2016


A lot of these are people I like a lot, and I'm like 'wow, he picked exactly the right album' (Dylan foremost). But Star Time? For JB? Live at the Apollo! Sex Machine!
posted by box at 6:48 PM on April 4, 2016


(See, at his core, he's not an album guy, he's not even a singles guy--he's a concert guy.)
posted by box at 6:50 PM on April 4, 2016


Gavin Bryars' The Sinking of the Titanic *IS* hard to find, at least as a physical disc. It's also gorgeous, and I wasn't expecting to see something like this on the list.
posted by lownote at 6:51 PM on April 4, 2016


(And, yeah, Star Time? One of the best box sets ever. But it's right there in the list: albums.)
posted by box at 6:52 PM on April 4, 2016


Maybe I should give this Tom Waits guy a listen.

Don't bother. He's not conventionally handsome.
posted by beerperson at 6:56 PM on April 4, 2016 [7 favorites]


The Delivery Man is a hell of an album.

I always get into this thing with some Costello fans where, if you admit to loving his more conventionally-rocking material of recent years, you're somehow just part of the cheap seats he plays to during a lazy year, like he simply phones this stuff in between adventure time with Toussaint or Bacharach or the Metropole Orkest. But I think The Delivery Man is his best album of the last 20 years. It has every last thing I want from a Costello record. I certainly didn't expect to find it on Tom Waits's all-timers list, but I sure as hell agree.
posted by mykescipark at 6:56 PM on April 4, 2016 [2 favorites]


But Star Time? For JB?

If you're Tom Waits you can afford the box set.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:57 PM on April 4, 2016


(Also, FYI, the 1975 Obscure Records issue of The Sinking of the Titanic was recently reissued ... also including the pre-Tom version of Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet.)
posted by mykescipark at 6:59 PM on April 4, 2016


OMG that article is from 2005. Quick, someone splash a shot of bourbon in Tom's face and make sure he's ok.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:07 PM on April 4, 2016 [3 favorites]


mykescipark: Well, I guess I spent that money for nothing. That's great, though. Music shouldn't be hard to find.
posted by lownote at 7:08 PM on April 4, 2016


Yeah, not to sound too-cool-for-school, hopefully, but that list looks exactly like what I might imagine a list of Waits' favorite records might look like. Also a "if you like Tom Waits you might like ..." list. Eh. The large print giveth and the small print taketh away, as the man said.

... the 1975 Obscure Records issue of The Sinking of the Titanic was recently reissued ...

Love to see someone reissue the series. Toop & Eastley's New & Rediscovered Musical Instruments is a gas.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:18 PM on April 4, 2016


How can I become a bigger Tom Waits fan than I already am? Learn he's a Bill Hicks fan.
posted by davebush at 7:23 PM on April 4, 2016


So are we still eligible for the competition?
posted by Artw at 7:36 PM on April 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


Somehow Raul Julia being the one to introduce Tom to "Nessun Dorma" feels....wrong. Like, it needs to have been a twelve-fingered Cuban priest with Tourette's or something. ...but him hearing it in a restaurant kitchen fits.

I was introduced via "Rain Dogs" as well. It was the weekend of my brother's wedding, and one of my dearest friends was my plus-one. The wedding was in Vermont, and we drove north in a rented car. My friend can't drive, though, and made up for it by playing DJ with the car stereo - bringing a bunch of his own CDs. And somewhere around Darien he put on RAIN DOGS.

We listened to RAIN DOGS the rest of the ride to Vermont. However, we did not listen to it on the way home. And that is because while we were getting out of the car in Vermont, I secretly stole the CD out of the stereo and hid it in my luggage so I could copy it back at home; i didn't even want to risk the possibility of him saying "no"if I asked.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:54 PM on April 4, 2016 [2 favorites]


Tom waits for no man.

