Tom Waits on Radio Bob

I've loved Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour since it began in 2006 but Tom Waits' occasional contributions since the second series have made it even more of weekly highlight for me.

Waits has often pepped up his interviews by sharing strange and unusual facts so the tapes he sends Bob while not being much of a departure are still often extremely funny.

MP3: Tom Waits - "Body Parts"


MP3: Tom Waits - "The RX Sign"


MP3: Tom Waits - "Passenger Pigeon"


MP3: Tom Waits - "Baker's Dozen"


MP3: Tom Waits - "Jewish Curses"


Related Posts
Songs From the Lowside of the Road - Barney Hoskyn's new Waits biog
Carnival Saloon: Tom Waits - all my posts that mention Tom, including cover version MP3s
Radio Bob Returns - welcoming back series two
Carnival Saloon: Bob Dylan - every Bob post here

Related Links
Annotated Theme Time - essential reading for TTRH obsessives
Theme Time Radio Hour on the BBC
Theme Time Radio Hour on XM radio
Unofficial Theme Time Radio Hour Archive - every episode for download

I Wish I Was in New Orleans

Photo © bcostin

Every year on 24 February I think back to 1996 when I was in New Orleans for Mardi Gras with my friends Jeff and James. Jeff was the perfect person to guide two Gap year kids around the Crescent City. He'd lived there for years as a student, policeman, social worker and cook at the legendary club Tipitina's.

I remember being impressed that after our 14 hour drive from Charleston, SC, where we worked together, he swiftly found us a backstreet parking spot and led us immediately to a parade that had just begun.

Other memories: Zapps crisps, learning how to pronounce Tchoupitoulas, my first oyster po-boy at Uglesich's, going to WWOZ DJ the Governor's block party and later hearing his two-hour tribute to Fats Domino, drinking Dixie beer and eating Popeye's chicken, paying tribute to the infamous Chris Owens and catching a Zulu coconut.

I may have imagined this but I vaguely remember Jeff telling me that he served Professor Longhair his last meal at Tipitina's the night he died in 1980. I'm no expert but no one seems to embody the spirit of New Orleans' melting-pot music as much as Fess. These two tracks are from his 1978 concert at the New London Theatre - just the Prof at a grand piano accompanied by conga player Alfred 'Uganda' Roberts.

MP3: Professor Longhair - Go to Mardi Gras


MP3: Professor Longhair - Tipitina


More Fess: official site | Amazon | 7digital

A few years ago I asked Jeff to send me some recipes from his Tipitina days. After tips on how to make shrimp and andouille creole and a delicious crawfish étouffée he ended his email with this.

"It is Sam the bartender's recipe for sangria. It tastes like Kool-Aid going down, but drink enough and the next morning and you won't remember anything from the night before".

22½ shots (ounces) brandy
7½ shots grenadine
7½ shots sour mix
52½ shots orange juice
7½ shots soda water
2½ gallons burgundy wine

mix together in large container and refrigerate

If you're lucky enough to be in New Orleans this week have wonderful time. If not I hope these songs and two gallons of booze help conjure up what an incredible experience Mardi Gras is.

Related Links
Mardi Gras
Tipitina's Foundation

State Songs

A Musical Tour Around the United States



In January I started a series of posts called State Songs with six tracks about Alabama. I am taking a hugely enjoyable trip through all 50 states in alphabetical order trying to add at least one more each week.

I'll be updating this page with links to every state I 'visit' on my musical tour with a list of the artists featured. You'll have to read the posts to hear which particular tracks I've chosen.

Feel free to suggest songs I've omitted or ones that I shouldn't miss out in future posts. We'll be in Wyoming by Christmas!

