Composer Reacts to Tom Waits - Hell Broke Luce (REACTION & ANALYSIS) 

I’ve always loved the Snarl of this song. A young man was unmade by war and Tom is visceral in his anger like no other.

This song is so clever, everything is telling such a cohesive story. The left-right-left starts in time with the beat, the very militaristic beat, as if it's falling in line. Later in the song, as he becomes disillusioned with the military, the left-right-lefts moves off the beat. Hes fallen out of step, hes starting to break. Great song. Tom Waits does unnerving better than anyone

"A combination of a lot of ideas that I don't think I would expect to come together, but sound like they should have been together this entire time." Love it. God's Away On Business is another Waits song that might make you think the same thing.

The marching rhythm is an obvious allusion to the marching an enlistee would do in the military. But it also is relentless, and i think thats an allusion to the endlessness/relentlessness of the monotony of war/military life. I also think that the fade out at the end was a brilliant choice. The marching doesnt end… the song doesnt really end… it just keeps going

The song is a play on words. Jeffery Lucey served in Iraq and ended up taking his own life over the atrocities he witnessed and took part in. So "Luce" is short for Lucey. Hell (war) broke Jeffery Lucey hence: Hell Broke Luce. Brilliant and sad - true art at its best - beautiful and heart wrenching.

The music is the mental state, the lyrics are physical. Rhythmic marching/following orders among chaos.

Luce is the sir name of a specific vet that came home and later committed suicide. The events describe in the song occured to Luce.

One of my favorite TW songs. First and foremost the song is built around a foundation of Military cadence. If anyone was ever in basic training they recognize it. An amazing combination of horror, sorrow and pain. If it didn't make me so angry I would cry. Great reaction too.

Like the review and yeah I see that you realize you missed some of the wordplay. It's called a marching cadence when they/we sing while marching, and it does seem the whole song is like a cadence thematically (even though you wouldn't be able to march to it). Early Tom Waits will surprise you with how different it is from a lot of this, with a lot more piano, blues, lounge, jazz style elements depending on what you're listening to. His entire catalog is amazing, and endless. Ive been a Tom Waits fanatic for 30 years and there's still a lot of his music I haven't heard. Also, interesting is the fact that he will play a song one way on the albz but perform it in a completely different style live, making his live performances awesome. All interviews with him are joys of storytelling and wit as well. Worth the time.

I love Tom Waits. One of the amazing things about him is that you have this song, and then you have the unmistakable melodious jazz song of Alice or a traditional ballad like Innocent When You Dream. Saw him live in St. Louis. Will never forget it.

Marc Ribot really doing his thing on guitar in this one. I love his little interjections. He obviously is not featured here, but I think Tom Waits is at his best when accompanied by Ribot

Love your commentary on this one. Your idea about the syncopation in the "left, right, left" and "hell broke Luce" parts reminds me a lot of Kubrick's film Full Metal Jacket. The opening ~1/3 of that film is in a boot camp where everything is very rigidly patterned and symmetrical in how it's shot/edited, emphasizing the very orderly nature of military life; but once the film moves to the battlefield it's chaos, and all the "order" we experienced in the first half is gone. I think there's a similar effect happening here, but Waits does with rhythms what Kubrick did with cinematography and editing. I think what Gideon said about the "thematic coherence" of this song is very true, and a lot of Waits is like this. He has a knack for taking on personas (both in his voice and in his musical style) that go really well with whatever his songs are about. Even in Goin' Out West the "ugliness" of its sound (and of Waits' voice) is a fun/funny contrast to the characters' narcissism that he's going to be a leading man in the movies. I may make Waits a regular part of my special selections. He has such a vast, varied, interesting career that it would be fun to see your reactions to an artist with such a wide range. For now I need to start thinking of my next three requests. I already have some ideas...

You're very articulate! "Innocent when you Dream," "Kentucky Avenue," and "On the Nickel" would be good stopping points for more Waits variety. Live versions preferably.

Cadence is the word your looking for. We called it calling cadence when the NCOs would call and the formation would answer

Tom Waits music for me is very addicting, when I listen to him, it's usually for several hours at a time, music from across his long career. I'm sort of immune, had my innoculation, years ago. My favourite album by him is Black Rider, which I suppose makes Hell Broke Luce seem like a bed time lullabye in comparrison.

group military songs are used to keep marching pace, and they're called a 'cadence'.

Having been there, I'd say this song is much heavier on the mental states than on the physical. In my mind, it is saturated in the mental and emotional. Gotta read between the lines. Gotta peel back the layers.

Toms other work goes back over 40 years now and his melodies are stunning. Check out his earlier albums like Closing Time, Blue Valentine, Raindogs and the appropriately titled, Beautiful Maladies

If he already did ‘going out west” probably should have given him something that shows his range more.

Great analysis! To me the "left right left" variations sort of makes me think of someone marching through mud or marching with a limp, or just utter exhaustion. Like a very physical reaction to what is happening. People trained to be machines and gradually breaking down in the thick of it.

I hear this song and I think of how the Soldiers were treated during and after the Vietnam War. And pretty much the Military Personal.

I'm a fan of TW since 1987 and one thing is for sure, he never repeats himself. He always move forward and you never know what you're going to get on the next album. Even thru periods of heavy drinking he has been very productive, making 20 studio albums since 1973. But his latest, Bad As Me, came in 2006 so it seems like we can't have to much hope for a new studio album. Since many years his beautiful song Kentucky Avenue is in my last will to be played at my funeral.

