The Tom Waits Project: #6. "Blue Valentine" (1978)

There are few artists who have had as enjoyably weird of a career as that of Tom Waits. With a career spanning over 45 years, he has reinvented himself countless times while providing some of rock's strangest, most eclectic tunes imaginable. Over the course of 2019, my goal with The Tom Waits Project is to explore every single one of his studio albums as well as live albums and soundtracks (no compilations) and chart the shifts in his career as well as hopefully understand what makes him so ubiquitous in pop culture. He's an artist who has always been there, making things weird, but there's a good chance you haven't truly noticed him. Here's your chance to join me every other Wednesday on a quest to find out what makes him so special.

Album: "Blue Valentine"

Release Date: September 5, 1978

Label: Asylum Records

Certifications: N/A

Singles: 

-"Somewhere"

Covers:

Track List:

1. "Somewhere"
2. "Red Shoes by the Drugstore"
3. "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis"
4. "Romeo is Bleeding"
5. "29 Dollar Blue"
6. "Wrong Side of the Road"
7. "Whistlin' Past the Graveyard"
8. "Kentucky Avenue"
9. "A Sweet Little Bullet from a Pretty Blue Gun"
10. "Blue Valentine"

*NOTE: Listen to it here.

Track Analysis

This section is a song by song breakdown in hopes of understanding what makes each song special in his catalog. Other things considered will include best song, most interesting standout, and other fields deemed relevant to the album.

"Somewhere"

What may be the most delightful part of this song is that it's Tom Waits doing a Broadway standard his way. The man whose obsession with blues and jazz numbers is starting to branch out and picks a song with such a loving text. If you listen to the original, there's an optimism to it that almost feels absent in Waits' cover, or at least not conveyed in the same way. What he has created is this version that is respectful enough to the original while also allowing his gravelly voice to explore the melancholy and weight underneath the lyrics. With a nice little horn to play things out, this is a nice start to an album whose title is itself a contradiction. Blue Valentine is about sadness and love, and that's what Waits brings to this cover perfectly.

"Red Shoes by the Drugstore"

As per usual, Waits is returning to his roots with another song done through a story. While the title evokes the classic Powell & Pressburg movie The Red Shoes, he manages to give it a seedy element by explaining how a woman came into possession of them. It's the typical fare as far as lyrics go, and the way that Waits sells it through his gruff voice sounds like a man wandering around, observing the action as it is happening. It's a rather fun song that works with his weirdness and makes you want to be stuck in this world for a little longer. More than that, the dripping pluck of a guitar underneath the vocals is a clever touch and hopefully the start of him playing more with rhythmic form. It works in its simplicity and becomes at a point hypnotic while conveying something just as dingy. 

"Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis"

In a career full of memorable titles, this may be among the most evocative that he's ever come up with. In this single image, he mixes familiar cheers with a perversity that is only made sadder by the song he's about to sing. As the blues carry him into the melody, he takes on the form of a hooker, explaining every one of the troubles that is currently happening. For a time as joyful as Christmas, it's strangely lacking anything upbeat and is full of misery and sadness, including a need to pay off court cases. It isn't quite a love song nor is it clear who the hooker is writing to. However, it creates such a succinct vision that is antithetical to the title that it becomes beautiful in a strange way. It may just be details set to piano, but it works at showing the different side to such a revered holiday by suggesting that life's problems don't end just because it's December 25.

"Romeo is Bleeding"

It's not clear if it's intentional, but the choice to take on a Spanish character in the closing bars of this song feel reminiscent of West Side Story. It makes sense, as the song adds a Latin flavor to the blues and creates a percussive melody that keeps things moving nicely. There's power behind the beat, and the song's focus on a man who is bleeding to death is a compelling subject. One is concerned about what will happen to Romeo. Will he survive the bleeding, or is he doomed to his fate? For a song with such an upbeat tempo, it gets pretty dark. This is the perfect example of how this album is subverting everything that Waits has built up to in his career over just six albums. Not only is he giving another morose story, but he's doing it with a style that plays with the audience's expectations in an effective way. As a song, it's rather engaging and makes you recognize the power of Waits as a lyricist on subjects even this predictable.

"29 Dollars"

It is customary for there to always be a longer song on these albums for him to explore something down to its minutiae. To say the least, it's the most familiar to Waits' growing style, borrowing heavily from the blues with a looping melody that brings forth a peace as he gets into the heart of his subject. He talks about what someone can do with 29 dollars as he gives an elaborate story. It may not be as formed as the others, but what works about it is how it slowly unveils itself in between instrument solos and passionate scatting from Waits. It's a good song through and through that does plenty to add consistency to this album's somber tone, though it's not quite as fulfilling in being different as everything else has been so far.

