The Tom Waits Project: #16. "Mule Variations" (1999)

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: "Mule Variations"

Release Date: April 16, 1999

Label: ANTI- Records

Certifications: 
-Canada, Gold (50,000 copies sold)
-The Netherlands, Platinum (100,000 copies sold)
-Highest chart debut in the United States

-More than 500,000 copies sold worldwide
Singles: 
-"Hold On"
Awards:
Grammy Awards 
-Best Contemporary Folk Album (Won)
-Best Male Rock Vocal Performance (Nominated)

Track List:

1. "Big in Japan"
2. "Lowside of the Road"
3. "Hold On"
4. "Get Behind the Mule"
5. "House Where Nobody Lives"
6. "Cold Water"
7. "Pony"
8. "What's He Building?"
9. "Black Market Baby"
10. "Eyeball Kid"
11. "Picture in a Frame"
12. "Chocolate Jesus"
13. "Georgia Lee"
14. "Filipino Box Spring Hog"
15. "Take It With Me"
16. "Come On Up to the House"

*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.

"Big in Japan"

What a strange moment in time when Tom Waits finally transcended his niche audience and gained a fair amount of acclaim. What's more ironic is that his biggest-selling album would open with a song that highlights all of his odd eccentricities before suggesting that his weirdness is big overseas. It's been true most of his career, and this song's distorted vocals over an infectious guitar and a whipping accompaniment only make it all the more exciting and fun to listen to. It's traditionally weird and maybe makes little sense as a complete work, but the master is back to producing music that sounds wonderfully authentic and fun. Things kick off very well with one of his best introductory songs since his "Frank's Wild Years" trilogy over a decade earlier.

"Lowside of the Road"

This may be the album where Waits has found his true calling as a weird folk singer. After decades of experimenting, he has rarely felt more perfect than with a banjo and a rusty old melody playing behind him as he sings about a horsewhipping a man. It's a nice break from the quicker pace of the previous track, which manages to now sound like advice from a man who is weary from hard days of work. The melody just trudges along, creating a sense of flow that he's just pushing a mule for a whoel day, thinking morose thoughts just to amuse himself. This may be one of his more rambling albums so far, but it definitely has a tonal consistency that is infectious. 

"Hold On"

In some ways, it's cute that the most conventional song from Waits so far on the album was single. Yes, it fits with his approach to optimistic music. It manages to reflect how a lower-class lifestyle void of hope is needing to hold on in order to find the best in life. Things are bad now, but they will get better if you hold on, believe in what's out there. With a guitar, he sings a ballad that is all his own, full of imagery of pawnshops and rings that may seem inconsequential but hold a lot of deeper meaning in the context of the song. It's beautiful in the way that all Waits love songs tend to be. They're imperfect by nature, and that makes them all the more tangible and realistic.

"Get Behind the Mule"

And with that, Waits gets back to another long song that's borderline seven minutes. It's one that feels most like a folk song on the album, especially as he fills it with such imagery as stirring his drink with a nail. He manages to make the dredges of life sound rewarding as if getting behind the mule will produce a hard day's amount of work that will create some satisfaction. The story presented throughout the song is full of vivid imagery and the melody sounds like pushing a cart behind a mule. He captures so much of this mundane atmosphere in the song without ever coming across as dull. It is a simple request. If you want to make a living at life, get behind the mule and push. That's all there is to it.

"House Where Nobody Lives"

For the first time in awhile, Waits turns on a more remorseful voice as he sings about the life of a house where nobody lives. It's more of a conventional song, featuring a spattering of the piano as the melody plays over it, capturing a sense of absentness inside. There's plenty of vivid imagery of the life that was there, but which exists no more. There's plenty to love as he creates a story for this place, which held meaning at one point but no longer does. It's bittersweet in some ways, but makes you wonder what happened to make them leave. Again, Waits is fascinated with smalltown culture here, and really is creating a sense of economic strife for these people.

"Cold Water"

After a series of somber songs, it's nice to hear Waits fall into a bit more of the rambunctious sides of things. As it says, he woke up in cold water, so of course, the melody is going to be as jittery as that. With a cowbell going and the jerky feeling of the melody, it creates the sense of unease that is necessary for the song to fall somewhere between disgruntled and traditional nursery rhyme. It's another economic story where Waits must get to work, and the beating melody reflects a body not ready to go about the day. It's a wonderful exploration of character as he holds onto sanity through repetition as he tries to overcome his own personal conflicts. 

