Tom Waits - "Blue Valentine"

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I'm listening to this right now and wondering why this is a relatively overlooked entry in Waits' catalog. Wonderful lyrics and music all across the board, great cover, etc. I suppose it's not particularly groundbreaking and might suffer from being one of his latter "early period" albums, but it's my favorite from that particular period, and probably one of my top 3 records of his.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002GWJ.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 10 February 2005 10:04 (twenty-one years ago)

my friend cainan says its the only tw album he likes. i think its great. i listen to it alot. the live shows from around this time are great too.

― charleston charge (chaki), Thursday, 10 February 2005 10:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think opening with a (frankly rather hammy) cover of "Somewhere" (from West Side Story) does the album any favours; and I rather suspect that TW's existing fans may have resented the introduction of electric guitar and keyboards as being too overtly (ahem!) "rockist".

The title song however is, of course, one of the high points of his Asylum-era recordings.

She sends me blue valentines
All the way from Philadelphia
To mark the anniversary
Of someone that I used to be
And it feels just like there's
A warrant out for my arrest
Got me checkin in my rearview mirror
And I'm always on the run
Thats why I changed my name
And I didn't think you'd ever find me here

To send me blue valentines
Like half forgotten dreams
Like a pebble in my shoe
As I walk these streets
And the ghost of your memory
Is the thistle in the kiss
And the burgler that can break a rose's neck
It's the tatooed broken promise
That I hide beneath my sleeve
And I see you every time I turn my back

She sends me blue valentines
Though I try to remain at large
They're insisting that our love
Must have a eulogy
Why do I save all of this madness
In the nightstand drawer
There to haunt upon my shoulders
Baby I know
I'd be luckier to walk around everywhere I go
With a blind and broken heart
That sleeps beneath my lapel

She sends me my blue valentines
To remind me of my cardinal sin
I can never wash the guilt
Or get these bloodstains off my hands
And it takes a lot of whisky
To take this nightmares go away
And I cut my bleedin heart out every nite
And I die a little more on each St. Valentine's day
Remember that I promised I would
Write you....
These blue valentines
Blue valentines
Blue valentines

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 10 February 2005 11:44 (twenty-one years ago)

'xmas card from a hooker in minneapolis' is fantastic, too. this and heart attack and vine might be his two best straight-up "storyteller" albums.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 10 February 2005 11:52 (twenty-one years ago)

That's my problem with this album - it's a bit too "hammy" in places.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 10 February 2005 12:00 (twenty-one years ago)

it's my favourite waits album.. the perfect mix of tender ballads and blues jams..

― Jack Battery-Pack (Jack Battery-Pack), Thursday, 10 February 2005 12:03 (twenty-one years ago)

i like his hamminess for the most part, 'somewhere' and 'i never talk to strangers' being notable exceptions. it's an integral part of the charm of this period but not overwhelming, as i think he did some of his most beautiful songwriting then.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 10 February 2005 12:06 (twenty-one years ago)

This is my favourite Waits album, apart from Rain Dogs. I think he actually does romantic, aching heart (and slightly hammy) ballads better than anything else, and this is kind of wall-to-wall wallowing in romance, requited and unrequited. love it so much. "Christmas Card..." is amazing, but my favourite might be "Kentucky Avenue": the swell of strings on 'take the spokes from your wheelchair' is amazing, the way the whole narrative takes its time to unfold as if it (and the romance it describes) has all the time in the world... speaking of which Tom's voice really reminds me of Louis Armstrong's throughout this.

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 10 February 2005 16:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I wouldn't say it's among his best but it is good, and at least the hamminess(along with rather strong songwriting) keeps the whole thing from going limp and uninvolving(see - Foreign Affairs and most of Heartattack and Vine). His 'Somewhere' is fantastic also, not totally maudlin but stays away from the obvious irony one would expect.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Thursday, 10 February 2005 17:22 (twenty-one years ago)

He was such an earnest young man.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 10 February 2005 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Nah, for early Waits gimme "Heart of Saturday Night" or "Small Change" any day. I like the way those albums manage to literally wallow and savour the melancholy, the former being a celebration of the starry-eyed down-and-out and the latter targetting the darkside of his caricature. Compared to these, I can't help feeling that "Blue Valentines" is where the cracks start to show. It's one of the only times in his career where he really does sound like he's play-acting. "Somewhere" being included on there really doesn't really help.

As for "Heart Attack and Vine", to me it's mostly filler and by the time you get through all the noodly jazz and irritating bluesy-rock you're too tired to listen to Jersey Girl et al.

Foreign Affairs - now that's an odd one. It's got the horribly delightful "Never Talk To Strangers" duet on there but it's also got "Potters Field" which preceeds things like the Black Rider by about 10 years. It doesn't really feel like a proper album though to me, much like HA&V.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 10 February 2005 17:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Brilliant record.

'somewhere' and 'i never talk to strangers' being notable exceptions

― adam.r.l. (nordicskilla), Thursday, 10 February 2005 17:35 (twenty-one years ago)

The fact that I had to endure my brother constantly playing that track about "taking the spokes from your wheelchair" and then tearfully singing and quoting from it after a few beers probably contributed to my long time dislike of Tom Waits

― Angus Muldoon, Fife (Dada), Thursday, 10 February 2005 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Confusing sentimentality with emotion = DUD

― Angus Muldoon, Fife (Dada), Thursday, 10 February 2005 17:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Mr Ismus, what if one just likes sentimentality for its own sake? ;)

― adam.r.l. (nordicskilla), Thursday, 10 February 2005 17:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I love sentimentality as much as the next boozehound!

― Angus Muldoon, Fife (Dada), Thursday, 10 February 2005 17:42 (twenty-one years ago)

talking of booze this is a superb album (in the maudlin sense obv) when combined with WINE.

also - step off "Somewhere" haters!

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 10 February 2005 17:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I still remember very clearly the first time I listened to this; heartbroken on a Valentine's Day, 16 years old.

― known vaginatarian (nickalicious), Thursday, 10 February 2005 18:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I used to have this on cassette, lost it years ago. in retrospect, it's maybe the only TW album of the handful I've heard that I still want to listen to now and then. maybe I'll buy it again.

― Al (sitcom), Thursday, 10 February 2005 18:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Agreed. Only this clunky piece of melodrama keeps Blue Valentine from complete classic status. If within reach, I almost always hit >> at that point.

― j.m. lockery (j.m. lockery), Friday, 11 February 2005 02:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess I should clarify that I agree that that song stinks, not that I harbor a life long hatred of Waits. Quite the opposite.

― j.m. lockery (j.m. lockery), Friday, 11 February 2005 02:13 (twenty-one years ago)

"Romeo Is Bleeding" will always be one of my favorite TW tune.

― beatbox (beatbox), Friday, 11 February 2005 13:24 (twenty-one years ago)

four years pass...

Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis has one of the best lines ever:
"Charlie for chrissakes/ 'f you wanna know the truth of it
Don't have a husband/ He don't play the trombone..."

― Dr X O'Skeleton, Friday, 5 February 2010 22:19 (sixteen years ago)

That song always breaks my heart.

― Moka, Friday, 5 February 2010 22:37 (sixteen years ago)

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