Composer Reacts to Tom Waits - The Piano Has Been Drinking (REACTION & ANALYSIS) 

Yes!!! So glad you're warming up to Tom Waits, he can be a little hard to get in to but you seem to have a grasp on what makes his music so special and brilliant! His album Rain Dogs has always been my favorite - know it's everyone's favorite Tom Waits album but it was the very first record I heard from him and I just remember getting the urge to listen to it over and over again, picking up on things that I originally didn't quite get. Very solid analysis, love your take on how the piano playing might be all in the singers head, although there are some parts where it seems like the piano is also intentionally playing some flub notes. God Waits is such a genius

I think everything you've said is entirely spot on. I think the other thing with the piano playing is whilst it is played very deliberately and with that lightness to jt there are little hints at dissonance or odd stays from the main theme which feel like a hint at him losing grip on how lucid he thinks he is or how convincingly sober he appears to those around him. It feels like it could get away from him or is landing in a way that emphasises some of the more negative thoughts getting to him

Caspar Milquetoast was a timid comic book character from the early 20th century. The name is used generically to mean a weakling.

Hell yeah, Bryan. Special Selections has had a good run.

my fave song by him!

"Caspar Milquetoast is a comic strip character created by H. T. Webster for his cartoon series The Timid Soul. Webster described Caspar Milquetoast as 'the man who speaks softly and gets hit with a big stick'." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspar_Milquetoast

Tom was a bouncer in his earlier years, so maybe it was him.

Can you do Gun Street Girl by Tom Waits?

Yeah, this definitely isn't a deep song, but it's one I can't listen to without a goofy grin on my face the whole time. Plus, despite the simplicity, who else can (or would) write songs like this besides Tom Waits? It probably shows off the vaudeville influence in his music, where it's as much about the performance art aspect as anything else. Love all the little nuances that you mention like the the slurring and the "wrong notes" on the piano that hint that he's drunk even before he sings a word. As for interviews, most of the interviews with Waits I'm aware of he doesn't discuss this or any songs in particular. He did do a VH1 Storytellers where he explains the inspiration behind the few songs he plays on it. He also performed an abbreviated version of this song on Fernwood Tonight way back in '77 with a short interview afterwards that's more like a comedy bit. There's also a compilation on RU-vid of all his appearances on Letterman (he was a semi-regular there). Tom's just a naturally funny guy, which tends to make for funny interviews. There are probably some in-print interviews too that I don't know about. Now the question is where to go next with Waits... I've done fun/catchy Waits, dark/weird Waits, storytelling Waits, funny Waits... maybe something more straight-forward like a singer-songwriter ballad? Glad to hear you're warming up to him. He's definitely the epitome of an acquired taste, but one I feel lucky to have acquired myself. Artists like this almost always require more than one song (and one listen) to give them time to grow on you.

I've always viewed this song through the lens of a blend of surreal and absurdist art. In the same way that Picasso isn't/wasn't valued for the capacity to paint a lifelike portrait, Tom Waits used his writing and dissonant playing to use a break from expectation/perceived perfection to convey a greater message. It's not about the surface-level message of the words, it's about how one who listens can see there's a message that in spite of absurdity accords with human nature. On the Nickel would be a great Tom Waits song to react to.

In German, a "Kasper" is a baffoon.

Not a fan of the fan video. No subtlety, just on the nose imagery. Kills the vibe. Not cool. Tom is the man though

The allusion is to caspar milquetoast, a comicbook figure

A very multi-layered song, both from its musical and literary aspects. I don't think you were ready for it.

Caspar Milquetoast was an effeminate cartoon character from the 1930s

Actually the fan video ruins the song. When I hear Tom Wait lyrics I want to see images in my mind, not rapid fire flashcards telling me (wrongly) what I should be seeing. The fan is not the poet that Tom Waits is.

Rody absolutely lost his voice on this tour. Check out Good Tiger. The supporting act it's a basically a super group. I blew my knew out too them in the pit.