"Pony"

In the past, Waits was fond of using train imagery to discuss a desire to return home to a normal life. Here, he's gone rural as he chooses to use his pony in a song about returning to women that made him happy. It's a familiar territory otherwise for the singer, as he manages to capture the sadness and loneliness that he faces on his own. With the guitar twanging underneath, it's a nervous wreck much like himself as it tries to hold everything together. He is emotionally at odds with himself, and it's important to keep moving forward. There's so much that he wants this pony to have, but there's no certainty that it will get him where he wants to go, which is the saddest part of all.

"What's He Building?"

This may be one of the most fun songs on Waits' album so far. Without really saying what the person is building, he explores the interior working of a man who is alone in a shed, working on something. The man is a seedy fellow without any real thing known about him. Is he a bad guy, or is Waits just overreacting? It's a fun experimental piece full of excellent sound effects, some hollow and clanking as if he's entered a demonic set of a horror movie. There's so much to love in how Waits describes his creation, which is vivid but still vague enough that you think this man is going to create something likely to destroy the world. It's the perfect story of a smalltown going paranoid from not knowing everything about every person there. It's an experimental piece that fits this rural album, even if it's a bit divergent in how it sounds, including the use of radio and echoing rooms.

"Black Market Baby"

After "Hold On" presented a more traditional, optimistic love song, Waits is back to his seedy ways. His voice is more muddled and the subject is more curious than before. Here he sings about how he finds solace on the black market, specifically for some woman. Did he buy her illegally, or does he meet her down there? It complements the previous song in that it creates this own disturbing image of what he's trying to do. Maybe this is the answer to "What's He Building?" as the narrative transfers over. Whatever the case may be, it's one of those familiar sweet songs with sadistic undertones that are hard to fully understand. Still, he's in love with someone or something, and only the black market can deliver his happiness.

"Eyeball Kid"

Well, this is definitely the Waits that has been developing over the past 15 years now and the theme of seedy black markets is starting to become clear. For one, there's something horrifying about the way that he describes the titular kid. He has no parents and won't grow much. He is a freak show, and Waits' infatuation with the kid is bizarre. It's all haunting in ways that he hasn't really explored before. It's fascinating to hear the melody ramble, breaking as the description becomes more disconcerting. What's even more awe-inspiring as a piece of music is how he works in the auctioneer portion towards the end that is itself anarchic and fun. It's a song with such a grotesque premise, but boy does it capture why Waits remains a total original who never stops finding ways to make music that grabs you. 

"Picture in a Frame"

On the surface, it's a bit of a love song. He's infatuated with a girl whose picture hangs on his wall. There's a reason to think it's an optimistic tale, especially with the cheery music. However, it does reflect loneliness given everything that's come before on the album. He doesn't have the woman in his life, it's just a reminder of better things. It's good, but it's also tragic. Simultaneously, it's perverse to place this song after three that were about the dark underbelly of culture, where people build demonic weapons, visit black markets, and buy freak children. The idea of trying to have a normal life after something like that is aspiring but also sad in that it's impossible to achieve. It's a beautiful song on its own that pops with plenty of Waits' sentimentality, it's just very strange if you add bigger context around it.

"Chocolate Jesus"

It's time for one of Waits' most memorable songs, period. How could it not be with a title like that? It's a bit bizarre, but then again "Eyeball Kid" featured an auction with a deformed kid. Here we get his search for religion by using candy as a metaphor. He wants to buy the authentic kind, no Abba Zabbas or Almond Joys. He wants the real thing. With the low key folk music playing underneath, it creates this sense of longing that is odd for sure, but it definitely manages to work at conveying his desperation for order in his life. It's a song that reflects why Waits is a master of lyricism and authentic concepts. Even when discussing the search for faith, he can't help but twist it into something that is likely to melt in the sun. It's an image that by itself reflects the fragility of his faith. The song just adds to that brilliance. 

"Georgia Lee"

Things take a somber twist after the slight upbeat of the previous song. Now Waits is obsessed with pondering the fate of Georgia Lee. He wonders why she had to have been slighted. Why wasn't God watching over her? Right as the man has found his faith, he loses it again when life doesn't go in a convenient direction. It's a beautiful song with a nice piano that pops through things with a eulogy of sorts. There's so much about it that feels like classic Waits in full form, managing to find hope underneath his sense of despair. The only question is for how much longer will he be able to hold onto it.