Waits indulged in similar wordplay a few decades back. Check out Tom Waits For No One, a 1979 animated film featuring a rotoscoped Waits and the NSFW gyrations of an exotic dancer. Waits is a natural as a Bakshi-esque cartoon scoundrel.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 8:40 PM on April 4, 2016 [4 favorites]


I never knew about that cartoon! I can finally let that joke go. Thank God.
posted by Joey Michaels at 8:49 PM on April 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


I love how, within this list of classic and/or obscure choices that just feel like Tom Waits' faves, there sits Rum, Sodomy and The Lash, feeling so weirdly normal by comparison.
posted by billder at 9:16 PM on April 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


Great list of albums but of course it is Tom Waits.
posted by PHINC at 9:47 PM on April 4, 2016


Quick, someone splash a shot of bourbon in Tom's face and make sure he's ok.

Waits has been sober for about 30 years
posted by thelonius at 11:32 PM on April 4, 2016 [2 favorites]


> Somehow Raul Julia being the one to introduce Tom to "Nessun Dorma" feels....wrong. Like, it needs to have been a twelve-fingered Cuban priest with Tourette's or something. ...but him hearing it in a restaurant kitchen fits.

Pretty sure the "Coppola's kitchen" being referred to is Francis Ford's.
posted by ardgedee at 2:32 AM on April 5, 2016


This is so infinitely better than the standard issue "50 greatest Rock albums ever farted out of a blind mole's ass" because I know Tom Waits' music and know what to expect and this is all about exactly right. Unfortunately, no surprises.

(and yeah, Coppola's is probably F.F.'s and for that I, shamefacedly, kind of sort of kind of like dislike Tom Waits at least a little bit I mean I like him I love a lot of his music and I think he's got great taste... but... he puts forth the idea that he's everyman like me but the truth is I'll never eat in Coppola's kitchen. I'll never be cool as you, Tom. And that, that should be obvious - so your pointing out is doubly ... sigh. Life is so complicated some times. I'm going to go get a coffee.)
posted by From Bklyn at 3:07 AM on April 5, 2016


Pretty sure the "Coppola's kitchen" being referred to is Francis Ford's.

Yeah, I know, but it was still the kitchen. It wasn't the main dining room or the cocktail lounge or whatever.

...Wait, I'm envisioning that Coppola actually owns a restaurant and it was the restaurant kitchen he was in. Am I wrong about that?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:44 AM on April 5, 2016


I don't know any more than you, but it raises the question of why Raoul Julia and Tom Waits would be hanging around together in a restaurant kitchen while the staff are trying to cook.
posted by ardgedee at 4:57 AM on April 5, 2016


I can't go diggin' out my liner notes and books and whatnot, but I am pretty sure that Tom Waits met Kathleen Brennan (his wife) while doing the soundtrack for "One From The Heart," which is a Francis Ford Coppola movie. Okay: I just double-checked that on wikipedia and learned that "One From The Heart" had Raul Julia in one of the roles. I believe that Brennan did some sort of administrative work in a Hollywood studio. Double addendum: The soundtrack was by Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle.
posted by Slothrop at 5:20 AM on April 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


Yes, I have all of his albums.
posted by Slothrop at 5:20 AM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


it raises the question of why Raoul Julia and Tom Waits would be hanging around together in a restaurant kitchen while the staff are trying to cook.

All parties wind up in the kitchen.
posted by octobersurprise at 5:23 AM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


23 years ago, I made a new friend under some very atypical circumstances, and she was unlike anyone I had ever met, and unfortunately, ever would meet up until now -
While most of my friends were mostly of the science-y or business-y vanilla type with the standard dreams to graduate, get a job, and get started with life, this young lady was in the Fine Arts program, who drank red wine, listened to Tom Waits and was a fierce supporter of the NDP (this was during their days after Ed Broadbent and before Jack Layton).

just to be clear, there was no romantic stuff going on.

but life is as life is, and i had other priorities, and so did she, and i moved on and met a gazillion other people and had a gazillion other experiences. i mean 23 years is a long time. in fact when I think about it, it was only after this period of my life did I start to develop my current beliefs and personality.

But in that 23 years, I never really listened to Tom Waits again.

So anyway, last month i think a combination of watching Arrested Development Season 4 (finally), and mental exhaustion with parenting, work, my fledgling business, and life in general made me really think about my former life and question where my current life was heading - have I become the person I dreamed about when I was younger? How are all my old friends doing?