"Wrong Side of the Road"

While he has always been capable of making provocative images, the choice to open the song with such morbid imagery gives a sense of what this song will be perfect. Placing a dead cat on the railroad tracks sends an image into the listener's mind of what will possibly happen to it. The dread is something that is present throughout the rest of the song, especially as he deals with the danger that lies on the other side of the road. With a nice bluesy horn reminiscent of his later work, this is another strong example of Waits playing with duality on this album. This time he takes it to its most literal terms by showing good and evil as separated by tracks. One has to wonder what else is on the other side, and Waits does plenty to whet our appetites. 

"Whistlin' Past the Graveyard"

It feels so good to finally be at this point in his career. Whereas there have been sparks of genius scattered throughout the first five albums, this is the first to feel like it's going somewhere. For starters, the back half of albums have tended to be weaker than the front. In this case, he manages to continue his stretch of weirdness with a song that is every bit as odd. Not only that, but the walking bass line is among the best pieces of instrumentation so far in his career. His lyrics are so joyfully odd that you finally see the lonely wanderer having some fun with his persona. It's still rich with his imagery, but the potential novelty of this song isn't undone by the winking humor that lies beneath. There's a lot to love about this album, and part of it is how immediately accessible and odd this song is as well as how it predicts the future of Waits' musical style succinctly.

"Kentucky Avenue"

It wouldn't be a Waits album without a song that's deftly referencing classic literature and culture through a tragic lens. With shoutouts to authors like Falkner and Hugo, he turns them into thugs with switchblades, making an image of just how dire the streets are. You can picture what it's like to live on Kentucky Avenue, and it's not pleasant. It's another song where Waits goes literally deeper into his voice and finds something romantic in the deepest growl that he can acquire. It's a romance for a certain way of life that's passing. The piano backing him only makes it more nostalgic. Every detail in the song feels elevated the more that you understand the references, and shows that Waits is more than just another performer obsessed with the miserable subjects he sings about.

 "A Sweet Little Bullet from a Pretty Blue Gun"

At this point in a general Waits album, he would seem to be out of ideas, mostly playing b-sides to his stronger hits. While it's true that this is a bit on the weaker side, it's still another provocative song for this album that captures the playful side of Waits as he portrays a man who is about to get shot. There's a lot that goes into that one moment, and the build-up is once again an effective tool in his arsenal. For all of its redundancy, it does manage to stick to the themes of the overall album and show a duality between good and evil in a manner that is enticing to listen to. The title alone suggests a shift between what guns tend to represent and what harm lies within. 

"Blue Valentine"

Much like every album before, the final song is a summary of what's come before. In this case, it's a song that paints the contradicting duality imagery once again. We finally learn what a blue Valentine is, and it's just as dark as you'd expect. For an album steeped in dark imagery and disturbing stories, it's one about a man trying to find forgiveness for his sins. The song by itself is cryptic, maybe even tying into personal emotional guilt. However, in the bigger picture it's about the literal acts that these people perform. It ties everything together and makes one of the most beautifully bittersweet songs that he's ever recorded. There's a lot to love on this album, and it acknowledges just how aware it was on this closing track. There's something exciting about the violence, but at the end of the day there's going to be a need to atone for the sins. Waits has created his first masterpiece by stepping away from the bars and looking at the wilder side of life.

Closing Remarks

While there's been an exceptional amount to love about this early round of Waits, there hasn't been much to overtly love yet. He's had a hit here or there, but he's been best in experimental mode. It finally pays off as he explores what makes him a compelling lyricist and performer. It isn't just that his songs are sad, but that they hold depth and more complex ideas within them. This album also has the added benefit of being his first truly great album front to back. There aren't any songs out of place and they all build to a greater purpose. It's so much fun and finds the performer at his best, maybe even a crossroads for whatever's to come. It's like he finally found his voice six albums in, and I'm glad to finally have him here.

Coming Up Next: "Heartattack and Vine" (1980)

Album Rankings

This section is dedicated to ranking the albums from best to worst in hopes of finding which Tom Waits album is the best.

1. "Blue Valentine" (1978)
2. "Small Change" (1976)
3. "The Heart of Saturday Night" (1974)
4. "Nighthawks at the Diner" (1975)
5. "Foreign Affairs" (1977)
6. "Closing Time" (1973)

Song Rankings

This section is dedicated to finding the best songs from each album and comparing them to each other in hopes of finding which one is Tom Waits' best song.

1. "Whistlin' Past the Graveyard" from "Blue Valentine" (1978)
2. "I Wish I Was in New Orleans" from "Small Change" (1976)
3. "Martha" from "Closing Time" (1973)
4. "Potters Field" from "Foreign Affairs" (1977)
5. "Eggs and Sausage" from "Nighthawks at the Diner" (1975)
6. "Please Call Me Baby" from "The Heart of Saturday Night" (1974)