What's Tom Waiting for?

 

Thing is, when it comes to Tom Waits with that raspy macho voice of his, twitchy body language and almost schizophrenic demeanour looking like a friggin drunkard with his head shoved into a parallel dimension only to come back with Jedi-like insight, you just can’t help but feel utterly and irrevocably drawn by it. Drawn in every sense of drawn possible. Just the way a moth is drawn to fire, or a fly to the beauty of a spider web. A mosquito to the that enchanting blue light…Only to get zapped.

If you’re a suicidal maniac that is.

I’ve always had a thing for nutty people. I never knew what could spark the ‘like’ in it other than the fact that I have latent nutty genes, that gets all buzzy when they see their like.

Then there’s the suicidal part too.

If you were one of em extinctees who actually still listen to the song playing on blogs, the one currently playing is Green Grass – Tom Waits.

The thing about that song is, you could listen to it, over and over again, till you actually know the lyrics off by heart, and attribute it to that psychedelic, outlandish and almost inebriated imagery that is so idiosyncratic of Tom Waits and never get what it means, dismissing it for another sappy love song gone off key, but something about that song made me go and look for its interpretation. A pause. It could have been the fact that I had nothing better to do, and oh I’m so glad I didn’t.

It’s not for those with a frail heart. You’ll either relate to it or hate me for making you go through this, for reasons you’ll find out by the end of the post. By all means, get a grip and stop being such a wimp. This is fucking genius. Only if you’re detached.

Now if you’ve listened, before you read this, you’ll know what I mean, so if you haven’t, I want you to listen to it before I say  what it actually means. It’s pretty simple, and so beautiful in how it alters sense in a second, once you get it. It will almost feel awkward the way everything will start to make sense after you know the backdrop. Those are the lyrics, because I know you’re too lazy to actually wait and listen to the fucking thing for 4 minutes of your oh so precious life just so I could prove a point.

“Lay your head where my heart used to be
Hold the earth above me
Lay down in the green grass 
Remember when you loved me
Come closer don't be shy
Stand beneath a rainy sky
The moon is over the rise
Think of me as a train goes by
Clear the thistles and brambles
Whistle 'Didn't He Ramble'
Now there's a bubble of me
And it's floating in thee
Stand in the shade of me 
Things are now made of me
The weather vane will say
It smells like rain today
God took the stars and he tossed them
Can't tell the birds from the blossoms
You'll never be free of me
He'll make a tree from me
Don't say good bye to me
Describe the sky to me  
And if the sky falls, mark my words 
We'll catch mocking birds
Lay your head where my heart used to be
Hold the earth above me
Lay down in the green grass
Remember when you loved me
Remember when you loved me
Remember when you loved me”

Now, read this again, or better yet listen to it again, with the knowledge that it was written from the point of view of someone who’s dead and buried in their grave to their loved one.

Now THAT is what I call revelation. You don’t just listen to this on shuffle. It gets stuck on repeat, on your wmp and your head. It’s one those things that linger, haunt you.

But you wouldn’t know, unless you could relate to it.

Hate me. I don’t care, just listen to it.