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Rating:
I STOLE this CD! I borrowed it under false pretenses (with the intention of having to return it...), but I liked it so much that I gave up on those pretenses and kept it. Clearly, I could have bought myself another copy, but it wasn't a matter of money... something had developed between me and THAT copy. I noticed that, although it was years old (severely scratched and dusty case, '80s graphics), it had been listened to at most a couple of times (very hard plastic teeth holding the disc). Who knows, maybe that person received it as a gift, but it didn't match their (limited) tastes. At that point, I felt responsible for Tom and took him with me. Poor thing, I couldn’t let it go back into the wrong hands; someone who didn't want it, who didn't understand it and didn't want to try to understand it, and would place it back to languish in a lonely corner of the shelf! And I would tell myself that in the end, it wasn't such a great wrong, since no one would miss it ;).
Truth be told, I wasn't (and am not) a great expert and admirer of Tom Waits, but did I know "Small Change"? (of which I appreciated half the tracks) and "Blue Valentines" (which I appreciated two-thirds of). I greatly enjoyed his creativity, his formidable way of using his voice in such varied, unconventional methods, yet his compositional talent seemed inconsistent to me, always on the verge of shifting from genius to banal within a single song. In short, I didn’t have huge expectations the first time I listened to Swordfishtrombones, even though the quirky title and cover intrigued me... as it happened, from the first seconds of music I started bobbing my head and tapping my feet, and a half-smile somewhere between pleased and sardonic spread across my face!
"Underground", the opening track, can achieve the difficult feat of making you laugh inside; two minutes that seem like a children's lullaby, all played on a very simple and accented rhythm, in which baritone horn and drums play only the quarters, and every syllable is syllabicated and almost growled by Tom... all while the electric guitar plays grotesque and sardonic notes that create an insane contrast with the pleasure of doing it! It gets worse (so to speak) with "Shore Leave", which starts a bit dark and gritty, only to transfigure into a kind of serenade and keep going triumphantly with Tom in full paroxysmal alcoholic mumble (shooooorrrrrrellliiiiiiive, ssshsschiaooorrrllliiive :D). In the background, a marimba, a series of metallic noises, and a splendid banjo-guitar contribute to making everything perfectly believable and musical, even in its diabolical irony. After a brief instrumental piece in which Tom produces an improbable psychogram on the Hammond, and after one of his typical sentimental frames, comes "16 Shells From a 30.6", very catchy and breathtakingly fun thanks to the guitar riffs but especially due to truly ingenious drum and percussion work in its simplicity (isn't it true that Waits is a bit obsessed with guns, shotguns, bullets, and shells, don’t you think?).
The album continues among bagpipes, trombones, accordions, blues, and many other ideas, giving expression to the many faces of this multifaceted artist. The title track is very beautiful, where electric and acoustic bass blend with the marimba and percussion in a truly imaginative sonic bricolage. "Down Down Down" is stunning, starting at speed and showcasing the singer’s great rhythmic virtuosity in all its splendor. Delicate and heartfelt "Soldier's Things"; the usual boisterous irony this time gives way to a moment of intense lyricism, as also happens in the concluding track, "Rainbirds", a marvelous instrumental piece, where Tom sits at the piano accompanied by the bass and plays so well he almost seems like Bill Evans!
In conclusion, a very mature album compositionally, rich in color and different tones, wonderfully arranged and featuring exceptional musicians (including the great Victor Feldman, Miles Davis' pianist in "Seven Steps To Heaven" in the far-off '63 and composer of the homonymous track and "Joshua," now jazz classics. However, in Swordfishtrombones he mainly deals with marimbas and various percussion, many of which are unusual and exotic). So, if you come across this crazy and brilliant CD... STEAL IT!!!
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Underground (02:01)
Rattle big black bones
in the danger zone
there's a rumblin' groan
down below
there's a big dark town
it's a place I've found
there's a world going on
Underground
they're alive, they're awake
while the rest of the world is asleep
below the mine shaft roads
it will all unfold
there's a world going on
Underground
all the roots hang down
swing from town to town
they are marching around
down under your boots
all the trucks unload
beyond the gopher holes
there's a world going on
Underground
04 Johnsburg, Illinois (01:33)
She's my
Only true love
She's all that I think of
Look here
In my wallet that's her.
She grew up
On a farm there
There's a place on my arm
Where I've written her name
Next to mine.
