Like a lot of Tom Waits songs, it seems a lot less locked into its particular design than most artist's songs. But I'm not sure other structures could ever be as good.

I've gotten to where I think there are songs that are great but separate from their most defining recording (i.e. That's How Strong My Love Is, Downtown Train, Trying to Get to Heaven) and songs that are both great and locked...songs where you'll just never escape how perfectly that particular recording caught the song. You almost can't HEAR the song without hearing that sound, and when people cover it you wince for them even when they are impossibly better musicians than you are. Gimme Shelter, Singapore, Hoist That Rag, London Calling (believe me on that one, I've tried), Dirty Dream #2...this list is actually pretty long. And I don't think it's really about how MANY times you've heard it, either...Race for the Price, Given to Fly, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, and even the Yardbird version of I Wish You Would all caught me that way the very first time I heard them. "Well...you've just ended the story. Resolution found."

Some bands that I've liked...Spoon, for example...I think it came down to their ability (for at least a period of time) to not just write great songs (plenty of people do that), but to ALSO put it down in a way that you go "Yeah...that's fucking it. THAT'S the song."

Pirate Jenny is one of those songs that is still open, although you can't help thinking Cave when you hear it. My dad used to tell the story of his father being paid by surrounding farmers to break horses. He'd go out with sugar and a rope, get his arm around their necks, and hold on till they quit bucking. Then he'd throw the rope around em and ride off bareback. Guy was six foot seven.

Some songs are still wild horses. Even Nina Simone didn't quite manage to break Jenny, and that woman can make you reexamine your thoughts on any goddamn song. It just wasn't her horse.

I love it when McP Drinks and posts.


Is TOm Waits an artist that is best suited for studio work? Or is there a live version that surpasses the defining recorded moment? Are some artists unable to capture such brilliance? is it the song itself or is it the artists ability to create and capture said performance?

Goddamn it, why is it so fucking obvious to everybody when I'm drunk?!

Did you hear the voice interview where Alex said he was afraid of you?

That's the only one of those I've ever listened to. I was equally transfixed and horrified to discover people talking about RM like they were on VH-1 Behind the Music or something. It really redefined the way I perceive this...ahh...place.

I did think about clicking the humanbass one, actually. But if it plays out as anything other than a Terry Gilliam cartoon break leaning heavily on effective zoophilic techniques and heatedly debating currency exchange policy, all slowed down to just above half speed, I'll just be disappointed.

Better to dream, you know?