Time For Tom Waits
The road goes on forever and it wanders, sometimes into absurd and painful territory.
Ironically, just southeast of Kingman, Arizona, we found ourselves in the Aquarius Mountains.
Nothing could be further from reality. I remember the Age Of Aquarius:
When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
AquariusHarmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind’s true liberation
Aquarius
Aquarius ~~~ The Fifth Dimension (1969)
That irony drove me into my friend Tom Waits (listen to his Greatest hits!) and some beers.
Tom is a painful truth teller and hero since my very young man days.
His “Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis” and rendition of “Since I Fell In Love With You” made me cry.
Of course, there’s Waltzing Matilda:
No, I don’t want your sympathy, the fugitives say
That the streets aren’t for dreaming now […]And it’s a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace
And a wound that will never heal
No Prima Donna, the perfume is on
An old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey
And goodnight to the street sweepers
The night watchman flame keepers and goodnight to Mathilda too
I’ve actually worn a shirt that is “stained with blood and whiskey“. And I’ve lost two good friends who were there and would never sell them short – Steve Cookingham and Pete Santagate. And it was Pete who once actually bloodied that shirt when he broke my nose!
I love the man, especially his love for and compassion for real people.