Maine
The Mountain Goats, Doris Day, REM, Okkervil River, Blue Oyster Cult

Louisiana
Lucinda Williams, Guy Clark, The Be Good Tanyas, Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart, Emmylou Harris, Lightnin' Hopkins, Waylon Jennings

Kentucky
Freakwater, The Stanley Brothers, The Steeldrivers, Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, John Prine

Kansas
The Jayhawks, Donna Fargo, The Wedding Present, Glen Campbell

Iowa
Eleni Mandell, The Jayhawks, Tom T Hall, Joni Mitchell,

Indiana
The Jackson 5, Phil Ochs, The Bottle Rockets, Lyle Lovett

Illinois
Frank Zappa, Wilco, Tom Waits, The Handsome Family, Sufjan Stevens, Three Bits of Rhythm

Idaho
The Divine Comedy, Yonder Mountain String Band, B-52s, Rosalie Sorrels

Hawaii
Elvis Presley, Andy Iona, Bob Brozman, Roy Rogers, John Prine, The Beach Boys, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Ventures, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, R Crumb, Henry Hall

Georgia
Ray Charles, Julie London, Justin Townes Earle, Webb Pierce, Uncle Tupelo, Sam Bush, Blind Willie McTell

Florida
Vic Chesnutt, Muddy Waters, Elvis Presley

District of Columbia
Magnetic Fields, The Staple Singers, Leadbelly, George Clinton & Parliament

Delaware
Perry Como, Dolly Parton, The Duhks

Connecticut
Bing Crosby & Judy Garland, Carly Simon, Ben Folds, Jim Douglas

Colorado
John Denver, Johnny Paycheck, Willie Nelson, Jim & Jesse, Neil Young, Bob Dylan

California
Tom Waits, The Arlenes, Billy Bragg & Wilco, Marlena Shaw, Virgil Shaw, Jolie Holland, Guy Clark

Arkansas
The New Lost City Ramblers, Hayes Carll, Marilyn Monroe & Jane Russell, REM, Bruce Springsteen

Arizona
Wilco, Glen Campbell, The DeZurik Sisters, Dimitri Tiomkin and Public Enemy

Alaska
Michelle Shocked, Johnny Cash, Port O'Brien, Dan Bern, The Velvet Underground

Alabama
Cat Power, Billie Holiday, Jim White, Joan Baez, Shelby Lynne and, of course, Lynryd Skynyrd

Related Links - I'm not the only person to think of this...
50 Songs for 50 States - Laura Barton's musical road trip in the Guardian
Star Maker Machine - excellent, theme based, communal MP3 blog
Ceci N'est Pas un Blog - eccentric selection of state songs

State Songs #7: Connecticut

When I think of Connecticut my mind is completely blank. It holds no associations for me whatsoever so I knew this selection would be a challenge. I'd not heard of any of these tracks until last week so prepare yourself for the most random selection of songs on the journey so far.

MP3: Bing Crosby & Judy Garland - Connecticut

Let's start off with something classy: Bing and Judy extolling the delights of a state that's a "paradise for a girl and boy" and where "every Yale guy is male guy through and through". Also notable but not mentioned in the song is that Connecticut is home to the oldest hamburger restaurant in the USA.
More Bing: official site | Amazon | 7digital
More Judy: official site | Amazon | 7digital

MP3: Jim Douglas - A Peddler from Connecticut

I discovered this oddity via the brilliant Spotify. It's from a 1979 Folkways album called a A Peddler's Pack: A Collection of Early Colonial Songs. As the liner notes say, "Whenever [the peddler] passed a farm or came to a town green he would advertise his merchandise with a song such as this one." America's earliest sales jingle?
More Jim Douglas: Amazon

MP3: Carly Simon - The Wives Are in Connecticut

We're in Desperate Housewives/Mad Men territory here with philandering fellas in the Big Apple cheating on their suburban wives who might also be enjoying a bit on the side. Carly enlisted eight producers to make her 1985 Spoiled Girl album including Don Was and Phil Ramone. It was a flop.
More Carly Simon: official site | Amazon | 7digital

MP3: Ben Folds - Kylie From Connecticut

I'm not too familiar with Ben Folds. I saw him in the 6 Music Hub once and he seemed like an amusing bloke. This track,from last year's Way to Normal, is another that that seems to conjure up a suburban world of secrets and illicit one night stands.
More Ben Folds: official site | Amazon | 7digital

There you have it. An odd bunch of songs I agree. Next time we're off to Delaware, the second smallest state in the Union and birth place of the actor Judge Reinhold.

