The Spirit of Jazz

just hearing a couple things different

talley wrote:

Rest your weary head ???

Rest your weary head and lover bury me

Quote :

We do it like we do it for the girls uptown,

To do it like they do it for the girls uptown

Quote :

Not another soul could love you like my rotten bones do

This line sounds like bones the second/third time but the first sounds more like points to me. Definitely hard to tell.

Thanks, I made the first two changes, but the third one Im not sure of, its tough to tell

I definitely thingk it's just "like my rotten bones do" the whole time.

Yeah, rotten bones for sure.

the intro to this sounds like it is straight out of a springsteen song, just faster.

very similar lyrics and themes to Stay Lucky.

hey guys, new here but i've been lurking around for a while. this is one of my favorites off of the new album. i remember watching a video of Brian talking about his favorite albums and The National's Boxer was on there. do you think the 29 years line is a reference to their song "Slow Show" or am i just overthinking?

imfinney wrote:

hey guys, new here but i've been lurking around for a while. this is one of my favorites off of the new album. i remember watching a video of Brian talking about his favorite albums and The National's Boxer was on there. do you think the 29 years line is a reference to their song "Slow Show" or am i just overthinking?

Could be, but I think it's just because he's 29 =P

i get the impression that the track is kind of a love song-type thing to his wife. since this record's a little more personal for him, and he's writing in a more direct way, it's inevitable a song about his significant other would appear. right?

loazis wrote:

imfinney wrote:

hey guys, new here but i've been lurking around for a while. this is one of my favorites off of the new album. i remember watching a video of Brian talking about his favorite albums and The National's Boxer was on there. do you think the 29 years line is a reference to their song "Slow Show" or am i just overthinking?

Could be, but I think it's just because he's 29 =P

although he is now 30

steady now steady now wrote:

loazis wrote:

imfinney wrote:

hey guys, new here but i've been lurking around for a while. this is one of my favorites off of the new album. i remember watching a video of Brian talking about his favorite albums and The National's Boxer was on there. do you think the 29 years line is a reference to their song "Slow Show" or am i just overthinking?

Could be, but I think it's just because he's 29 =P

although he is now 30

Haha, I did a short google session but couldn't come up with anything reliable so I decided to take the gamble

loazis wrote:

steady now steady now wrote:

loazis wrote:

imfinney wrote:

hey guys, new here but i've been lurking around for a while. this is one of my favorites off of the new album. i remember watching a video of Brian talking about his favorite albums and The National's Boxer was on there. do you think the 29 years line is a reference to their song "Slow Show" or am i just overthinking?

Could be, but I think it's just because he's 29 =P

although he is now 30

Haha, I did a short google session but couldn't come up with anything reliable so I decided to take the gamble

in an interview from mid-2009 he said he was 29, so that makes him 30 today

onlinesongs wrote:

i get the impression that the track is kind of a love song-type thing to his wife. since this record's a little more personal for him, and he's writing in a more direct way, it's inevitable a song about his significant other would appear. right?

His wife had black hair as well ("So what now lover, with your long black hair?"), so I guess it must be about her. He's sung about raven hair before too.

StopAndSlideToTheRight wrote:

onlinesongs wrote:

i get the impression that the track is kind of a love song-type thing to his wife. since this record's a little more personal for him, and he's writing in a more direct way, it's inevitable a song about his significant other would appear. right?

His wife had black hair as well ("So what now lover, with your long black hair?"), so I guess it must be about her. He's sung about raven hair before too.

there's more women with black hair you know? like in great expectations, "her hair was raven and her heart was..." i mean, we can all assume things but it doesn't mean we're right, at the end of the day we can't know who's he's really refering to, we can just make guesses and assumptions. so yeah he can easily be talking about his wife in this song, or maybe not. maybe this song comes from a past story, kind of like Miles Davis or Old White Lincoln

Bea wrote:

StopAndSlideToTheRight wrote:

onlinesongs wrote:

i get the impression that the track is kind of a love song-type thing to his wife. since this record's a little more personal for him, and he's writing in a more direct way, it's inevitable a song about his significant other would appear. right?

His wife had black hair as well ("So what now lover, with your long black hair?"), so I guess it must be about her. He's sung about raven hair before too.

there's more women with black hair you know? like in great expectations, "her hair was raven and her heart was..." i mean, we can all assume things but it doesn't mean we're right, at the end of the day we can't know who's he's really refering to, we can just make guesses and assumptions. so yeah he can easily be talking about his wife in this song, or maybe not. maybe this song comes from a past story, kind of like Miles Davis or Old White Lincoln

So true, I should stop over-analysing. I'm surprised that his wife doesn't mind him singing about how much he loved his exes though, that would really piss me off.

Meet Me By the River's Edge talks about being 28, and Spirit of Jazz is 29 years. Do you think he'll talk about how he's 31 or 32 on the next album?

DeathoftheCool wrote:

Meet Me By the River's Edge talks about being 28, and Spirit of Jazz is 29 years. Do you think he'll talk about how he's 31 or 32 on the next album?

yes

StopAndSlideToTheRight wrote:

So true, I should stop over-analysing.

haha i think we all do funny, i was just reading this today:

Quote :

From "Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits":

"The stories behind most songs are less interesting than the songs themselves," he said to me in Santa Rosa. "I mean, that's my opinion. So you tell somebody, 'Hey, this is about Jackie Kennedy.' And they go, 'Oh wow.' Then you say, 'No, I was just kidding, it's about Nancy Reagan.' Well it's a different song now. In fact, all my songs are about Nancy Reagan."

