Waiting for Tom Waits

The voice and music of Tom Waits are an acquired taste. I acquired it late, and not without considerable perseverance! It was a Finnish poet called Risto Oikarinen who introduced me to an intriguing song called "Time", when I was staying at the Visby Writers' Centre on the island of Gotland, Sweden. Risto sang his own inspiring version. After a few years of indecision, I acquired some early Tom Waits albums, which I grew to love. There are occasional tracks from his more recent CDs that hit the mark. This is a challenging one:

Here's the original version of  "Make it Rain"

Make it Rain (Letterman Show)

and live in Amsterdam 

Whatever the differences in emotional motivation and spiritual inspiration, it conveys the same quality of intensity and anguish that one finds in Gerard Manley Hopkins' sonnet:

"birds build- but not I build, but strain....
                              ....send my roots rain."

Someone just recommended another song: Heart Attack and Vine

Here's one of his more approachable songs: Blind Love

and I hope I don't fall in love with you