The Words and Music of Tom Waits

Book flyer
MS Word
International
MS Word

Corinne Kessel

Book Code: C34906

ISBN: 0-313-34906-1

ISBN-13: 978-0-313-34906-5

DOI:

Praeger Publishers

Publication: 12/30/2008

List Price: $44.95 (UK Sterling Price: £25.95)

Availability: Not yet published. (Estimated publication date, 12/30/2008)

Media Type: Hardcover

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Subjects:

Series Title: The Praeger Singer-Songwriter Collection

Description: Tom Waits' distinctive persona, his bourbon soaked growl, and his incorporation of musical styles from blues to experimental to vaudeville have secured for him a top-shelf cult following and an extraordinary critical respect. His raw form of expression and his evocative lyrics work together to form an emotional chronicle of society's misfits, outcasts, and lowlifes. He is not the sort of composer to chase after shiny red fire trucks to awesome blazing fires, but instead looks after the intangible dreams found dissipating in the last wisp of smoke from a cigarette, held in the weathered hands of a broken soul. Here, author Corrine Kessell pursues Waits into this distinctly murky and unsettled atmosphere to address in particular Waits' enduring questions of reality, landscape, and identity. The idea of the Wanderer - someone who seeks an escape from all of life's problems, and dreams himself into oblivion - serves as the fundamental personality type around which all Waits' music revolves. Ten years of producing and touring across Canada and the U.S. with The Black Rider, Waits' macabre folktale adaptation, has given author Corrine Kessel direct access to this American genius's creative process and his associates. In this comprehensive analysis, Kessel examines all of the many characters that have appeared throughout the course of Waits' musical career, from Closing Time (1973) to Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards (2006). Also included are appendices listing Internet resources, tribute albums and covers, and Waits' own extensive contributions to film and theatre.

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Chapter 1: Life and Works, in Brief
Chapter 2: Music, Instrumentation, and Voice
Chapter 3: Toms Wanderers: Character and Narrative in the
Music of Tom Waits
Chapter 4: Beautiful Maladies: Tom Waits Realism
Discography

LC Card Number: 2008037538

LCC Class: ML420

Dewey Class: 782


All rights reserved. Copyright © 1999-2008 Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. 88 Post Road West, Westport CT 06881, (203) 226-3571