"Filipino Box Spring Hog"

And with that, Waits reaches the most chaotic song that he's ever recorded. The drums are beating without purpose, the harmonica sounds like it's barely holding notes. Everything about it feels ready to fall apart, including Waits himself. What is a Filipino Box Spring Hog? Who even knows? What's so lovely is how his raspy voice manages to paint this picture, making things sound way darker than they need to be. It's a dark comedy when he says "underwear bra." There's something wonderful about the way he just sounds like a whirlwind of destruction for almost four-minutes straight. It's beautiful and reflects his gifts as a musician. He may have written more eloquent songs with deeper meaning, but he has never been this much fun before. Try and forget it after one listen. You won't.

"Take It With Me"

Once again, chaos is followed by a sense of calm. Waits chose to make a song that manages to feel like a deep introspection of his past. Where it's been a topic that's lead to some thorny areas throughout the album, here he talks bluntly about how he enjoys sleeping on porches and enjoying the company of others, maybe even Georgia Lee. In context, it makes things more bittersweet and resonant when he talks about looking at the house years later and wondering what really happened there. If there were actually any true memories formed within those walls. It's a beautiful song and one that reflects the sentimental side of Waits finally winning over his chaotic personality that's wonderfully popped up randomly throughout the album. He wants to take that warm feeling with him, but can he really?

"Come On Up to the House"

If Waits' brilliance shines through in one way on this album, it's his ability to have layers. What sounds like a man opening his arms to others may as well be a metaphor for death. It feels like every Waits album these days ends with that sort of meaning. However, there have been few as optimistic in tone as this. It's beautiful and clever in how he makes ideas like coming off the cross "because we need the wood" sound so welcoming. It's a perfect way to end an album about a man who's clearly been tortured emotionally for most of the album. He's finally at peace, and the faux-gospel nature of this song suggests that he's gotten everything that faith should give him. It's a powerful song and a clear understanding of themes coalescing into one final statement of joy.

Closing Remarks

For reasons that seemed initially confusing, this was Waits' most acclaimed album in his career still possibly ever. It was a success in sales and maybe even as an artist. Where he's taken to trying on personas throughout his career, this is some of his most naked and honest music since the 1970s. There's so much power in him dropping affectations to just sing about the grievances of life. Of course, the wild songs are some of his best too. This is the best of all worlds and finds the artist settling into something of an elder statesman of the genre, bringing with it a continual sense of creativity that shocks and despairs the listener within minutes of each other. Waits has the power to maintain a career that still warrants discussion, and his shift into folk music after "Bone Machine" and its anarchic industrial-style music is one of the best surprises of his career so far. 

Coming Up Next: "Blood Money" (2002)

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. "Rain Dogs" (1985)
2. "Blue Valentine" (1978)
3. "Swordfishtrombones" (1983)
4. "Mule Variations" (1999)
5. "Small Change" (1976)
6. "Frank's Wild Years" (1987)
7. "Heartattack and Vine" (1980)
8. "Bone Machine" (1992)
9. "The Heart of Saturday Night" (1974)
10. "Nighthawks at the Diner" (1975)
11. "Foreign Affairs" (1977)
12. "Closing Time" (1973)
13. "The Black Rider" (1993)
14. "Night on Earth" (1992)
15. "Big Time" (1988)
16. "One From the Heart" (1982)

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. "Hang Down Your Head" from "Rain Dogs" (1985)
2. "Filipino Box Spring Hog" from "Mule Variations" (1999)
3. "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" from "Bone Machine" (1992)
4. "Whistlin' Past the Graveyard" from "Blue Valentine" (1978)
5. "I Wish I Was in New Orleans" from "Small Change" (1976)
6. "Way Down in the Hole" from "Frank's Wild Years" (1987)
7. "Way Down in the Hole" from "Big Time" (1988)
8. "Martha" from "Closing Time" (1973)
9. "Jersey Girl" from "Heartattack and Vine" (1980)
10. "Shore Leave" from "Swordfishtrombones" (1983)
11. "Potters Field" from "Foreign Affairs" (1977)
12. "Eggs and Sausage" from "Nighthawks at the Diner" (1975)
13. "Los Angeles Mood (Another Private Dick)" from "Night on Earth" (1992)
14. "Please Call Me Baby" from "The Heart of Saturday Night" (1974)
15. "Just the Right Bullets" from "The Black Rider" (1993)
16. "Picking Up After You" from "One From the Heart" (1982)