True Orphans pt 6 (2000-2009) - Final Season Specials

As we enter the new millennium, Waits pushes into new sonic territory with various collaborations, covers and spoken word pieces, including nostalgic re-inventions and some more full-blooded engagement with hip hop music.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Moanin' Parade, album, Gatmo / Tom Waits (2000)

Sideshow Seance, album, Gatmo / Tom Waits (2000)

Helium Reprise, Helium, Tin Hat Trio (2000)

Helium Reprise, 360 OST, Tin Hat Trio / Mike Patton (2011)

I’ll Tell You Why That Is, Beatin' the Heat, Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks / Tom Waits (2000)

The Piano Has Been Drinkin' (Not Me), Beatin' the Heat, Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks / Tom Waits (2000)

The Piano Has Been Drinkin' (Not Me), live at Fur Peace Ranch, Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks / Tom Waits (2011)

2:19, Wicked Grin, John Hammond (2001)

Buzz Fledderjohn, Wicked Grin, John Hammond (2001)

Fannin Street, Wicked Grin, John Hammond (2001)

I Know I've Been Changed, Wicked Grin, John Hammond (2001)

Mahfouz, Witness, Dave Douglas / Tom Waits (2001)

What's He Building In There, Hullaballoo Live intro, Tom Waits via Muse (2001)

Diamond In Your Mind, Don't Give Up On Me, Solomon Burke (2002)

Diamond In Your Mind, Healing The Divide - A Concert For Peace And Reconciliation, Tom Waits / The Kronos Quartet (2007)

Tom Waits and The Ramones at the Tropicana Motel (photo by Brad Elterman)

Go Tell It On The Mountain, Go Tell It On The Mountain, The Blind Boys of Alabama / Tom Waits (2002)

Jesus Gonna Be Here, Spirit of the Century, The Blind Boys of Alabama (2001)

Kitate, The Ride, Los Lobos / Tom Waits / Martha Gonzalez (2004)

Going Fetal, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, The Eels (2004)

Ramblin’ Man, live recording, The House Of Blues, Cleveland OH, w. Hank Williams (13 August 2006)

Ramblin' Man, single, Hank Williams and The Drifting Cowboys (1951)

Spoonful, live recording, The House Of Blues, Cleveland OH, w. Willie Dixon (13 August 2006)

Spoonful, single, Howlin' Wolf (1960)

The Making of Tom Waits' Mule Variations, Tape Op issue 140, Jacob Paul Nielsen (2020)
Morning Hollow, It's A Wonderful Life / Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain, Sparklehorse (2001/2006)

Sideshow Seance, album, Gatmo / Waits (2007)

The Waitress, When Life Gives You Lemons You Paint That Shit Gold, Atmosphere (2008)

Spacious Thoughts, The Spirit Of Apollo, N.A.S.A / Tom Waits / Kool Keith (2009)

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True Orphans pt 5 (1992-1999) - Final Season Specials

Rounding out the second half(?) of the 1990s, Waits explores collaborations with old friends and some unusual covers, as well as the building of experimental musical instruments, including his own mouth. It's a weird one, no doubt about it!

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Brother Can You Spare a Dime, Brother Can You Spare A Dime Day, Tom Waits / w. Yip Harburg / Jay Gorney (1993)

Brother Can You Spare a Dime, radio broadcast, Al Jolson (1943)

Dogwood Cross, Moanin' Parade, Tom Waits / Gatmo / Bart Hopkin / Tom Nunn / Mike Knowlton / Gary Knowlton (2000)

Fever, live recording, Raven Theatre, Healdsburg CA, w. Eddie Cooley / Otis Blackwell [under pseudonym "John Davenport"] (11 August 1996)

Fever, Fever, Little Willie John (1956/1958)

Fever, single, Peggy Lee (1958)

Old Time Feeling, Friends Of Mine, Ramblin' Jack Elliot / Guy Clark / Tom Waits (1998)

That Old Time Feeling, Old No.1, Guy Clark (1975)

World Of Adventure / River Of Men, freeform singing, Fishing With John TV show, Tom Waits / John Lurie (1991/1998)

Fishing With John - Episode 2 - Tom Waits, (1991)

Highway Cafe, Pearls In The Snow - The Songs Of Kinky Friedman, w. Kinky Friedman (1998)

Highway Cafe, Sold American, Kinky Friedman (1975)

Coattails of a Dead Man, Antipop, Primus / Tom Waits (1999)

Intro, Antipop, Primus / Tom Waits (1999)

Do You Know What I Idi Amin, Extremely Cool, Chuck E. Weiss / Tom Waits (1999)

Waits and Primus recording 'On The Road', from Videoplasty, 'Home Video' by Primus (1998)

Babbachichuija, CD insert for the book 'Orbitones, Spoon Harps & Bellowphones', Tom Waits (1999)

Buzz Fledderjohn, Wicked Grin, John Hammond (2001)

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No One Can Forgive Me / Mathie Grove / Silent Night - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards [392/393/394]

A final set of bonus tracks brings us to the end of season 22, with Christa, Martin and Sam enjoying a demo-style blues number, an extended bit of acapella storytelling, and Waits’s duet with a children’s choir. We conclude with some exaggerated masculinity, the Elizabethan-equivalent of Reservoir Dogs, and a bit of Christmas charidee.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
No One Can Forgive Me, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006)

No One Can Forgive Me, Got Love If You Want It, John Hammond (1992)

Mathie Grove, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006)

Matty Groves, Liege And Lief, Fairport Convention (1969)

Matty Groves, In Concert, Joan Baez (1962)

Shady Grove, The Essential Doc Watson, Doc Watson (1973)

Silent Night, S.O.S United, SOS Children’s Villages & Tom Waits (1989)

Lullaby For Grown Ups, S.O.S United, SOS Children’s Villages & Chris Thompson (1989)

Documentary about the making of S.O.S United, via YouTube (1989)
Recording of Silent Night between 14m0s and 17m30s

How To Lose Everything: A Field Guide - animated short by Christa Couture, via Gem CBC (2022)
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Shore Leave - Swordfishtrombones [093]

As their unmanageable egos run rampant, Sam and Martin return with Philippa to discuss the musical soundscape created in this second track from Swordfishtrombones. There are some strange choices in terms of instruments (and furniture) on this song, as well as a direct comparison not only of the song and a later cover, but of Waits's own opinion of the song as well.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Shore Leave, Swordfishtrombones, Tom Waits (1983)

Shore Leave, Wicked Grin, John Hammond (2001)


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