Thursday, May 24, 2012

ODDBALL RECORD CHAMP


I shouldn't really have to go into a big long thing here about "Lowdown Monkey Blues," a song by Tom Waits and the Replacements. If you're in the probable majority (here, at least), you have more than a passing interest in both. Regardless, this should be a no-brainer. At minimum, for curiosity value. It was recorded around 1990, and other than that I know little of it's provenance. I particularly like the part right after Paul Westerberg sings "I'm a lowdown, lowdown sack of shit" (at 4:26). You hear Waits chuckle, and it sounds just like a stoner chuckle. I don't really see Waits as a stoner, so it's made all the funnier. (Unfortunately the song is cut off right after that part.)

There's a couple others Waits songs down there. I've always liked "Martha" a song from his first album (1973). It's sung in the character of an older guy calling an ex from decades earlier. As I've gotten older, I found it more and more remarkable that he wrote it in his mid-twenties. He does nail something in it. The last one, "Sea of Love," is a cover of the song you've heard a zillion times. Posted as filler.

You really ought to check out Big Rock Candy Mountain, the blog that posted the Waits/Replacements cut. There's a bunch of good stuff over there; worth getting lost. I'd been meaning to point you towards their last post, about the band catl.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Tom Waits and the Replacements - Lowdown Monkey Blues mp3 at Big Rock Candy Mountain
Tom Waits - Martha mp3 at Gigantic Club
Tom Waits - Sea of Love mp3 at Town Full of Losers

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