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È il 1999 quando esce questo disco. L'ultimo album di studio di Tom Waits era stato "Bone Machine" del 1992 (escludendo la colonna sonora teatrale "The Black Rider"). "Mule Variations" è un capolavoro assoluto, contiene 16 pezzi dal suono 'sporco e sbilenco' ma tutti animati da una forza musicale irresistibile.
"Big In Japan" apre l'album, è un pezzo rock molto ritmato, scandito da solidi riff di chitarra elettrica, possenti percussioni e accompagnato dalla rugginosa e qui quasi demoniaca voce di Waits. "Lowside Of The Road" la seconda traccia dell'album rappresenta a pieno il neo-realismo musicale dell'autore: una descrizione di uno spaccato metropolitano, in un tempo e in un luogo non precisati, il tutto avvolto in un'atmosfera spaventosa, assolutamente inquietante.
Il ritmo è lentissimo e sembra avanzare a fatica, la voce di Waits si trascina faticosamente graffiando gli strambi e sporchi suoni prodotti dagli strumenti, di tipologia assolutamente non convenzionale.
"Hold On" è lo splendido singolo dell'album, una ballata che sembra provenire dai paesaggi rurali delle campagne americane: una melodia in 'bianco e nero' che suona romantica e antica, gentile ed allo stesso tempo sporca di fango. "Get Behind The Mule" è un pezzo country-blues di una semplicità e forza travolgente, una canzone blues old-style che profuma e 'puzza' della parte più selvatica della campagna statunitense. "House Where Nobady Lives" apre il cuore in due, una stupenda ballata strappalacrime, su un argomento che potrebbe lasciare indifferenti molti, ma non il 'vecchio Tom'. Trattasi di una casa abbandonata dalla famiglia abitante, lasciata sommergere dalle erbacce che vi crescono inesorabilmente e dai racconti della gente che la vede a volte come casa maledetta ed infestata da qualche cosa di non naturale. Una casa abbandonata è una casa a cui è stato strappato via il cuore, cosi racconta Tom:
"...I've all of life's treasures and they're fine and they're good they remind me that houses are just made of wood what makes a house grand ain't the roof or the doors if there's love in a house it's a palace for sure without love. . . it ain't nothing but a house a house where nobody lives. . . "
"Cold Water" è un bluesaccio da bettola malfamata, con semplici ma efficaci schitarrate e suono molto energico. Questo pezzo riprende un tema molto caro a Waits già da tempo immemore, quello dei reietti della società, gli emarginati, gli sconfitti, i senza tetto o come meglio fa capire l'autore con un termine azzeccatissimo i 'Rain Dogs'. Coloro che presi a calci e sbattuti ai margini delle strade da una società che crudelmente ed impetuosamente avanza, sono rimasti travolti e restano sbattuti sul suolo americano. Una canzone che può essere considerata come il prosieguo di suoi vecchi pezzi che ricorda molto quali "Jin Soaked Boy" e "Murder In The Red Barn" per citarne due. "Pony" è l'epilogo del ritorno verso casa di un fantastico, lento e lungo viaggio, a cavalcioni di un Pony. La ottava traccia "What's He Building?" non è una canzone, bensì un racconto del terrore su di un misterioso vicino di casa. Pezzo che grazie alla voce rauca e 'underground' dell'autore diventa particolarmente inquietante. Pochi gli strumenti, molti i rumori sinistri che accompagnano la voce di Waits. Una traccia horror ed indubbiamente sporca di sangue. Vengono riprese le atmosfere metropolitane e cupe della seconda traccia in "Black Market Baby": uno slow-blues da pelle d'oca.
Molto riuscita anche l'autobiografica "Eyeball Kid", incalzante, ritmatissima e ricca di percussioni bellissime. In "Picture In A Frame" ritroviamo un Waits seduto al piano che ci esegue una bellissima e romantica canzone, con suoni anche qui estremamente semplici ed efficaci. "Chocolate Jesus" è un blues, dall'irresistibile e blasfema ironia, dal ritmo lento e molto orecchiabile.
