a drunk embrace

detail from "a drunk embrace".
illustration by ib, 1992.

It struck me a good while back - I can't remember precisely when - that I've yet to feature anything by Tom Waits. That in itself could be deemed unforgivable.

I intend to remedy that right fucking here and now. Especially in light of those references to adenoidal mules and Lee Marvin a post back.

Written by Tom with a little help from Kathleen Brennan. Produced by Joe Marquez.

I may even have been listening to this the night I splashed out some ink for the above illustration. I do recall with a certain fuzzy intimacy that I was drunk as a skunk. The first song is as fittingly maudlin as anything Waits had done previously, and really only works if the listener has walked into a door.

It's a bit like the ink sketch itself. I think I'd been flicking through a magazine on contemporary photography at the time, so it really only works on the level that it was incredibly quick to knock off. The marks are interesting but I can't claim credit for the pose.

Sometimes I like it, and other times I think it's shit.

This morning when I logged in to remind myself on what I'd posted last night it was the latter. Blame it on the cold virus, not Cain.

▼ TOM WAITS: LITTLE RAIN (FOR CLYDE) from "Bone Machine" LP (Island) 1992 (US)

▼ TOM WAITS: IN THE COLOSSEUM from "Bone Machine" LP (Island) 1992 (US)

BUY BONE MACHINE