The Laughing Heart

Your life is your life
Don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
Be on the watch.
There are ways out.
There is a light somewhere.
It may not be much light but
It beats the darkness.
Be on the watch.
The gods will offer you chances.
Know them.
Take them.
You can’t beat death but
You can beat death in life, sometimes.
And the more often you learn to do it,
The more light there will be.
Your life is your life.
Know it while you have it.
You are marvelous
The gods wait to delight
In you.

Charles Bukowski

Y entonces veo el austero y potente nuevo vídeo de Tom Waits y me reconozco en él, me veo perfectamente bailando como Tom, como el bicho que soy, que somos, sintiendo la música y, más que cantando, aullando como hace el señor Waits:

Now Mr. Jagger and Mr. Richards
I will scratch where I’ve been itching
Now Mr. Jagger and Mr. Richards
I will scratch where I’ve been itching

Pocas cosas me gustan tan poco como el provincianismo, que asocio a la ignorancia, la estrechez de miras y un cierto complejo de inferioridad (hala, eso pa' empezar). Y menos me gusta aún descubrirlo en mí, como me pasa con bastante frecuencia, sobre todo cuando leo o escucho cosas sobre Estados Unidos.

El ejemplo más reciente (de hecho, he dejado a medias el podcast para escribir esto) es una una gilipollez (lo cual dice bastante de mí), pero en cierta parte de mi kabeza resulta inconcebible que alguien le haga una entrevista de tú a tú a Tom Waits, como la que estaba escuchando hace un momento, de Terry Gross en el programa Fresh Air, de la NPR.

Para mí, Waits pertenece a un territorio mítico, onírico, irreal; no concibo que hace un par de días estuviese hablando con Gross tan tranquilamente sobre su último disco (acabo de enterarme, por ejemplo, de que el sonido que se escucha al principio de la canción Kiss me, que parece el siseo de un disco de vinilo, proviene en realidad de una barbacoa de pollo), como si fuese una persona como cualquier otra.

En fin.

La entrevista no tiene desperdicio, by the way. En un momento dado, Waits le hace una muestra de los ejercicios con los que prepara su voz para los conciertos (¡tremendo!). Y está llena de perlas como esta, en la que responde a una pregunta sobre cómo lleva el envejecer:

"I guess I've always lived upside down when I want things I can't have. My wife actually thinks I have a syndrome called Reality Distortion Field. It's kind of like drugs, only you can't come back from it. Reality Distortion is almost a permanent condition. Things come in and they go out: Presto, chango! To a certain extent, I did that with myself. As a kid, I did want to be an old-timer, since they were the ones with the big stories and the cool clothes. I wanted to go there. Now, I guess I want to bring that with me and go back in time."

Esto lo arregla Tom

"Vaya, tenemos un problema. Siento que hayamos tenido que cortar, pero parece que ya no existe esa cosa llamada privacidad. Es algo de Internet (...). Pensé que esto iba a ser una fiesta privada para nosotros y que pudierais echar un ojo. Bueno, pues parece que no. Ahora voy a tener que cambiarlo todo. Os lo explico: si es tu cumpleaños y llego demasiado pronto y me empiezo a comer la tarta, abro tus regalos y juego con tus juguetes, ¿te gustaría? O si tu mujer está embarazada y te quiere dar la sorpresa, pero yo te llamo y te digo papi y te estropeo la sorpresa, ¿te gustaría? (...). Ahora voy a tener que repensar todo esto. Ya os informaré de lo que se me ocurre. ¡Jesús! ¡Un par de manzanas podridas y nos lo arruinan todo! Pero esto lo arreglo yo...".

La meditada resurección de Tom Waits, en El País

Triqui Waits

(Vía brainpickings.org)

Long way home

Esta canción de Hayes Carll es de esas que me descubro silbando una y otra vez (a veces, incluso, sin al principio qué es lo que estoy silbando, o de quién).

