Re: Change Just One Word


"bigmills" <bigmills@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1125161892.578814.322520@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> As for Jersey Girl, it just seems to me that using girls instead of
> wh*res
> was a commercial safe choice. Girls on the avenue doesn't really paint
> a picture of *anything.* I can't picture the street, can't picture the
> girls,
> don't know what he's really referring to. The way Waits sings it, the
> picture
> is painted and the listener can picture exactly what he means.
>
> But I understand the choice and am glad he made it. Heck, there's a
> decent
> chance I'd have never heard the song otherwise, b/c he may not have
> made
> it a B side and it may never have gotten any airplay (contra to my
> argument
> would be The Big Payback).
>
It's weird, because some of the themes of Tom Waits' songs definitely
overlap with the themes of Springsteen's songs.
But, man oh man, they still seem like two different universes to me.
I guess, in a nutshell, Waits seems less inclined than the Springsteen of
the seventies/eighties (which is when there was this overlapping of themes,
settings, etc.) to mince words.
Granted, Springsteen is able to convey feeling and situations of desperation
and destitution...but he puts something of a philosopher's pin on it when he
does it.
This can result in language that might seem a bit less harsh and, perhaps, a
tad bit more romantic.
Sometimes Waits just gives you the sordid details and allows the listener to
draw his own conclusions (and sometimes not).

I'm having a difficult time trying to articulate this difference..because on
the surface, at least as I grope for words, it might seem subtle.
But it's really not all that subtle a difference.
The best I can do is this (and I don't know if this is possible without
having examples of their works or books in hand).
There are a pair of brothers Josh and Drew Friedman who often tackle old
Hollywood has-beens and minor stars in their very unique style of
cartooning.
Their works can be found in the books WART AND ALL and ANY SIMILARITY TO
PERSONS LIVING.
Just go to www.amazon.com and check out the cover for WARTS AND ALL...that's
Waits' world of the seventies and eighties.
Granted, Waits has his share of young folks gone astray in his song, but he
also tackles old folks who've seen and lived better days.
Save for his attempts to make sense of his father's background, Springsteen
seemed to stay nearer to the world of folks within his own age group.

Waits, heck even more than Dylan, sometimes seems as though he came out of
the womb as a grizzly old man. And he seems to have an empathy for the
sadness that comes from having lived better days, for mistakes that one just
can't undo...the kind of mistakes that haunt one's every waking and living
moment from there on after.
He also managed to capture the feeling of carefree youth (I'd dare anyone to
play "Kentucky Avenue" and not get choked up by the time you hit the last
verse, just as the strings start to well up in the song) equally as well as
he can capture the feeling of being in an older and dwindling body that's
lived better days.
And he didn't abandon this when he went off on his (sort of) Captain
Beefheart direction. Songs such as "Good Old World" and "Innocent When You
Dream" continue to explore that world of haunted presents and pasts.


I'm not even going to post the lyrics to "Kentucky Avenue"...that one needs
to be heard to be fully appreciated...
Nearly 30 years later and that song still puts a lump in my throat
Here are a couple of lyrics from Waits that might better explain what I'm
trying to get at :


JITTERBUG BOY (from the album SMALL CHANGE)

Well, I'm a jitterbug boy, by the shoe-shine
Resting on my laurels and my hardys too
Life of Riley on a swing shift, girls follow my drift
Once upon a time I was in show biz too

I've seen the Brooklyn Dodgers playing at Ebbets Field
Seen the Kentucky Derby too
It's fast women, slower horses, I'm reliable sources
And I'm holding up a lamp post if you want to know

I've seen the Wabash Cannonball, buddy, I've done it all
Because I slept with the lions, and Marilyn Monroe
Had breakfast in the eye of a hurricane
Fought Rocky Marciano, played Minnesota Fats
Burned hundred-dollar bills, I've eaten Mulligan stew
Got drunk with Louis Armstrong, what's that old song?
I taught Mickey Mantle everything that he knows

So you'll ask me what I'm doing here, holding up a lamp-post
Flipping this quarter, trying to make up my mind
And if it's heads I'll go to Tennessee, and tails I'll buy a drink
If it lands on the edge I'll keep talking to you

==============================================



At first glance, "Sight for Sore Eyes" might sound like a young man rambling
to a bartender. But, as soon as he starts mentioning all those old baseball
players and jazzmen, one realizes that this is an old guy talking. And I
think we've all come across those old guys who just can't face that they're
growing old, who seem to be forever trapped with the Id of a seventeen
year-old. It's often been said that an alcoholic stops maturing the
moment he becomes an alcoholic. That's what makes this song even a bit more
disturbing and, ultimately, woefully sad.

A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES (from FOREIGN AFFAIRS)

Hey sight for sore eyes, it's a long time no see
Workin' hard hardly workin', hey man you know me
Water under the bridge, did you see my new car
Well, it's bought and it's paid for, parked outside of the bar

And hey barkeeper, what's keepin' you, keep pourin' drinks
For all these palookas, hey you know what I thinks
That we toast to the old days and DiMaggio too
And old Drysdale and Mantle, Whitey Ford and to you

Oh, you know, the old gang ain't around, everyone has left town
'cept for Thumm and Giardina, said they just might be down
Oh, half drunk all the time and I'm all drunk the rest
Yeah, Monk's still the champion, oh but I am the best

And hey barkeep, what's keepin' you, keep pourin' drinks
For all these palookas, hey you know what I thinks
That we toast to the old days and DiMaggio too
And old Drysdale and Mantle, Whitey Ford and to you

Guess you heard about Nash, he was killed in a crash
Oh, that must have been two or three years ago now
Yeah, he spun out and he rolled, hit a telephone pole
And he died with the radio on

No, she's married, with a kid, finally split up with Sid
He's up North for a nickle's worth for armed robbery
And I'll play you some pinball, no you ain't got a chance
Then go on over and ask her to dance

And hey barkeep, what's keepin' you, keep pourin' drinks
For all these palookas, hey you know what I thinks
That we toast to the old days and DiMaggio too
And Drysdale and Mantle, Whitey Ford and to you



.

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