Previous Posts
State Songs #1: Alabama - Cat Power, Billie Holiday, Jim White, Joan Baez, Shelby Lynne and, of course, Lynryd Skynyrd.
State Songs #2: Alaska - Michelle Shocked, Johnny Cash, Port O'Brien, Dan Bern, The Velvet Underground
State Songs #3: Arizona - Wilco, Glen Campbell, The DeZurik Sisters, Dimitri Tiomkin and Public Enemy
State Songs #4: Arkansas - The New Lost City Ramblers, Hayes Carll, Marilyn Monroe & Jane Russell, REM, Bruce Springsteen
State Songs #5: California - Tom Waits, The Arlenes, Billy Bragg & Wilco, Marlena Shaw, Virgil Shaw, Jolie Holland, Guy Clark
State Songs #6: Colorado - John Denver, Johnny Paycheck, Willie Nelson, Jim & Jesse, Neil Young, Bob Dylan

Songs from the Lowside of the Road

There's never been a solid, revealing and well-written book about Tom Waits, so Barney Hoskyns' superb new biography, Lowside of the Road, is a tome I'd been waiting to read for more than a decade and devoured in a day.

The challenge facing anyone wanting to delve into Tom Waits' life and work is that he and his wife Kathleen Brennan have built a "wall of inaccessibility" around themselves and their close associates. The book has an appendix of emails the author received from potential interviewees happy to speak to him until the Waits/Brennan camp effectively gagged them and in the prologue Hoskyns asks himself whether he "has the right" to probe into Waits' life.

Thankfully Hoskyns' pressed on and the resulting 600 pages is as illuminating, amusing and heartening a portrait of a musician you could hope to read. Naturally it's rich with anecdotes. These are some I enjoyed alongside musical accompaniment.

MP3: Tom Waits - Kentucky Avenue

"Childhood is very important to me a a writer" quotes Hoskyns and that's rarely more evident than in this track. Kentucky Avenue is the street in Whittier, California where Waits grew up. The song, from Blue Valentine, namechecks a number of Waits' childhood associates. The leg braces which Waits says he'll cut off with a hacksaw belonged to his best friend Kipper who had polio. The steak knife wielding Mrs Storm (a real person) also crops up in Spidey's Wild Ride from Orphans.

MP3: Guy Clark - Cold Dog Soup

Waits moved from Whittier to San Diego after his dad, Frank, left the family home. Here he became a fixture of the local folk music scene when he worked as the doorman at the Heritage coffee shop in Mission Beach. Guy Clark's song recalls Waits "in a pork-pie hat and silver skates/juggling three collection plates".

MP3: Frank Zappa - Stinkfoot

In the 70s Tom Waits shared the same manager as Frank Zappa - the infamous Herb Cohen (who wouldn't talk to Hoskyns unless the author brought a tube of Bath Olivers for him from London). Waits supported Zappa on a few tours and had to put up with incredibly hostile audiences who only wanted to see the Mothers of Invention. Listen to Stinkfoot and you'll hear Frank's gentle poke at TW.

MP3 Tom Waits - Singapore

One of the joys of Hoskyns' book for me was getting a glimpse into how the albums were made, especially those with weird instrumentation. On Singapore, the opener to Rain Dogs, percussionist Michael Blair is whacking a chest drawers. Waits recalled that, "On the last bar of the song the whole piece of furniture collapsed and there was nothing left of it. That's what I think of when I hear that song. I see the pile of wood and it excites me."