Waits should be right when he sais this. What difference should it make to our love of his music if we know that this song is about Rickie Lee Jones, or that one about Nancy Reagan? It shouldn't and ultimately it doesn't.

Bea wrote:

StopAndSlideToTheRight wrote:

So true, I should stop over-analysing.

haha i think we all do funny, i was just reading this today:

Quote :

From "Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits":

"The stories behind most songs are less interesting than the songs themselves," he said to me in Santa Rosa. "I mean, that's my opinion. So you tell somebody, 'Hey, this is about Jackie Kennedy.' And they go, 'Oh wow.' Then you say, 'No, I was just kidding, it's about Nancy Reagan.' Well it's a different song now. In fact, all my songs are about Nancy Reagan."

Waits should be right when he sais this. What difference should it make to our love of his music if we know that this song is about Rickie Lee Jones, or that one about Nancy Reagan? It shouldn't and ultimately it doesn't.

Well firstly I find it interesting to know what inspires my inspiration, and secondly I think it sets a backdrop to the songs, gives them more depth. The fact that 1930 is about Brian's Grandmother makes it hit me twice as hard, even though I relate to the song in a different way.

StopAndSlideToTheRight wrote:

Well firstly I find it interesting to know what inspires my inspiration, and secondly I think it sets a backdrop to the songs, gives them more depth. The fact that 1930 is about Brian's Grandmother makes it hit me twice as hard, even though I relate to the song in a different way.

i agree with you. i just randomly ran into this passage today and immediatly thought of this thread. but yeah of course i'd love to know the "real" story behind all my favourite songs, but at the same time i wouldn't... it's hard to explain... like... here goes an exaggerated example: there's this song by this Spanish singer-songrwriter that talks about how she lost her blue unicorn; now this is a song i remember from when i was little, from when i would be sitting in the backseat of the car while my dad drove and my mom sang along to every word; this is one of those childhood-memories sort of songs for me; and then one day, many many years later, my mom goes and tells me "hey you know what? this song is actually about a blue pen cap, not an unicorn", and well.. that kinda ruined the song for me.

i'm not saying Brian is talking about the ant that was walking on his kitchen counter in The Spirit of Jazz or about how he'd wish for his dead fish to come back in Miles Davis. all i'm saying is, i understand what you're saying cause i'm the same way with songs, but at the same time i get the point Tom Waits is making... does any of that make any sense at all?

Bea wrote:

StopAndSlideToTheRight wrote:

Well firstly I find it interesting to know what inspires my inspiration, and secondly I think it sets a backdrop to the songs, gives them more depth. The fact that 1930 is about Brian's Grandmother makes it hit me twice as hard, even though I relate to the song in a different way.

i agree with you. i just randomly ran into this passage today and immediatly thought of this thread. but yeah of course i'd love to know the "real" story behind all my favourite songs, but at the same time i wouldn't... it's hard to explain... like... here goes an exaggerated example: there's this song by this Spanish singer-songrwriter that talks about how she lost her blue unicorn; now this is a song i remember from when i was little, from when i would be sitting in the backseat of the car while my dad drove and my mom sang along to every word; this is one of those childhood-memories sort of songs for me; and then one day, many many years later, my mom goes and tells me "hey you know what? this song is actually about a blue pen cap, not an unicorn", and well.. that kinda ruined the song for me.

i'm not saying Brian is talking about the ant that was walking on his kitchen counter in The Spirit of Jazz or about how he'd wish for his dead fish to come back in Miles Davis. all i'm saying is, i understand what you're saying cause i'm the same way with songs, but at the same time i get the point Tom Waits is making... does any of that make any sense at all?

I totally get you and agree on all levels. That unicorn experience reminds me of great expectations. God I'm a loser, relating everything to Gaslight songs. So true though, you want to know, but you want it to keep the personal story you find in it. If that makes sense.

onlinesongs wrote:

i get the impression that the track is kind of a love song-type thing to his wife. since this record's a little more personal for him, and he's writing in a more direct way, it's inevitable a song about his significant other would appear. right?

I agree, that was my first thought as well, what a sweet song, if so.

Bea wrote:

StopAndSlideToTheRight wrote:

onlinesongs wrote:

i get the impression that the track is kind of a love song-type thing to his wife. since this record's a little more personal for him, and he's writing in a more direct way, it's inevitable a song about his significant other would appear. right?

His wife had black hair as well ("So what now lover, with your long black hair?"), so I guess it must be about her. He's sung about raven hair before too.

there's more women with black hair you know? like in great expectations, "her hair was raven and her heart was..." i mean, we can all assume things but it doesn't mean we're right, at the end of the day we can't know who's he's really refering to, we can just make guesses and assumptions. so yeah he can easily be talking about his wife in this song, or maybe not. maybe this song comes from a past story, kind of like Miles Davis or Old White Lincoln

Brian contradicts himself all the time on stories about his songs. I heard him say in an interview that the girl in the old white lincoln is his wife. I think Brian himself doesn't really want u to know all the details. He likes you to make your own mind up, which is maybe why he contradicts himself, he doesn't want to give a definitve answer ya know?

Isn't there a video somewhere of them playing at Pinkpop Festival or something, and Brian says 'this song is about a cat', so obviously expecting Great Expectations. And then he plays something completely different that doesn't appear to be about a cat at all! I'll try and dig it out later if no one knows what I'm on about.