La traccia che mi lascia sempre a bocca aperta, la mia preferita in assoluto di questo album e forse dell'intera discografia di Waits è la tredicesima: "Georgia Lee". Qui troviamo ancora Tom al piano che ci narra, la terrificante storia della morte di una bambina in una cittadina americana non precisata, il cui corpo fu ritrovato fra i gelati rovi di un cespuglio non lontano da casa sua un inverno. Di fronte alla crudezza di tale avvenimento Waits coglie l'occasione per interrogarsi sulla possibile non-esistenza di alcun Dio. Da quest'ultima: "Why wasn't God watching? Why wasn't God listening? Why wasn't God there for Georgia Lee?" Una canzone colossale, mi lascia sempre esterrefatto.
"Filipino Box Spring Hog" è uno stravagante pezzaccio duro ed energico, che piace subito. Dopo la durezza delle note della precedente traccio l'animo si scalda nuovamente alle magiche note al piano di "Take It With Me", il romanticismo semplice e diretto di Waits si sprigiona qui in tutta la sua più profonda essenza:
"...In a land there's a town and in that town there's a house and in that house there's a woman and in that woman there's a heart I love I'm gonna take it with me when I go."
Epocale e non a caso conclusiva "Come On Up To The House". Trascendentale pezzo, con fiati e possenti percussioni, sul passaggio dalla vita terrena all'ignoto, rappresentato qui dall'autore da una misteriosa casa... da qui:
"...Come on up to the house Come on up to the house the world is not my home I'm just a passin thru Come on up to the house..."
Waits ha nuovamente fatto centro e produce alla soglia dei 50 anni uno dei suoi dischi più belli, un capolavoro che rimarrà per sempre nella storia della musica che non diventerà mai fuori moda (perchè mai lo è stato) e che non smetterà mai di far parlare di se, di emozionare chi lo ascolta e di lasciargli un segno indelebile.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Big in Japan (04:05)
I got the style but not the grace
I got the clothes but not the face
I got the bread but not the butter
I got the winda but not the shutter
But I'm big in Japan I'm big in Japan But heh I'm big in Japan
I got the house but not the deed
I got the horn but not the reed
I got the cards but not the luck
I got the wheel but not the truck
But heh I'm big in Japan I'm big in Japan I'm big in Japan
I got the moon I got the cheese I got the whole damn nation
On its knees I got the rooster I got the crow
I got the ebb I got the flow
I got the powder but not the gun
I got the dog but not the bun
I got the clouds but not the sky
I got the stripes but not the tie
But heh I'm big in Japan I'm big in Japan I'm big in Japan
Heh ho they love the way I do it
Heh ho there's really nothing to it
I got the moon I got the cheese
I got the whole damn nation on their knees
I got the rooster I got the crow
I got the ebb I got the flow
I got the sizzle but not the steak
I got the boat but not the lake
I got the sheets but not the bed
I got the jam but not the bread
But heh I'm big in Japan I'm big in Japan I'm big in Japan
I'm big in Japan, I'm big in Japan
03 Hold On (05:33)
They hung a sign up in our town
"If you live it up, you won't live it down"
So she left Monte Rio, son
Just like a bullet leaves a gun
With her charcoal eyes and Monroe hips
She went and took that California trip
Oh, the moon was gold, her hair like wind
Said, 'Don't look back, just come on, Jim'
Oh, you got to hold on, hold on
You gotta hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right here
You gotta hold on
Well, he gave her a dimestore watch
And a ring made from a spoon
Everyone's looking for someone to blame
When you share my bed, you share my name
Well, go ahead and call the cops
You don't meet nice girls in coffee shops
She said, 'Baby, I still love you'
Sometimes there's nothin' left to do
Oh, but you got to hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
And take my hand, I'm standing right here
You gotta hold on
Well, God bless your crooked little heart
St. Louis got the best of me
I miss your broken China voice
How I wish you were still here with me
Oh, you build it up, you wreck it down
Then you burn your mansion to the ground
Oh, there's nothing left to keep you here
But when you're falling behind in this big blue world
Oh, you've got to hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right here
You gotta hold on
Down by the Riverside motel
It's 10 below and falling
By a 99 cent store
She closed her eyes and started swaying
But it's so hard to dance that way
When it's cold and there's no music
Oh, your old hometown's so far away
But inside your head there's a record that's playing
A song called 'Hold On', hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right there
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right there
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