El sonido no es muy bueno, pero no he encontrado nada mejor en Youtube (aquí está en Spotify):



Ramblin' boy you been around
From Dallas to the underground
High above and down below
Places I was scared to go

You sang it loud in case they heard
Hangin' on to every word
Gentle as a lullaby
Firecrackers in your eyes

And I would give anything
For one more night to run
For one last song to sing

You weren't askin' much at all
Just catch you when you fall
On your own, the long way home


What's that sadness in your smile
You've been cryin' all the while
Could you lean upon my shoulder
I guess you'd die to just get older

So what are we supposed to do
Just walk around forever blue
And all this hurry up and wait
Was it chance or was it fate?

And I would give anything
For one more night to run
For one last song to sing

You weren't askin' much at all
Just catch you when you fall
On your own, the long way home

Hayes Carll

Por cierto, gracias a Youtube caigo en que es el mismo título que el de una canción de Tom Waits (aquí en Spotify) que canta Norah Jones:

Tom brasileiro

Aunque estoy cada vez más convencido de que consigo lo contrario de lo que busco (sirva este post como prueba...), para aislarme y centrar mi atención en algo que debo leer o escribir, incluso en el trabajo, recurro a la música.

Ahora mismo estoy disfrutando con un nuevo descubrimiento, yo que tanto aprecio las versiones: escucho una edición de Cuando los elefantes sueñan con la música, el estupendo programa de Radio 3 consagrado a la música brasileira, dedicada a las que Seu Jorge hizo de canciones de David Bowie para la banda sonora de The life aquatic (qué coñazo de peli, qué maravilla de música) y a las que, y he aquí el hallazgo, Carlos Careqa hace de temas de Tom Waits.







Grande.

I'm still here

You haven't looked at me that way in years
You dreamed me up and left me here
How long was I dreaming for
What was it you wanted me for

You haven't looked at me that way in years
Your watch has stopped and the pond is clear
Someone turn the lights back off
I'll love you til all time is gone

You haven't looked at me that way in years
But I'm still here

Tom Waits

Limbo

Después del otro día, me quedé con ganas de volver a ver Limbo, y eso acabo de hacer (aunque con varias interrupciones, una de ellas para la inevitable siesta en ese pedazo de sofá tan acogedor...).

Es curioso. Creí que me la sabía de memoria y resulta que ni siquiera recordaba cómo terminaba.

Me atrevería a decir que me ha gustado más que otras veces. Me gusta el ambiente: una pequeña ciudad de la costa de Alaska que ve cómo desaparece la industria conservera mientras los que manejan el cotarro deciden que el futuro está en el pasado, en el turismo histórico. Grandes también los actores: David Strathairn (éste no falla), Vanessa Martínez y una Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio que desde entonces (1999) parece haber desaparecido, con lo buena que era. Y lo bien que canta el clasicazo de Tom:



Ahora que aún me acuerdo (...), puedo decir que me gusta el final, que sin decir nada dice mucho. O dice lo que cada uno quiera, que también está muy bien.

¡Oh! Olvidé mencionar al jefe Kris, perfecto para su papel, que hace que el final sea aún más incierto, pues uno no sabe quién de los dos es él: si el Dr. Kristofferson o Mr. Silver-tongued-devil



I took myself down to the Tally Ho Tavern,
To buy me a bottle of beer.
And I sat me down by a tender young maiden,
Who's eyes were as dark as her hair.
And as I was searching from bottle to bottle,
For something un-foolish to say.
That silver tongued devil just slipped from the shadows,
And smilingly stole her away.


I said: "Hey, little girl, don't you know he's the devil.
He's everything that I ain't.
Hiding intentions of evil,
Under the smile of a saint.
All he's good for is getting in trouble,
And shiftin' his share of the blame.
And some people swear he's my double,
And some even say we're the same.
But the silver-tongued devil's got nothing to lose,
I'll only live 'til I die.
We take our own chances and pay our own dues,
The silver tongued devil and I.
...

