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gratuitous

(82,849 posts)
Fri Apr 20, 2012, 11:51 AM Apr 2012

DU Album of the Day: "Rain Dogs" Tom Waits

"When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things." - Some guy named Paul

This is an adult dose. If you're into pop music, stay away for a while. This is an album to be approached with a certain amount of experience, to be handled with care. What you hear may not exactly be what is happening, and you might not figure it out until you've heard a particular song several times.

This 1985 album is Tom Waits' follow up to Swordfish Trombones, an artistic departure for an artist not generally considered to be in the realm of art. The voice, of course, isn't going to get him on American Idol, but people will be listening to Tom Waits for decades after Kelly or David or Jordin fade from memory. The title cut refers to stray dogs who lose their bearings after a hard rain washes away the smells where they've marked their territories and favorite haunts. Grafting this concept onto the people and places he writes about marks a certain genius. But for Waits, the genius doesn't begin or end there.

The telling detail, like the barmaid who has a tattooed tear on her face, "one for every year he's been gone." And really, that's all you need to know, but who is "he"? Why is gone? Prison? Run off with another woman? Dead? Waits is smart enough to tell you about the tattoos, and even smarter not to tell you any more. The population of a Tom Waits song can be one solitary person or a group of people thrown together by little more than geographic happenstance. It's a hard-bitten existence, but Waits peeks around the exterior to find a heart and a soul carefully hidden away and nurtured in secret.

So, one more round if you don't mind. And this time, pour it like you don't own it. Can I bum a smoke?

1 Singapore
2 Clap Hands
3 Cemetery Polka
4 Jockey Full of Bourbon
5 Tango Till They're Sore
6 Big Black Mariah
7 Diamonds & Gold
8 Hang Down Your Head
9 Time
10 Rain Dogs
11 Midtown
12 9th & Hennepin
13 Gun Street Girl
14 Union Square
15 Blind Love
16 Walking Spanish
17 Downtown Train
18 Bride of Rain Dog
19 Anywhere I Lay My Head

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DU Album of the Day: "Rain Dogs" Tom Waits (Original Post) gratuitous Apr 2012 OP
Kick for Tom. Thanks. Scuba Apr 2012 #1
nother kick for Tom stuntcat Apr 2012 #2
And one of the better descriptions gratuitous Apr 2012 #3

stuntcat

(12,022 posts)
2. nother kick for Tom
Fri Apr 20, 2012, 01:33 PM
Apr 2012

All I have from this album is Downtown Train, but I've just lately figured out how great he is so I'm getting a lot more, hopefully I'll have this whole album soon!

gratuitous

(82,849 posts)
3. And one of the better descriptions
Sat Apr 21, 2012, 10:57 AM
Apr 2012

One of the reviews I read mentioned the syncopated rhythms and percussion, described as sounding like someone dancing the haka in a tool shed.

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