Un profano, un estraneo. Qualcuno che si avvicina ad un universo che non è il suo, cercando di capirlo, comprenderlo e assimilarlo. Compito arduo forse, ma la ricompensa è grande: avere qualcosa di nuovo da amare. Personalmente mi sono sentito così nei riguardi di Tom Waits quando mi avvicinai alla sua musica per la prima volta, essendo i miei ascolti abitudinari molto distanti da quello che il ribelle americano per eccellenza propone ormai da tantissimi anni. Un personaggio discusso, Thomas Alan Waits. Un personaggio che ha fatto della sua vita e della sua musica un'incessante lotta alle illusioni della sua patria, alla solitudine nascosta della sue ipocrita e soffocante realtà. Nato in California nel 1949, è, tra i musicisti del nostro tempo, il genio anticonformista per eccellenza, rappresenta chi si è distaccato da tutto quello che la società che lo circondava poteva offrirgli. Quasi un gioco di parole il suo nome, per uno che in vita non ha mai aspettato nessuno.
Siamo nel 1985: quattordicesimo album nella sua intensissima carriera, "Rain Dogs", pur non essendo il suo miglior album, a mio modesto parere è uno di quelli più rappresentativi del suo genio, perchè riesce a far intravedere rasoterra il suo cuore, quello che è il suo animo tormentato sotto l'apparente serenità emotiva del Blues, sotto le atmosfere cupe della Title-Track, sotto la sottile ironia di "Singapore" o "Cemetery Polka". Semplicemente impossibile non strappare una piccola lacrima ascoltando la sua voce, una sigaretta lunga anni, la voce di tutti i barboni del mondo, la voce di quei cani che, sorpresi dal temporale, non sanno più come tornare a casa... Rain Dogs, appunto. Poco importa se l'emozione che proverete sarà nell'ascoltare il Rock leggermente jezzato di "Big Black Mariah", dove a far da spalla all'ugola di Waits è Keith Richards alla chitarra, o nelle note lente e commoventi della meravigliosa "Time", nella rilassata cadenzatezza di "Gun Street Girl" o ancora in un pezzo da ovazione quale è "Clap Hands".
L'importante sarà emozionarsi e farlo con la consapevolezza di ascoltare un artista immenso, che in un'opera come questa riesce a mescolare tra loro la canzone d'autore, il Blues più classico, il Rock e il Gospel per chinarli ai suoi voleri, alla propaganda del suo poetico verbo. Vorrei continuare a spendere parole su questo lavoro ma credo che sia inutile data la mia riconosciuta non idoneità a descriverlo nel particolare. E' un disco su cui sono state versate fiumi di parole e non mi sento certo in dovere di aggiungere le mie. Per questo non ho voluto nemmeno parlare dei testi, pure poesie da strada; vi sembrerà stupido, ma riportarne qui dei passi di qualcuno di essi sarebbe come fare un torto a tutti gli altri, per questo mi limito a consigliare caldamente la loro lettura. Da ascoltare, assimilare, capire e amare: e ve lo dice un metallaro.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Singapore (02:45)
We sail tonight for Singapore,
we're all as mad as hatters here
I've fallen for a tawny Moor,
took off to the land of Nod
Drank with all the Chinamen,
walked the sewers of Paris
I danced along a colored wind,
dangled from a rope of sand
You must say goodbye to me
We sail tonight for Singapore,
don't fall asleep while you're ashore
Cross your heart and hope to die
when you hear the children cry
Let marrow bone and cleaver choose
while making feet for children shoes
Through the alley, back from hell,
when you hear that steeple bell
You must say goodbye to me
Wipe him down with gasoline
'til his arms are hard and mean
From now on boys this iron boat's your home
So heave away, boys
We sail tonight for Singapore,
take your blankets from the floor
Wash your mouth out by the door,
the whole town's made of iron ore
Every witness turns to steam,
they all become Italian dreams
Fill your pockets up with earth,
get yourself a dollar's worth
Away boys, away boys, heave away
The captain is a one-armed dwarf,
he's throwing dice along the wharf
In the land of the blind
the one-eyed man is king, so take this ring
We sail tonight for Singapore,
we're all as mad as hatters here
I've fallen for a tawny Moor,
took off to the land of Nod
Drank with all the Chinamen,
walked the sewers of Paris
I drank along a colored wind,
I dangled from a rope of sand
You must say goodbye to me
03 Cemetery Polka (01:46)
Uncle Vernon
Uncle Vernon
Independent as a
Hog on ice
He's a big shot down there
At the slaughterhouse
He plays accordion
For Mr. Weiss
Uncle Bittmore and
Uncle William
Made a
Million during
World War II
But they're tightwads
And they're
Cheap skates
And they'll never give a dime to you
Auntie Mame
Has gone
Insane
She lives in
The doorway of an old hotel
And the
Radio's playing opera and
All she ever says
Is go to Hell.
Uncle Violet
Flew as pilot
He said there
Ain't no pretty
Girls in France
Now he runs a
Tiny little
Bookie joint they say
He never
Keeps it in his pants
Uncle Bill
Will never leave a will
And the tumour is as
Big as an egg
He has a mistress
She's a Puerto Rican
And I heard she has
A wooden leg.