The choir being soldiers corpses in bodybags is chilling

Tom makes me happy...my absolute favourite artist who opened my ears to the possibility of music way back when I got into bone machine album about 30 years ago, that's the one that goin out west is from by the way, he is a staggering songwriter that encompasses music from all styles, his original stuff was very beatnik torch song which is beautiful but I got into his more experimental stuff that start with his album swordfishtrombones and has got stranger since then. You have been touching on some of my absolute favourites which is very unusual for reaction channels so well done I love that you have done Tom, Swans and cardiacs more please, some other artists I would suggest for you would include Nick Cave( all his stuff from the bad seeds, the birthday party and grinderman), einstruzende neubauten which do created noise tracks with home made instruments(Blixa Bargeld the singer is also an original member of the bad seeds and probably the coolest guy in rock, also all the bad seeds are worth checking out as they are all brilliant musicians some of my favourites and an education in alternative rock) , the young gods swiss electronic industrial that don't get near enough attention, Scott Walker who is just sublime his stuff from the sixties is just beautiful, intense, and vivid his later stuff like Tom got stranger and more experimental and is music from a different planet(try the track Epizootics from his last album before he passed away to hear what I mean) Anyway keep up the good work

This song is about a iraq vet that come home and hung himself hes name was jeff luce

I love Tom Waits

As Bird Fox put it: Artist: Tom Waits Genre: Righteously angry old man

Earlier stuff worth looking into, these are more traditional tracks with a different twist "The Piano has been drinking" is well worth listening to, "Tom Tauberts Blues (3 sheets to the wind in Copenhagen)" or even "Downtown Train" are worth your time if more traditional. As always his voice is expressive, but maybe a more conversational/talking style.

Love Tom Waits. However I must admit I always, maybe still do, leaned more to his earlier songs such as the timeless "Tom Traubert's Blues" from the "Small Change" album. Following his change of style I always had him down as a "Howlin' Wolf", "Captain Beefheart" clone but repeated listening to the "Swordfishtrombones" album made me appreciate his musical vision more and more and I now believe the US should declare him a "National Treasure" with a preservation order slapped on him. His lyrics have always shone through, making each song so interesting, and perhaps the reason his songs have been covered by so many artists some of whom, like Rod Stewart, seeming unlikely bed fellows.

You can feel this shit and I absolutely appreciate that. Supreme reaction. uii

I think you hit the major ideas and points pretty well, but I think this song is kind of amazing for its thematic coherance in a way that I don't feel like you focused on. The contrast between 'Hell breaking loose' and 'Hell breaking Luce' seems, to me, to be the mission statement. Everything else kinds of follows on from that; War is hell and the impact of war/hell on the people who are exposed to it is catastrophic. It's kind of simple, and maybe profound, but to then embed those ideas in all of the available instruments and compositional/musical layers kind of blows me away. I've missed most of Tom Wait's later career, as I think I mentioned in comments on the previous song, but this one makes me want to go and check out all that stuff I skipped. It was hard listening but pretty great.

Another wild ride! I didn’t check him out after the first but might dabble just to hear what else he creates! Any suggestions where to start?? Really liked the percussion in this one and it’s interplay with the vocal rhythm. The vocals themselves are great. The grit is perfect with the blues/industrial style.

Fun fact: All of 'Rain Dogs' is brilliant. [This has my attempt to skew the YT algorithm]

You should also check out Singapore by Tom waits that's a good one I got a million of these I'm sorry to bother you but I do support you.

You gotta listen to Whistlin' Past the Graveyard! One of my absolute favourites by Tom Waits.

to me musically its based on Colonel Hathi March from Jungle Book. In Jungle Book the marching is futile just like war

An always topical song. And a nice dissection.

As an upcoming drummer and someone that has spent time in jail I relate to this song however I think you should check out the devil makes Three any song on there is is awesome I have not found a bad one yet you might actually like it instead of just running through the mail

interesting breakdown / analysis

I got to see him at the Louisville theater and I almost missed my ticket because they sold out in 5 minutes and I punched a hole in the wall into my friend said that he had already got me I wept Tom Waits a f****** awesome artist.

"I come down from the meth" "Give em all a beautiful parade instead" "Well i was over here, America to vote" "My mom, she died and never wrote" Are all allusions to the veteran's mental state.

When he says hell broke Luce...he is specifically referring to the emotional state of a man named Luce..is he not? How Luce after war is now broken?

Hi sometime could you please react to Bob Dylan's 'Murder Most Foul' from 2020, thanks!!!!

Lol Tom Waits pulling out some good rhyme schemes in this song

This song is actually about a marine named Jeffery Luce who ended his own life after coming back from deployment

This is, of course, an antiwar song. I love the visual of someone tied to a house - i think the G I Bill recruiter's enticement... when I get out, they'll buy me a house - dragging that promise through a war, like an anchor chained to your leg. Was it worth it? The much softer counterpart to this song would be THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. Waits originally came out of the Folk/Beat era, so song as protest or political statement is not a foriegn concept. I grew up in San Diego and Tom manned the door at a coffee house at the beach - the Heritage - where they'd allow him to get up on stage on Hoot Night and play a song or two. So he's no stranger to the folk scene.

Check out "BIG TIME" THE ENTIRE ALBUM and his song "A soldiers things"

Check out the Sesame Street version of this song.

Did he make crosses into swastikas on the hill?

or it is nightmare about dragging ones values onto othes

by the waz, his clip often beeing made by Jim Jarmush so the estetic is perfecly materded, not like my english and im sorry