Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Tom Waits Impresses Children

Last week I read an interview with one of my heroes Tom Waits. Because he's a bit of a hero to me, I naturally enjoyed reading his utterances.

The full interview is published by the Guardian's Film and Music section here; it is quite entertaining.

One of the things I took away from it was Waits saying "...making it in music – really making it in music – is if you're an old man going by a schoolyard and you hear children singing your songs, playing jump-rope, or on the swings. That's the ultimate. You're in the culture...", which I found just a tad amusing. The day I hear a kiddie skipping in the playground to Hoist That Rag I'd probably eat my entire hat collection.

See what you think:



In case you fancy following the words as you try to skip in time:

Well I learned the trade
From Piggy Knowles'
Sing Sing Tommy Shay Boys
God used me as hammer boys
To beat his weary drum today
Hoist that rag
The sun is up the world is flat
Damn good address for a rat
The smell of blood
The Drone of flies
You know what to do if
The baby cries
Hoist that rag
Well we stick our fingers in
The ground, heave and
Turn the world around
Smoke is blacking out the sun
At night I pray and clean my gun
The cracked bell rings as
The ghost bird sings and the gods
Go beggin here
So just open fire
As you hit the shore
All is fair in love
And war
Hoist that rag
(Music & Lyrics Tom Waits from the Album Real Gone)

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