When Tom Waits met his wife for the first time, I’m sure he never expected to be musically influenced by her that much, mostly because she’s not a musician at all. Kathleen Brennan is credited as a co-writer and collaborator on numerous songs and projects written since her marriage to Waits and is credited with introducing him to the music of Captain Beefheart. She is generally regarded as the catalyst for Waits' more experimental sound beginning with the album “Swordfishtrombones.” Those experimentations gradually changed Tom Waits’ standard song schemes, and on the 2004 album “Real Gone” he completely ignored the piano, his signature instrument up until then. The songs on the record are notable for the heavy use of percussion instruments. The lyrics are politically charged, the most explicit being "Day After Tomorrow", a song Waits has described as an "elliptical" protest against the Iraq War. The music was recorded in an abandoned schoolhouse in Mississippi, and the album was released October 3, 2004 in Europe, and October 5 in United States on the ANTI- label.
My personal favorite so far is “Sins of My Father,” a hard-hitting blues song. The lyrics are superb, with metaphors flying all around. Here they are so that you could enjoy both the tune and the words. Sometimes with Tom Waits, it can be hard to understand what he sings, especially if you’re not a native English speaker.
SINS OF MY FATHER
God said don't give me yourTin horn prayersDon't buy roses off the street down thereTook it all and took the dirt road homeDreaming of Jenny with the light brown hairNight is falling like a bloody axeLies and rumors and the wind at my backHand on the wheel gravel on the roadWill the pawn shop sell me back what I soldI'm gonna take the sins of my fatherI'm gonna take the sins of my motherI'm gonna take the sins of my brotherDown to the pondBirds cry warning from a hidden branchCarving out a future with a gun and an axeI'm way beyond the gavel and the laws of manStill living in the palm of the grace of your handThe worlds not easy the blind man saidTurns on nothing but money and dreadDogs been scratching at the door all niteLong neck birds flying out of the moon lightI'm gonna take the sins of my fatherI'm gonna take the sins of my motherI'm gonna take the sins of my brotherDown to the pondSmack dab in the middle of a dirty lieThe star spangled glitter of his one good eyeEverybody knows that the game was riggedJustice wears suspenders and a powdered wigDark town alleys been hiding youLong bell tolling is your waterlooOh baby what can you doDoes the light of god blind youOr lead the way home for you?I'm gonna take the sins of my fatherI'm gonna take the sins of my motherI'm gonna take the sins of my brotherDown to the pondGod all mighty for righteousness sakeHumiliation of our fallen stateWritten in the book of tubold CainA long black over coat will show no stainFeel the heat and the burn on your backThe rip and the moan and the stretch of the rackAll my belongings in a flour sackWill the place I come fromTake me backI'm gonna take the sins of my fatherI'm gonna take the sins of my motherI'm gonna take the sins of my brotherDown to the pondThey'll hang me in the morning on a scaffold yea bigTo dance upon nothing to the tyborn jigTreats you like a puppet when your under its spellOh the heart is heavenBut the mind is hellJesus of Nazareth told Mike of the weedsI's born at this time for a reason you seeWhen I'm dead I'll be dead a long timeBut the wines so pleasing and so sublimeI'm gonna take the sins of my fatherI'm gonna take the sins of my motherI'm gonna take the sins of my brotherDown to the pondKissed my sweetheart by the chinaball treeEverything I done is between God and meOnly he will judge how my time was spent29 days of sinning and 40 to repentthe horse is steady but the horse is blindwicked are the branches on the tree of mankindthe roots grow upward and the branches grow downits much too late to throw the dice again I've foundI'm gonna take the sins of my fatherI'm gonna take the sins of my motherI'm gonna take the sins of my brotherDown to the pondI'm gonna wash themI'm gonna wash themI'm gonna wash the sins of my FatherI'm gonna wash the sins of my MotherI'm gonna wash the sins of my BrotherTill the water runs clearTill the water runs clear
