Christina Rossetti, English poet
Margaret Cho, Korean-American comedienne
J. J. Cale, American songwriter
James Lee Burke, American mystery author
Joan Didion, American author
Sony Boy WIlliamson, blues musician
Calvin Trillin, American author
Josh Malihabadi, Urdu poet of India and Pakistan
Walt Disney, American filmmaker
Fritz Lang, Austrian film director
Martin Van Buren, 8th American president
What most of these folks have in common is that they're all pretty good with words and images. It's something I hope to have in common with them as well one day, besides sharing a birthday. Which is today.
But for my birthday I wanted to share the wordsmithery of another Sagittarius, a Mr. Thomas Alan Waits, whose birthday is actually on the 7th. That's okay, we'll make him an honorary fifth-of, if he'll have us.I like this because as each item and person is mentioned it's as if they have been brought to life in some surreal claymation nightmare of after-hours broke-down seedy nightclub reverie.
the piano has been drinking (not me)
The piano has been drinking
my necktie is asleep
and the combo went back to New York
the jukebox has to take a leak
and the carpet needs a haircut
and the spotlight looks like a prison break
cause the telephone is out of cigarettes
and the balcony is on the make
and the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking
and the menus are all freezing
and the light man's blind in one eye
and he can't see out of the other
and the piano-tuner's got a hearing aid
and he showed up with his mother
And the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking
cause the bouncer is a Sumo wrestler
cream-puff casper milktoast
and the owner is a mental midget
with the I.Q. of a fencepost
cause the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking...
and you can't find your waitress
with a Geiger counter
and she hates you and your friends
and you just can't get served
without her
and the box-office is drooling
and the bar stools are on fire
and the newspapers were fooling
and the ash-trays have retired
and the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking
not me, not me, not me, not me, not me
From the album Small Change 1976.
Poetry Friday is over at Mommy's Favorite Children's Books this week.
14 comments:
Sweet! Love him.
Happy Birthday, David.
You're in good company.
Love that Tom
douglas fir now
It seems like there ought to be a tune for this.
Lift a glass to the piano, then.
This is great! I love Tom Waits. I saw him in concert about a year and a half ago, and he was incredible. I especially like the lines "the light man's blind in one eye
and he can't see out of the other."
Happy birthday!! Hope you have time to celebrate.
Ah, Tom.
Happy, happy birthday again. I hope it's everything you want it to be.
happy birthday, d! tom should be honored to share a birthday with you. if he were sober enough to notice.
happy birthday, d! tom should be honored to share a birthday with you. if he were sober enough to notice.
thanks for the wishes, everyone!
eisha, back then tom might have been blitzed and i wouldn't have minded; i understand he runs dry now and i still don't mind. i can do a pretty fair imitation of him circa "rain dogs," not that anyone is really looking for a tom waits impersonation.
Happy Belated Birthday!!
Great poem. :)
I'm going to want to hear that impersonation in January, David. Meanwhile, here's a Tom link, for the absurdist in you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IaNaQHjIRE
thanks for that, julie. are you really gonna put me on the spot at rez?
You better believe it!
Happy belated birthday! I am also a Sagittarius. We have to stick together.
Sagg's stick together even when they don't realize they have that in common. I even married one!
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