And now I see this post about Tom Waits. And combined with my current mid-life despair, my friend from 20+ years past has now popped into my mind again.

And I realize with amazing clarity, that this woman, without either of us knowing, planted a seed in my mind, and helped make me the person who I am today.

For sure I have had a lot of positive influences throughout my life, but between 16-19 years of age, I had a rebirth of sorts, and if I am today, an adult who is more empathetic, more open-minded, more kind, and more accepting (and possibly more of an oenophile), it is because it lies in a foundation that this young woman planted.

I never would have known then, and am only starting to realize it now.

So dear friend from the past, thank-you!
Thank you for introducing me to red wine, Tom Waits, and the NDP (though I've only voted for them once).
Thank you for showing me the potential of life outside the vanilla dome.
Thank you for instilling passion for life in me.
(And thank you for putting up with what likely was my holier-than-thou pontificating)!

I hope you are well and i hope you are happy, and I wish you nothing but the best!

(off to listen to Tom Waits now)
posted by bitteroldman at 8:32 AM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


This actually made the front page when it was first published. I only remember because I learned of Houndog and Latin Playboys from his list.
posted by Otis at 9:14 AM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


...Wait, I'm envisioning that Coppola actually owns a restaurant and it was the restaurant kitchen he was in. Am I wrong about that?

Yes. It was Coppola's house.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 9:25 AM on April 5, 2016


I've been studying this for days, but I still can't write lyrics like Tom Waits.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 9:50 AM on April 5, 2016


it raises the question of why Raoul Julia and Tom Waits would be hanging around together in a restaurant kitchen while the staff are trying to cook.

I can absolutely see Tom Waits hanging with the staff of a restaurant, shooting the shit with the dishwashers and sous-chefs out in the alley while they were on their smoke break or something. That's why my head went to "restaurant" instead of "Francis Ford Coppola's house".

As for Raul Julia - I figured that he just kind of got swept up in Tom's wake or something. I get the sense that Tom is one of those guys that when he says "let's go 'n' plant sparklers in all the hands of all the statues in the park," you don't say "wait, why?" you say "of course."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:57 AM on April 5, 2016


As for Raul Julia - I figured that he just kind of got swept up in Tom's wake or something.

At least he's not an anteater.
posted by beerperson at 10:03 AM on April 5, 2016


So... seeing as most of these albums are on Spotify, I went ahead and created a Spotify playlist (which I'm currently listening to and have linked in the hope somebody else finds it useful.)

Some notes: Trout Mask Replica is not on Spotify. Neither is Houndog. Couldn't find Prison Songs either. And I could have put a Nessun Dorma there but I have no idea which version Tom Waits prefers (maybe I'll research this later along with stuff on Prison Songs.) I couldn't bring myself to add the whole Star Time box set and while I found a compilation of Little Richard's work at Specialty Records it was A) not the one Waits specifies and B) a multiple CD set. So I just stuck a track from each on there. You can easily click on through to the full sets. Oh, and I skipped Bill Hicks; I like Hicks but it kills the flow. (Maybe I'll add a single track from that also. Criticism/feedback welcome.)
posted by Jansku at 10:04 AM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


OMG that article is from 2005. Quick, someone splash a shot of bourbon in Tom's face and make sure he's ok.

I hate to be the one to tell you, but Tom's straight now. He stopped in the 1990's.
posted by alex_skazat at 12:01 PM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


Waits is a natural as a Bakshi-esque cartoon scoundrel.

Read that as Balki-esque;
Liked what I saw.

posted by Beardman at 2:01 PM on April 5, 2016


The americana 'Prison Songs' collection is the most quintessentially Waits-y of the picks, and the one I'm definitely going to check out.

As usual I'll let other people listen to Sinatra.
posted by dgaicun at 8:29 AM on April 6, 2016


19 Purple Onion by Les Claypool (Prawn Song) 2002

And of course Tom Waits joined forces with Primus to create their best song.

(... and is that some uncredited, low-budget John Kricfalusi animation there? Sure seems to be. The 90s folks.)
posted by dgaicun at 8:49 AM on April 6, 2016


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