"Cinny's Waltz"

'Foreign Affairs', 1977

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Here’s a passage from Barney Hoskyns’ Lowside of the Road bio that I suspect explains the existence of “Cinny’s Waltz”:

Having spent much of his down time on tour watching forgotten masterpieces of Hollywood film noir on TV, [Tom] told [his producer Bones Howe] he wanted to go one step further than Small Change and create musical settings that were quasi-cinematic. “I once asked Waits what touring was like,” Harvey Kubernik says. “He said, ‘Man, you’re gonna watch a lotta late-night movies.’ We would talk about Dan Duryea and Lee Marvin. A lot of black-and-white films in motel rooms.”

The instrumental “Cinny’s Waltz,” named for Tom’s sister, opens the Foreign Affairs album. It sounds like it comes from a movie soundtrack more than it does a singer-songwriter album. Too much so, I’d argue. It’s pretty, and I guess a decent way to set the scene of the album, but doesn’t amount to much on its own. It would have made more sense as an interstitial track on One from the Heart or Night on Earth.

One fun fact: The trumpet at the end of “Cinny’ Waltz” is played by Jack Sheldon. The jazz musician was also a prominent singer and voice actor. Among his non-trumpet credits: He voices the bill in the Schoolhouse Rock classic “I’m Just a Bill.” 

Not only that, but he reprised his “I’m Just a Bill” voice for parodies on both The Simpsons and Family Guy. 

Sadly, those shows missed their chance to recruit Sheldon for a sure-to-go-viral “Cinny’s Waltz” parody. He passed in 2019.

Next week: Tom Waits goes A.I.