Kris Kristofferson

Happy 60, Tom

I don't wanna grow up

When I'm lyin' in my bed at night
I don't wanna grow up
Nothin' ever seems to turn out right
I don't wanna grow up
How do you move in a world of fog
That's always changing things
Makes me wish that I could be a dog
When I see the price that you pay
I don't wanna grow up
I don't ever wanna be that way
I don't wanna grow up

Seems like folks turn into things
That they'd never want
The only thing to live for
Is today...
I'm gonna put a hole in my TV set
I don't wanna grow up
Open up the medicine chest
And I don't wanna grow up
I don't wanna have to shout it out
I don't want my hair to fall out
I don't wanna be filled with doubt
I don't wanna be a good boy scout
I don't wanna have to learn to count
I don't wanna have the biggest amount
I don't wanna grow up

Well when I see my parents fight
I don't wanna grow up
They all go out and drinking all night
And I don't wanna grow up
I'd rather stay here in my room
Nothin' out there but sad and gloom
I don't wanna live in a big old Tomb
On Grand Street

When I see the 5 o'clock news
I don't wanna grow up
Comb their hair and shine their shoes
I don't wanna grow up
Stay around in my old hometown
I don't wanna put no money down
I don't wanna get me a big old loan
Work them fingers to the bone
I don't wanna float a broom
Fall in love and get married then boom
How the hell did I get here so soon
I don't wanna grow up

Tom Waits/Kathleen Brennan

Tom

[Es lo que tiene poner las cosas a ciegas. Ahora el vídeo ya se ve y se oye.]



Got no time for the corner boys,
Down in the street makin' all that noise,
Don't want no girls on Eighth Avenue,
'Cause tonight I'm gonna be with you.

'Cause tonight I'm gonna take that ride,
Across the river to the Jersey side,
Take my baby to the carnival,
And I'll take you on all the rides,

Down the shore everything's alright,
You with your baby on a Saturday night,
Don't you know that all my dreams come true,
When I'm walkin' down the street with you,
Sing sha la la la la la

She thrills me with all her charms,
When I'm wrapped up in my baby's arms,
My little girl gives me everything,
I know someday she'll wear my ring

Don't bother me, I got no time,
I'm on my way to see that girl of mine,
Nothin' else matters in the whole wide world,
When you're in love with a Jersey girl,
Sing sha la la la la la la
Oh, I'm in love with a Jersey girl,
Sing sha la la la la la la

And I call your name,
I can't sleep at night,
Sing sha la la la la la la
Oh, I'm in love with a Jersey girl,
Sing sha la la la la la la


Tom Waits

All the world is green

I fell into the ocean
When you became my wife
I risked it all aganist the sea
To have a better life
Marie you're the wild blue sky
And men do foolish things
You turn kings into beggars
And beggars into kings

Pretend that you owe me nothing
And all the world is green
We can bring back the old days again
And all the world is green

The face forgives the mirror
The worm forgives the plow
The questions begs the answer
Can you forgive me somehow
Maybe when our story's over
We'll go where it's always spring
The band is playing our song again
And all the world is green

Pretend that you owe me nothing
And all the world is green
We can bring back the old days again
And all the world is green

The moon is yellow silver
Oh the things that summer brings
It's a love you'd kill for
And all the world is green

He is balancing a diamond
On a blade of grass
The dew will settle on our graves
When all the world is green

Tom Waits

Temptation

La original del jefe Tom:



La versión que acabo de escuchar y me ha llevado a "escribir" esto, por Clara Bakker:



Otra versión fantástica, también cantada por una mujer, Holly Cole, que le dedicó un disco entero al señor Waits:



Rusted brandy in a diamond glass
Everything is made from dreams
Time is made from honey slow and sweet
Only the fools know what it means
Temptation, temptation, temptation
Oh, temptation, temptation, I can't resist

I know that she is made of smoke
But I've lost my way
She knows that I am broke
So that I must play
Temptation, temptation, temptation
Oh, woah, temptation, temptation, I can't resist

Dutch pink and Italian blue
She is there waiting for you
My will has disappeared
My confusion is oh so clear
Temptation, temptation, temptation
Woah, woah, temptation, temptation
I can't resist

Tom Waits