Harder'n Chinese Algebra (Sad Songs)

[j minnich]

>
>Yes, Tom Waits has written the soundtrack to my life.  Although I don't
>feel all of his songs are all that bleak.  Many have rays of hope
>illuminating the gloom, and frankly Tom usually ends up making me feel
>better.  But for good music for when you got the blues, I'd have to
>recommend _Small Change_ and _Blue Valentines_ from the Waits corpus.
>

Yes.  "Invitation to the Blues" off _Small Change_ is my favorite from that
album.  But I also want to recommend the percussion part for "Pasties & a
G-String" which comes right after, as I recall.  "Pasties..." is so
wonderfully VUUULGAR!  I'd listen to it now except I'm listening (per
Henry's suggestion) to the Brahms Op. 87 trio, which is nice too. _Small
Change_ also has some superior sax playing, which alone should make the
album noteworthy. 

But now for maybe the most obscure and maudlin (not to mention sappy) sad
song of all, how about Raul Donner's "She's Everything I wanted You To Be"
from, I think, the early sixties?  Or how about those fifties songs by
various black artists which featured actual crying on 'em?              -j
minnich
 

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"If a drunkard in a sober fit is the dullest of mortals, an enthusiast in a
reason-fit is not the most lively."   
      -H. Melville, _The Confidence Man_