Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards

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Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
Studio album by Tom Waits
Released	November 21, 2006
Genre	Rock, Blues, Experimental
Label	ANTI-/Epitaph
Producer(s)	Kathleen Brennan, Tom Waits
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Being There Magazine link Pitchfork (8.4/10) 28 Nov 2006 Prefixmag (9.0/10) 27 Nov 2006 Stylus (B+) 20 Nov 2006
Tom Waits chronology
Real Gone (2004)	Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (2006)

Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards is a limited edition three CD set by Tom Waits, released by the ANTI- label on November 17, 2006 in Europe and on November 21, 2006 in the United States (see 2006 in music).

The set is a collection of 24 rare and 30 brand new songs. Each disc is intended to be a separate collection in itself; the first disc with the more roughcut rock and blues cuts, the second the more melancholy tunes and ballads, and the third disc having the more experimental songs & spoken word pieces. Although the liner notes claim "56 songs, of which 30 are new", there are only 14 songs on the collection which can readily be found on other albums.

The Orphans Tour was done in support of the album prior to the release.

Brawlers contains some instantly memorable songs covering themes ranging from failed relationships ("Lie to Me", "Walk Away"), floods and subsequent havoc ("2:19"), bluesy gospel ("Ain't Goin' Down to the Well", "Lord I've Been Changed"), sentimental tunes ("Lucinda", "Sea of Love"), and an extremely affecting song from the perspective of a Palestinian suicide bomber ("Road to Peace").

Bawlers is comprised of mostly downtrodden numbers, replacing the hope of ballads on previous albums with resignation (notably "Bend Down the Branches", "Little Drop of Poison" (a new or alternate recording than the one found on The End of Violence soundtrack), "Fannin Street", "Little Man", and "Widow's Grove"). The track "Down There by the Train" was written by Waits for Johnny Cash, and was first released on Cash's first American Recordings album.

Bastards is concerned with Waits' more experimental musical styles, opening with an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's poem What Keeps Mankind Alive? (music by Kurt Weill) and continuing on "Children's Story", which is en excerpt of Georg Büchner's play Woyzeck, presumably related to Waits' Blood Money project. The disc contains other literary adaptations, including a Charles Bukowski poem about a typical day in a cafe ("Nirvana") and two songs, "Home I'll Never Be" and "On the Road", originally penned by Jack Kerouac.

Waits describes the collection as "A lot of songs that fell behind the stove while making dinner".^[1]

The album was released to mostly very positive reviews.^[2][3][4]

Some copies of the initial "limited edition" are autographed by Waits.

Billboard 200[5]
Week	01	02	03
Position	74
Sales	21,066
Total	21,445

[edit] Track listing

All songs by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, except where otherwise noted.

[edit] Brawlers

1. "Lie to Me" – 2:10
2. "Lowdown" – 4:15
3. "2:19" – 5:02
4. "Fish in the Jailhouse" – 4:22
5. "Bottom of the World" – 5:42
6. "Lucinda" – 4:52
7. "Ain't Goin' Down to the Well" (Lead Belly, John Lomax, Alan Lomax) – 2:28
8. "Lord I've Been Changed" (trad. arr. Waits/Brennan) – 2:28
9. "Puttin' on the Dog" – 3:39
10. "Road to Peace" – 7:17
11. "All the Time" – 4:33
12. "The Return of Jackie and Judy" (Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone) – 3:28
13. "Walk Away" – 2:43
14. "Sea of Love" (Phil Phillips, George Khoury) – 3:43
15. "Buzz Fledderjohn" – 4:12
16. "Rains on Me" (Waits, Chuck E. Weiss) – 3:20

[edit] Bawlers

1. "Bend Down the Branches" – 1:06
2. "You Can Never Hold Back Spring" – 2:26
3. "Long Way Home" – 3:10
4. "Widow's Grove" – 4:58
5. "Little Drop of Poison" – 3:09
6. "Shiny Things" – 2:20
7. "World Keeps Turning" – 4:16
8. "Tell it to Me" – 3:08
9. "Never Let Go" – 3:13
10. "Fannin Street" – 5:01
11. "Little Man" (Teddy Edwards) – 4:33
12. "It's Over" – 4:40
13. "If I Have to Go" – 2:15
14. "Goodnight Irene" (Lead Belly, Gussie L. Davis) – 4:47
15. "The Fall of Troy" – 3:01
16. "Take Care of All My Children" – 2:31
17. "Down There by the Train" – 5:39
18. "Danny Says" (Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone) – 3:05
19. "Jayne's Blue Wish" – 2:29
20. "Young at Heart" (Carolyn Leigh, Johnny Richards) – 3:41

[edit] Bastards

1. "What Keeps Mankind Alive?" (Kurt Weill/Bertold Brecht)
   • From the Threepenny Opera
2. "Children's Story"
   • From Georg Buchner's Woyzeck (public domain)
3. "Heigh Ho" (Churchill / Morey)
4. "Army Ants"
5. "Books of Moses" (Skip Spence)
6. "Bone Chain"
7. "Two Sisters" (traditional, arr by Waits / Brennan)
8. "First Kiss"
9. "Dog Door" (Waits/Brennan/Linkous)
   • With Sparklehorse
10. "Redrum"
11. "Nirvana"
    • Words: Charles Bukowski
12. "Home I'll Never Be"
    • Words: Jack Kerouac
13. "Poor Little Lamb" (Kennedy / Waits)
14. "Altar Boy"
15. "The Pontiac"
16. "Spidey's Wild Ride"
17. "King Kong" (Daniel Johnston)
18. "On the Road"
    • Words: Jack Kerouac
19. "Dog Treat" (Bonus track)
20. "Missing My Son" (Bonus track)

[edit] See also

• The Orphans Tour

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• ANTI.com information page
• Tom Waits Library - Lyrics and information on all of the songs on Orphans