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Tom Waits - Last Leaf on the Tree

And if I should live to be
The last leaf upon the tree
In the spring,
Let them smile, as I do now,
At the old forsaken bough
Where I cling. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

I fight off the snow
I fight off the hail
Nothing makes me go
I’m like some vestigial tail - Tom Waits

Hi kids,

Today's post is the last for now in this micro-mini-series featuring the elder statesmen of songwriting. Tom Waits hasn't hit his 70's yet, but we Tom-waits-reduced
won't hold that against him. His voice, both literal and metaphorical would be sorely missed in our musical landscape had he decided on a career in, say, pharmaceuticals instead of songwriting. He, too, is addressing mortality in his songs. 

The image of "the last leaf on the tree" is not a new one. The Oliver Wendell Holmes poem quoted above showed up in the Yale Book of American Verse in 1912. Writers are always re-working older archetypal/poetic images. I think its actually part of the job description. 

I will mention also that anyone who can use the word 'vestigial' in a song gets bonus points. And by the way, the 2nd old-dude voice on this recording is Kieth Richards... 

 

 

  

 If you receive this post via email, you can watch the video here.

 

02/16/2013

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