There are many more stories to thrill and delight any Tom Waits fan in the book. I notice that this week's Time Out has even pilfered one as it recalls that Waits drank in the Island Queen in Islington on his first visit to London in 1976. Good choice Tom.

Related Posts
Stalking Tom Waits
Waiting For Waits
Tom Waits in Paris
Carnival Saloon: Tom Waits - all my posts that mention Tom, including cover version MP3s

Related Links
Amazon: Lowside of the Road - buy the book
Faber & Faber: Lowside of the Road - publisher's info
The Times - review of the book
The Observer - review of the book

State Songs #5: California

I could post dozens of songs just about Los Angeles or San Francisco before even thinking about the rest of the state. Instead these are just a handful of my favourite California songs. By all means point out my omissions in the comments below and I'll tell you if it's a song I'd already thought of.

MP3: Tom Waits - Goin' Out West

The male version of Naomi Watts' character in Mulholland Drive. There's no way that this ex-con turned wannabe actor is ever going to make it in Hollywood whether he changes his name to Hannibal or Rex. Incidentally, you may remember Tony Franciosa from such films as Death Wish II and Across 110th Street.
More Tom Waits: Carnival Saloon | MySpace | Amazon | 7digital

MP3: The Arlenes - Going to California

Shortly after I moved to the capital 10 years ago Big Steve Arlene introduced me to North London's twang scene via his and Alan Tyler's still-going-strong Sunday afternoon club Come Down And Meet the Folks. This song was written shortly before the Family Arlene upped sticks from Camden to California. They've since moved to Nashville.
More Arlenes: official site | Amazon

MP3: Billy Bragg & Wilco - California Stars (live on Letterman)

This was the first dance at our wedding last year, beautifully played, pedal steel and all, by our friends Two Fingers of Firewater. Some trivia: The High Desert Mavericks, a minor league baseball team in Adelanto, California used the song as their theme during the 2001 season.
More Bragg & Wilco: woodyguthrie.org | Amazon | 7digital

MP3: Marlena Shaw - California Soul

I'm trying to up the soul quotient at the Carnival Saloon and Joanne suggested this track as we rifled through our CDs looking for state songs. I feel bad for not including Joni Mitchell's California for her too but we'll hear from Joni once we get to Iowa.
More Marlena: MySpace | Amazon | 7digital

MP3: Virgil Shaw - Back to Eureka

I bought Virgil Shaw's cracking album Quad Cities on a trip to Northern California so this song reminds me of Highway 1, the redwoods and Anchor Steam beer. I think I may have bought a Polaroid camera in Eureka.
More Virgil Shaw: MySpace | Amazon

MP3: Jolie Holland - Goodbye California

There are some people for whom excellent weather, an abundance of fruit and the Terminator as your state's governor aren't things to stick around for. Perhaps Jolie Holland is among their number.
More Jolie Holland: | MySpace |Amazon 7digital

MP3: Guy Clark - LA Freeway

Someone else who wanted an exit from the Golden State. Guy Clark does a wonderful intro to this on stage. Apparently the final straw was when the landlord he "couldn't stand" chopped down the fruit tree outside the Clarks' window.
More Guy Clark: official site | Amazon | 7digital

Next time you'll need to prepare for possible altitude sickness - we're heading for the mountains of Colorado.

Related Posts
State Songs #1: Alabama - Cat Power, Billie Holiday, Jim White, Joan Baez, Shelby Lynne and, of course, Lynryd Skynyrd.
State Songs #2: Alaska - Michelle Shocked, Johnny Cash, Port O'Brien, Dan Bern, The Velvet Underground
State Songs #3: Arizona - Wilco, Glen Campbell, The DeZurik Sisters, Dimitri Tiomkin and Public Enemy
State Songs #4: Arkansas - The New Lost City Ramblers, Hayes Carll, Marilyn Monroe & Jane Russell, REM, Bruce Springsteen