Looks likes Tom’s just checkin’ the notifications in the paper there over coffee. Yep, it’s Tom Waits’ birthday friends, and you know you gotta be lovin’ you some Tom. Yessir. Yes indeed. All types of Tom is good, piano Tom, noisy skronk Tom, acting cameo Tom, man’s a goddamn marvel and we shouldn’t take him fer granted. Gettin’ on in years now he may not be too bothered to do a whole lot more of much. Here’s a great clip from 30 years ago playing some tunes from the amazing ‘Swordfishtrombones’ album. A fine starting point for his works should you be someone who needs that type of thing. The first record he produced his own self and kinda a sea-change in terms of letting a whole lot more musical colour and madness into his own peculiar take on the world. He does ’16 Shells’, ‘Cemetery Polka’ and ‘In The Neighbourhood’ which fades out for the end of the show and then reappears in full. Hold yer fire there though ‘cos I found the video island done for it as a single. I think this was the first I ever laid eyes on Waits, I’d maybe heard him, ‘Piano has been drinking’ or something or I’d probably seen him twitchin’ in ‘Rumblefish’ memory is a slippery thing ain’t she? Anyways around it this little clip cast such a weird spell on me – it don’t look all that much now, a second line freaks parade in sepia, but back in the early/mid 80’s this was just a whole totally alien world, some strong and strange voodoo. A new place to go.
