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A very insightful interview Tom Waits conducted with, well, Tom Waits was recently published online. In it we discover some of the deeper personal meanings behind some of his songs, a list of some of the most influential artists upon his life and why, as well as just the general tomfoolery we've grown to expect from Waits.

I must admit, before meeting Tom, I had heard so many rumors and so much gossip that I was afraid. Frankly, his gambling debts, his animal magnetism, coupled with his disregard for the feelings of others… His elaborate gun collection, his mad shopping sprees, the face lifts, the ski trips, the drug busts and the hundreds of rooms in his home. The tax shelters, the public urination…I was nervous to meet the real man himself. Baggage and all. But I found him to be gentle, intelligent, open, bright, helpful, humorous, brave, audacious, loquacious, clean, and reverent. A Boy Scout, really (and a giant of a man). Join me now for a rare glimpse into the heart of Tom Waits. Remove your shoes and no smoking, please.

Q: List some songs that were beacons for you. A: Again, for now… but if you ask me tomorrow the list would change, of course. Gershwin’s second prelude, “Pathatique Sonata”, “El Paso”, “You’ve Really Got Me” (Kinks), “Solider Boy” (Shirelles), “Lean Back” (Fat Joe), “Night train”, “Come In My Kitchen” (R.J.) “Sad Eyed Lady”, “Rite of Spring Ode to Billy Joe”, “Louie Louie”, “Just a Fool” (Ike and Tina), “Prisoner of Love” (J.B.) “Pitch a Wing Dan Doodlec (all night long)” H. Wolf, “Ringo” (Lorne Green), “Ball and Chain”, “Deportee”, “Strange Fruit”, “Sophisticated Lady”, “Georgia On My Mind”, “Can’t Stop Loving You”, “Just Like A Woman”, “So Lonesome I Could Cry”, “Who’ll Stop The Rain?”, “Moon River”, “Autumn Leaves”, “Danny Boy”, “Dirty Ol’ Town”, “Waltzing Mathilda”, “Train Keeps a Rollin”, “Boris the Spider”, “You’ve Really Got a Hold On Me”, “Red Right Hand”, “All Shook Up”, “Cause Of It All”, “Shenandoah”, “China Pig”, “Summertime”, “Without a Song”, “Auld Ang Syne”, “This is a Man’s World”, “Crawlinking Snake”, “Nassun Dorma”, “Bring it on Home to Me”, “Hound Dog”, “Hello Walls”, “You Win Again”, “Sunday Morn’ Coming Down”, “Almost Blue”, “Pump It Up”, “Greensleeves”, “Just Wanna See His Face” (Stones), “Restless Farewell”, “Fairytale of NY”, “Bring Me A Little Water Sylvie”, “Raglan Road”, “96 Tears”, “In Dreams” (R. Orbison), “Substitute”, “Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues”, Theme from Rawhide, “Same Thing”, “Walk Away Rene”, “For What it’s Worth”, theme from “Once Upon A Time In America”, “Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing”, “Oh Holy Night”, “Mass in E Minor”, “Harlem Shuffle”, “Trouble Man”, “Wade in The Water”, “Empty Bed Blues”, “Havanagila”

Q: Who said, “Half the people in America are just faking it”? A: Robert Mitchem (who actually died in his sleep). I think he was being generous and kind when he said that.

Q What remarkable things have you found in unexpected places? A: 1. Real beauty: oil stains left by cars in a parking lot. 2. Shoe shine stand that looked like thrones in Brazil made of scrap wood. 3. False teeth in pawnshop windows- Reno, NV 4. Great acoustics: in jail. 5. Best food: Airport in Tulsa Oklahoma. 6. Most gift shops: Fatima, Portugal. 8. Most unlikely location for a Chicano crowd: A Morrissey concert. 9. Most poverty: Washington D.C. 10 A homeless man with a beautiful operatic voice singing the word “Bacteria” in an empty dumpster in Chinatown. 11. A Chinese man with a Texan accent in Scotland. 12. Best nights sleep-in a dry riverbed in Arizona. 13. Most people who wear red pants- St. Louis. 14. Most beautiful horses, N.Y.C. 15. A judge in Baltimore MD1890 presided over a trial where a man who was accused of murder and was guilty, and convicted by a jury of his peers… and was let go- when the judge said to him at the end of the trial “You are guilty sir… but I cannot put in jail an innocent man.” You see - the murderer was a Siamese twin. 16. Largest penis (in proportion to its body)- The Barnacle

Q: What’s scary to you? A: 1. A dead man in the backseat of a car with a fly crawling on his eyeball. 2. Turbulence on any airline. 3. Sirens and search lights combined. 4. Gunfire at night in bad neighborhoods. 5. Car motor turning over but not starting, its getting dark and starting to rain. 6. Jail door closing. 7. Going around a sharp curve on the Pacific Coast Highway and the driver of your car has had a heart attack and died, and you’re in the back seat. 8. You are delivering mail and you are confronted with a Doberman with rabies growling low and showing teeth…you have no dog bones and he wants to bite your ass off. 9. In a movie…which wire do you cut to stop the time bomb, the green or the blue. 10. Mc Cain will win. 11. Germans with submachine guns. 12. Officers, in offices, being official. 13. You fell through the ice in the creek and it carried you down stream, and now as you surface you realize there’s a roof of ice.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL INTERVIEW

ALSO,

Tom Waits will be making a select city tour this Summer. Check out his Myspace for show listings.

http://www.myspace.com/tomwaits