Uncle Phil
Can't live without his pills
He has emphysema and
He's almost blind
And we must find out
Where the money is
Get it now
Before he loses his mind
04 Jockey Full of Bourbon (02:47)
Edna Million in a drop dead suit
Dutch Pink on a downtown train
Two-dollar pistol but the gun won't shoot
I'm in the corner on the pouring rain
Sixteen men on a dead man's chest
And I've been drinking from a broken cup
Two pairs of pants and a mohair vest
I'm full of bourbon, I can't stand up
Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, children are alone
Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone
Schiffer broke a bottle on Morgan's head
And I'm stepping on the devil's tail
Across the stripes of a full moon's head
And through the bars of a Cuban jail
Bloody fingers on a purple knife
Flamingo drinking from a cocktail glass
I'm on the lawn with someone else's wife
Admire the view from up on top of the mast
Hey little bird, fly away home
House is on fire, children are alone
Hey little bird, fly away home
House is on fire, your children are alone
I said hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone
Hey little bird, fly away home
House is on fire, your children are alone
Yellow sheets on a Hong Kong bed
Stazybo horn and a Slingerland ride
"To the carnival" is what she said
A hundred dollars makes it dark inside
Edna Million in a drop dead suit
Dutch Pink on a downtown train
Two-dollar pistol but the gun won't shoot
I'm in the corner on the pouring rain
Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone
Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone
09 Time (03:56)
Well, the smart money's on Harlow
and the moon is in the street
the shadow boys are breaking all the laws
and you're east of East St. Louis
and the wind is making speeches
and the rain sounds like a round of applause
Napoleon is weeping in the Carnival saloon
his invisible fiance is in the mirror
the band is going home
it's raining hammers, it's raining nails
yes, it's true, there's nothing left for him down here
And it's Time Time Time
And it's Time Time Time
And it's Time Time Time
that you love
And it's Time Time Time
And they all pretend they're orphans
and their memory's like a train
you can see it getting smaller as it pulls away
and the things you can't remember
tell the things you can't forget that
history puts a saint in every dream
Well she said she'd stick around
until the bandages came off
but these mamas boys just didn't know when to quit
and Matilda asks the sailors are those dreams
or are those prayers
so just close your eyes, son
and this won't hurt a bit
And it's Time Time Time
And it's Time Time Time
And it's Time Time Time
that you love
And it's Time Time Time
Well, things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl
the boys just dive right off the cars
and splash into the street
and when she's on a roll she pulls a razor
from her boot and a thousand
pigeons fall around her feet
so put a candle in the window
and a kiss upon his lips
till the dish outside the window fills with rain
just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart
and pay the fiddler off till I come back again
And it's Time Time Time
And it's Time Time Time
And it's Time Time Time
that you love
And it's Time Time Time
12 9th & Hennepin (01:56)
Well it's 9th and Hennepin
And all the donuts have
Names that sound like prostitutes
And the moon's teeth marks are
On the sky like a tarp thrown over all this
And the broken umbrellas like
Dead birds and the steam
Comes out of the grill like
The whole goddamned town is ready to blow.
And the bricks are all scarred with jailhouse tattoos
And everyone is behaving like dogs.
And the horses are coming down Violin Road
And Dutch is dead on his feet
And the rooms all smell like diesel
And you take on the
Dreams of the ones who have slept here.
And I'm lost in the window
I hide on the stairway
I hang in the curtain
I sleep in your hat
And no one brings anything
Small into a bar around here.
They all started out with bad directions
And the girls behind the counter has a tattooed tear,
One for every year he's away she said, such
A crumbling beauty, but there's
Nothing wrong with her that
$100 won't fix, she has that razor sadness
That only gets worse
With the clang and the thunder of the
Southern Pacific going by
As the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet
Till you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin
And you spill out
Over the side to anyone who'll listen
And I've seen it
All through the yellow windows
Of the evening train.
17 Downtown Train (03:53)
Outside another yellow moon
punched a hole in the nighttime, yes
I climb through the window and down the street
shining like a new dime
the downtown trains are full with all those Brooklyn girls
they try so hard to break out of their little worlds
You wave your hand and they scatter like crows
they have nothing that will ever capture your heart
theyr'e just thorns without the rose
be careful of them in the dark
oh if I was the one
you chose to be your only one
oh baby can't you hear me now
Will I see you tonight
on a downtown train
every night is just the same
you leave me lonely now
I know your window and I know it's late
I know your stairs and your doorway
I walk down your street and past your gate
I stand by the light at the four way
you watch them as they fall
they all have heart attacks
they stay at the carnival
but they'll never win you back
Will I see you tonight
on a downtown train
every night is just the same
you leave me lonely now
Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
where every night is just the same you leave me lonely
will I see you tonight on a downtown train
all of my dreams just fall like rain
all upon a downtown train
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Altre recensioni
Di Claudio ilvascio
«Bhè, in effetti il capolavoro è questo.»
«Ovunque poggerò la mia testa quella sarà la mia casa.»
