Tom Waits
Mule Variations

THE REVIEW

MASSACRING CALM

A cold winter night spent writing nonsensical things, in the darkness of a room, the chill of an emptiness filled by the beats of the old typewriter that irreverently pierces the silence. And you are there, without a beginning or an end, in a dimension outside time and space, hanging onto nothingness in a context of the unconscious. Outside, if it were a movie, it would have been a dark and stormy night, yet the streets are full of people, people walking, people wandering aimlessly, there's a buzz in the city.

But I am completely detached from it and the fireplace warms, as a strange music plays in the background: a rustic music, full of rusty iron and dust. I immediately recognize the style: it is Tom Waits, with his music that tastes of old, of ancient, yet eternal, outside of time. With his irreverent and relaxing voice at the same time, I imagine myself in a thousand worlds: in a desolate street of the suburbs of some great eastern city, in the fields of wheat, in the pianobars of 1920s America, just think a little, and perhaps I may seem repetitive but I am in the constant search to find a way to convey emotions in writing, and believe me, it is not easy.

"Mule Variations" is a collection of violent and romantic tracks, his harsh and aggressive voice in "Big in Japan" and calm and welcoming in "Hold On", to be listened to and imagined. The typewriter has now finished typing, the fire has died down from the cold, outside there is no one anymore, everything is dead, everything rests, only a slight symphony strolls through the avenues carrying the dreams and nightmares of everyone.