Tom Waits Week: Mule Variations and Beyond (1999-present)

Since most of Black Rider was recorded before Bone Machine, this marks Tom’s return to the studio after seven years, the longest break of his career. I’m not sure what caused the break, but it always felt to me like he was picking up the pieces after the primal scream of Bone Machine. But I don’t like to speculate, since the funniest track on the album, “What’s He Building In There?” is about a guy who can’t control his curiosity over his neighbor’s secret doings. “There’s poison underneath the sink, of course / But there’s also enough formaldehyde to choke a horse.” I always thought of that as Tom’s answer to people who pried into his business. His “Pony” is a great song about a man who’s been all over the world, and now just wants to come home, a real change from the traveling vagabonds of his earliest work. He visits the weird side of small-town life with the freakshow barbecue “Filipino Box Spring Hog” and “Chocolate Jesus”, which is indeed about worshipping a Savior made of chocolate. (“It’s best to wrap your Savior up in cellophane”) “Eyeball Kid” tells the story of a character who appeared in several previous songs, a giant sentient eyeball who just wants to be a star. “Picture in a Frame” is, lyrically, the simplest song he’d written in years, which makes it all the more affecting. “Georgia Lee” is the story of the unsolved murder of an African-American girl, with the absolutely wrenching chorus – “Why wasn’t God watching? / Why wasn’t God listening? / Why wasn’t God there for Georgia Lee.” And it all closes with the rousing “Come On Up To the House”, a number that sounds fit for a gospel choir. A friend of mine wants this song played at her funeral, but if I go first, I’m totally stealing her idea.