You see I just can't
Live without her
And I'm her only boy
She grew up
Outside McHenry
In Johnsburg, Illinois.
05 16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought-Six (04:33)
I plugged 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six
and a Black Crow snuck through
a hole in the sky
so I spent all my buttons on an
old pack mule
and I made me a ladder from
a pawn shop marimba
and I leaned it up against
a dandelion tree
And I filled me a sachel
full of old pig corn
and I beat me a billy
from an old French horn
and I kicked that mule
to the top of the tree
and I blew me a hole
'bout the size of a kickdrum
and I cut me a switch
from a long branch elbow
Chorus
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Black Crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six
whittle you into kindlin'
Black Crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six
Well I slept in the holler
of a dry creek bed
and I tore out the buckets
from a red Corvette, tore out the buckets from a red Corvette
Lionel and Dave and the Butcher made three
you got to meet me by the knuckles of the skinnybone tree
with the strings of a Washburn
stretched like a clothes line
you know me and that mule scrambled right through the hole
Repeat Chorus
Now I hold him prisoner
in a Washburn jail
that stapped on the back
of my old kick mule
strapped it on the back of my old kick mule
I bang on the strings just
to drive him crazy
I strum it loud just to rattle his cage
strum it loud just to rattle his cage
Repeat Chorus
07 In the Neighborhood (03:07)
In The Neighborhood
(Tom Waites: Swordfish Trombones)
Well the eggs chase the bacon round the frying pan
And the whining dog pigeons by the steeple bell rope
And the dogs tipped the garbage pails over last night
And there's always construction work bothering you
In the neighborhood, in the neighborhood, in the neighborhood
Well Friday's a funeral and Saturday's a bride
Seth's got a pistol on the registers side
And the goddamn delivery trucks they make too much noise
And we don't get our butter delivered no more
In the neighborhood, in the neighborhood, in the neighborhood
Well Big Mambo's kicking his old grey hound
And the kids can't get ice cream 'cause the market burned down
And the newspaper sleeping bags blow down the lane
And that goddamn flatbed's got me pinned in again
In the neighborhood, in the neighborhood, in the neighborhood
There's a couple Filipino girls giggling by the church
And the window is busted and the landlord ain't home
and Butch joined the army yeah that's where he's been
and the jackhammer's digging up the sidewalks again
In the neighborhood, in the neighborhood, in the neighborhood
In the neighborhood, in the neighborhood, in the neighborhood
10 Swordfishtrombone (03:08)
Well he came home from the war
with a party in his head
and modified Brougham DeVille
and a pair of legs that opened up
like butterfly wings
and a mad dog that wouldn't
sit still
he went and took up with a Salvation Ar
Band girl
who played dirty water
on a swordfishtrombone
he went to sleep at the bottom of
Tenkiller lake
and he said "gee, but it's
great to be home."
Well he came home from the war
with a party in his head
and an idea for a fireworks display
and he knew that he'd be ready with
a stainless steel machete
and a half a pint of Ballentine's
each day
and he holed up in room above a hardware store
cryin' nothing there but Hollywood tears
and he put a spell on some
poor little Crutchfield girl
and stayed like that for 27 years
Well he packed up all his
expectations he lit out for California
with a flyswatter banjo on his knee
with a lucky tiger in his angel hair
and benzedrine for getting there
they found him in a eucalyptus tree
lieutenant got him a canary bird
and shaked her head with every word
and Chesterfielded moonbeams in a song
and he got 20 years for lovin' her
from some Oklahoma governor
said everything this Doughboy
does is wrong
Now some say he's doing
the obituary mambo
and some say he's hanging on the wall
perhaps this yarn's the only thing
that holds this man together
some say he was never here at all
Some say they saw him down in
Birmingham, sleeping in a
boxcar going by
and if you think that you can tell a bigger tale
I swear to God you'd have to tell a lie...
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Other reviews
By R2061478
Tom Waits plays for himself, for the pure and simple joy of making music.
Anyone who has let their Unconscious sing or play deserves to be listened to in silence, not cut down by a gray and conceited critic.
By piccolojedi1991
A very peculiar and beautiful voice, one that manages to be sweet and gritty, yet never boring or annoying.
This album is, in my opinion, the practical demonstration that a CD and the music it has recorded is immortal.