And take my hand, I'm standing right here
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
And take my hand, I'm standing right here
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on, baby
You gotta hold on, girl
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
04 Get Behind the Mule (06:52)
Molly be damned smote Jimmy the Harp
With a horrid little pistol and a lariat
She's goin to the bottom
And she's goin down the drain
Said she wasn't big enough to carry it
She got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
She got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
She got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
She got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
Choppity chop goes the axe in the woods
You gotta meet me by the fall down tree
Shovel of dirt upon a coffin lid
And I know they'll come lookin for me boys
And I know they'll come a-lookin for me
Got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
Got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
Got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
Got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
Big Jack Earl was 8'1
He stood in the road and he cried
He couldn't make her love him
Couldn't make her stay
But tell the good Lord that he tried
(Chorus)
Dusty trail from Atchison to Placerville
On the wreck of the Weaverville stage
Beaula fired on Beatty for a lemonade
I was stirring my brandy with a nail boys
Stirring my brandy with a nail
(Chorus)
Well the rampaging sons of the widow James
Jack the cutter and the pock marked kid
Had to stand naked at the bottom
Of the cross
And tell the good lord what they did
Tell the good lord what they did
(Chorus)
Punctuated birds on the power line
In a Studebaker with the Birdie Joe Joaks
I'm diggin all the way to China
With a silver spoon
While the hangman fumbles with the noose, boys
The hangman fumbles with the noose
(Chorus)
Pin your ear to the wisdom post
Pin your eye to the line
Never let the weeds get higher
Than the garden
Always keep a sapphire in your mind
Always keep a diamond in your mind
(Chorus)
07 Pony (04:32)
I've seen it all, boys --
I've been all over.
Been everywhere in the whole wide world.
I rode the high line with ol' Blind Darby.
I danced real slow with Ida Jane.
I was full of wonder when I left Murfreesboro --
Now I am full of hollow on Maxwell street.
And I hope my pony
I hope my pony
I hope my pony
Knows the way back home.
I walked from Nachez to Hushpukena --
I built a fire by the side of the road.
I worked for nothing in a Belzoni saw mill.
I caught a blind out on the B and O
Talullah's friendly Belzoni ain't so
A 44'll get you 99.
And I hope my pony
I hope my pony
I hope my pony
Knows the way back home.
I run my race with burnt face Jake --
Gave him a Manzanita cross.
I lived on nothing but dreams and train smoke
Somehow my watch and chain got lost.
I wish I was home in Evelyn's kitchen
With old Gyp curled around my feet.
And I hope my pony
I hope my pony
I hope my pony
Knows the way back home.
10 Eyeball Kid (04:26)
Well Zenora Bariella
And Coriander Pyle
They had sixteen children
In the usual style
They had a curio museum
And they had no guile
All they ever wanted
Was a show biz child
So on the 7th of Dec. 1949
They got what
They'd been wishing for
All of the time
He grew up in a trailer
By the time he was 9
He rolled off to join
The circus... telling fortunes
On the side
Hail Hail, the Eyeball kid
Well the first time I saw him
Was a Saigon jail
Cost me 27 dollars
Just to go his bail
I said your name will
Be in lights...
And that's no doubt
But you got to have
A manager that's what
It's all about
People would point
People would stare
I'll always be here
To protect you and to
Cut down on the glare
I know you can't speak
I know you can't sign
So cry right here on
The dotted line
Hail Hail, the Eyeball kid
Well he was born with out a body
Not even a brow
I made the kid a promise
I made the kid a vow
He's not conventionally handsome
He'll never be tall
He said "all you got to do is
Book me into Carnegie Hall"
Hail Hail, the Eyeball kid
He's just a little bitty thing
He's just a little guy
But women go crazy
For the big blue eye
They say how does he
Dream? How does he think
When he can't ever speak
And he can't ever blink?
I said Hail Hail, the Eyeball kid
Hail Hail, the Eyeball kid
Give it up and throw me down
A couple of quic
Everybody wants to see
The Eyeball kid
How dies he dream
How does he think
When he can't even speak
And he can't even blink
We are all lost in the
Wilderness we're as
Blind as can be
He came down to teach us
How to really see
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
So give it up and throw
Me down a couple of quid
Everybody wants to see
The Eyeball kid
Eyeball kid
Eyeball kid
11 Picture in a Frame (03:39)
Ever since I put your picture.
