Jack White « See The Sun In Wintertime

First off, in the spirit of transparency and full disclosure, I must admit that I was raised on Tom Waits songs. Yes, the singer/songwriter who has given us such great lines as:

Paws his inside P-coat pocket for a welcome twenty-five cents,
And the last bent butt from a package of Kents,
As he dreams of a waitress with Maxwell House eyes
And marmalade thighs with scrambled yellow hair.

the classified section offered no direction
it’s a cold caffeine in a nicotine cloud
now the touch of your fingers
lingers burning in my memory
I’ve been 86ed from your scheme
I’m in a melodramatic nocturnal scene
I’m a refugee from a disconcerted affair
as the lead pipe morning falls
and the waitress calls

Well he came home from the war
with a party in his head
and modified Brougham DeVille
and a pair of legs that opened up
like butterfly wings
and a mad dog that wouldn’t
sit still
he went and took up with a Salvation Army
Band girl
who played dirty water
on a swordfishtrombone
he went to sleep at the bottom of
Tenkiller lake
and he said “gee, but it’s
great to be home.”

He has no friends
But he gets a lot of mail
I’ll bet he spent a little
Time in jail…
I heard he was up on the
Roof last night
Signaling with a flashlight
And what’s that tune he’s
Always whistling…
What’s he building in there?
What’s he building in there?

So it takes a lot to make me go “hmm?” when I’m listening to music these days (okay, so I will also admit to it taking me at least two playings of each Waits album before I totally get all his lyrics 😉 )

What is music these days? Catchy “beats” created on electronic boxes awash with switches and dials where the lyrics leap at you? Real instruments played with heart where the lyrics are just along for the ride? MOR combinations of riffs and lyrics that are so formalistic you can swear they must have come out of a MIT-created hit song generator?

Yes, the current musical scene does appear rather bleak from my lyrical seat in the stands. Is there hope for us after all? For your consideration, I present the following:

“I’m a happy idiot waving at cars”

“When I say nothing I say everything”

“We all sing along but the notes are all wrong”

“Why do you only call me when you’re high?”

“Even Da Vinci couldn’t paint you
And Stephen Hawking can’t explain you
Rosetta Stone could not translate you
I’m at a loss for words, I’m at a loss for words
I couldn’t put it in a novel
I wrote a page, but it was awful”