Smugly, I can name all three "Diamond" songs and think this is the second best. Burke's version does show the absolute quality of Tom's writing too. I saw Burke sing this at The Manchester Academy 2 many years ago and he really did preach it like we were his congregation.
I wonder if Burke dug into the history of Zerelda? She was Jesse James' mother; I could imagine her never having prayed, before or after the Pinkerton raid. She was pretty awful.
This article does a great disservice failing to mention the truly definitive version Tom Waits released of this song on the Healing the Divide compilation. He sings it live with the Kronos Quartet and it may be one of his great live recordings. Also, in my opinion, is much better than Burke's cover.
As bands would say, the newsletter has gone on "indefinite hiatus." When I first started it, I said it was all about having fun, and if it ever began to feel like work, I wouldn't hesitate to pull the plug. That happened this fall. Listening to Tom Waits should never feel like an obligation! If and when inspiration strikes anew, I'll resume. (That's the thing with those "indefinite hiatuses"…there's always a reunion tour.)
I just posted this under All the World is Green, but I’ll post it here, too:
I saw Woyzeck at BAM. It was one of Wilson’s shorter works (90 minutes?) from the Buchner play about a military man who goes under cruel experiments and becomes a killer. The original was a hyperealist play but would become one of a handful of works that inspired German Expressionism. True inheritors of Buchner include Kroetz, whose choppy, episodic play Farmyard is brutal.
I enjoyed the Wilson-Waits Woyzeck but much prefer The Black Rider.
The night I saw Woyzeck, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, and Jack Black were seated in front of me. As Black and I were dressed the same (black with black leather coat), and were of similar weight and beard, we exchanged an all-knowing nod at each other.
Smugly, I can name all three "Diamond" songs and think this is the second best. Burke's version does show the absolute quality of Tom's writing too. I saw Burke sing this at The Manchester Academy 2 many years ago and he really did preach it like we were his congregation.
I wonder if Burke dug into the history of Zerelda? She was Jesse James' mother; I could imagine her never having prayed, before or after the Pinkerton raid. She was pretty awful.
This article does a great disservice failing to mention the truly definitive version Tom Waits released of this song on the Healing the Divide compilation. He sings it live with the Kronos Quartet and it may be one of his great live recordings. Also, in my opinion, is much better than Burke's cover.
Where oh where has my hit of Tom gone? Sundays have become bleaker than November time.
As bands would say, the newsletter has gone on "indefinite hiatus." When I first started it, I said it was all about having fun, and if it ever began to feel like work, I wouldn't hesitate to pull the plug. That happened this fall. Listening to Tom Waits should never feel like an obligation! If and when inspiration strikes anew, I'll resume. (That's the thing with those "indefinite hiatuses"…there's always a reunion tour.)
I'm a sucker for this version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3X6K48k088
I just posted this under All the World is Green, but I’ll post it here, too:
I saw Woyzeck at BAM. It was one of Wilson’s shorter works (90 minutes?) from the Buchner play about a military man who goes under cruel experiments and becomes a killer. The original was a hyperealist play but would become one of a handful of works that inspired German Expressionism. True inheritors of Buchner include Kroetz, whose choppy, episodic play Farmyard is brutal.
I enjoyed the Wilson-Waits Woyzeck but much prefer The Black Rider.
The night I saw Woyzeck, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, and Jack Black were seated in front of me. As Black and I were dressed the same (black with black leather coat), and were of similar weight and beard, we exchanged an all-knowing nod at each other.