Sun come up it was blue and gold
Sun come up it was blue and gold
Sun come up it was blue and gold
Ever since I put your picture
In a frame.
I come calling in my Sunday best
I come calling in my Sunday best
I come calling in my Sunday best
Every since I put your picture
In a frame
I'm gonna love you
Till the wheels come off
Oh yeah
I love you baby and I always will
I love you baby and I always will
I love you baby and I always will
Ever since I put your picture
In a frame
14 Filipino Box Spring Hog (03:09)
Well I hung on to Mary's stump
I danced with a soldier's glee
With a rum soaked crook
And a big fat laugh
I spent my last dollar on thee
I saw Bill Bones, gave him a yell
Kehoe spiked the nog
With a chain link fence
And a scrap iron jaw
Cookin up a Filipino Box Spring hog
Spider rolled in from
Hollister Burn
With a one-eyed stolen Mare
Donned himself with chicken fat
Sawin on a jaw bone violin there
Kathleen was sittin down
In little reds recovery room
In her criminal underwear bra
I was naked to the waist
With my fierce black hound
And I'm cookin up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Cookin up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Cookin up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Dig a big pit in a dirt alley road
Fill it with madrone and bay
Stinks like hell
Don't give a hoot what they say
Slap that hog
Gotta roll em over twice
Baste him with a sweeping broom
You gotta swat them flies
And chain up the dogs
Cookin up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Cookin up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Rattle snake piccata with grapes and figs
Old brown Betty with a yellow wig
Tain't the mince meat filagree
And it ain't the turkey neck stew
And it ain't them bruleed
Okra seeds though she
Made them especially for you
Worse won a prize for her
Bottom black pie
The beans got to thrown to the dogs
Jaheseus Christ I can always
Make room when they're
Cookin up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Cookin up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Cookin up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
17 Buzz Fledderjohn (04:14)
I stood on the roof, stood toward dark
To get a better look at the Fledderjohns’ lawn
Big sharp pistols, ammo too
Nothing but books about World War II
Rottweiler, Dobermann, a Pinkerton guard
I ain’t allowed in Buzz Fledderjohn’s yard
I ain’t allowed
No, I ain’t allowed
I said, I ain’t allowed in Buzz Fledderjohn’s yard
I seen a python swallowing a Dobermann whole
Piranhas swimming in a mixing bowl
Buzz Fledderjohn
Paper’s full of stabbings, the sky’s full of crows
She’s singing in Italian while she’s hanging out her clothes
Carp in the bathtub and it’s raining real hard
I ain’t allowed in Buzz Fledderjohn’s yard
I said that I ain’t allowed
No, I ain’t allowed
No, I ain’t allowed in Buzz Fledderjohn’s yard.
Well, the sailor’s ringing doorbells, the sinner’s in the pew
Weathervane’s squeaking to the west
I seen the cliffs of Dover and the deepest ocean blue
One thing in the world I can’t recommend to you
Because I ain’t allowed
I said, I ain’t allowed
No, I ain’t allowed in Buzz Fledderjohn’s yard
I said, I ain’t allowed
No, I ain’t allowed
I ain’t allowed in Buzz Fledderjohn’s yard
I ain’t allowed
I ain’t allowed
I said, I ain’t allowed in Buzz Fledderjohn’s yard
Music Lyrics by: Tom Waits
Official release: “Hold On”, Anti Inc., 1999
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Altre recensioni
Di AR (Anonima Recensori)
Non ho sposato un uomo... ho sposato un mulo.
Tom pi ù calmo e riflessivo ma di grande impatto fin dal primo ascolto.
Di Morgan
Con la sua voce dissacrante e rilassante allo stesso tempo, mi immagino di stare in mille mondi.
"Mule Variations" è un insieme di brani violenti e romantici, la sua voce aspra ed aggressiva in "Big in Japan" e calma ed accogliente in "Hold On".
Di blechtrommel
Un mulo che, da qualche parte nell’immensa campagna americana, si siede su una seggiola di legno mezza scassata e registra un disco; cosi, perché gli va.
Quando finisce “Come On Up To The House” e tutto è finito, lui è lì, col cappello in mano, fra i campi, mentre tutto si sta oscurando, come in quei vecchi film.
