"Buzz Fledderjohn"

'Orphans: Brawlers', 2006

Every Tom Waits Song is an email newsletter covering just that, in alphabetical order. Find more info here and sign up to get it sent straight to your inbox:

“What’s He Building?” is one of the highlights of Mule Variations. It’s a spooky song — more of a recitation, really — about a mysterious neighbor.

But is the neighbor actually mysterious, or is the narrator paranoid? 

There’s evidence for both. Many of the things the narrator wonders about seem fairly prosaic: “He has subscriptions to those magazines.” “He's pounding nails into a hardwood floor.” Yet others do seem a bit suspicious: “I heard he was up on the roof last night, signaling with a flashlight.” “There's also enough formaldehyde to choke a horse.”

Today’s song isn’t “What’s He Building?” It’s going to be a long time until we get to the W’s. But I think “Buzz Fledderjohn” exists in the same world. Call it the What’s He Building Expanded Universe.

Here’s how it begins: 

I stood on the roof, of Stuart's old Dodge
to get a better look at the Fledderjohn's lodge
Bait shop, pistols and ammo too
Nothing but books about World War II
Rottweiler, Doberman, a Pinkerton guard
I ain't allowed in Buzz Fledderjohn's yard

That’s right, it’s another song about a mysterious neighbor. And doesn’t the narrator sound like the same person as in “What’s He Building?,” maybe a younger version (the “I ain’t allowed” bit)?

This neighbor, according to Tom at least, was real. Here’s what he said in a 1999 interview with Mojo:

I remember living next door to a family, woman's name was Buzz Fletterjohn. She was, like six feet nine with no fingernails, husband was chief bosun in the navy and I think he was in Guam for a year and a half. She raised four boys, and their backyard was this strange place with carp in the bathtub. I was never allowed in Buzz Fletterjohn's yard, that was the big thing. We actually made up a song about it, but it didn't wind up on the record.

That record was Mule Variations. Perhaps it didn’t wind up on it because the lyrics did feel too similar “What’s He Building?,” which also comes from there.

Musically, though, this blues ballad is its own vibe. “What’s He Building?” sounds as creepy as the lyrics, but “Buzz Fledderjohn” is downright pleasant. You could almost slow-dance to it. It’s also one of the first songs Tom ever recorded outside — so that dog barking at the top was presumably unplanned. 

You know, I guess the dog is one more difference between “Buzz Fledderjohn” and “What’s He Building?” As one memorable line in the latter song has it, “He has no dog, he has no friends / And his lawn is dying.”

Heads up: After next week’s post ranking all the “B” songs, I’m gonna take a few weeks off. Maybe even a month or two. This newsletter works better for me if I’ve built up a backlog of entries. Then, if I’ve got a busy week, I’m not scrambling to get something ready for Sunday. So I’m gonna get a good chunk of the C’s ready before I start rolling ‘em out. While you wait, you can always check out the early songs that ran before you subscribed (here’s a good place to do so). Or, if you’re a Bob Dylan fan, my newsletter about him. See ya soon.