Foreign Affairs (album)

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Foreign Affairs
Studio album by Tom Waits
Released	September 1977
Recorded	July 28 – August 15, 1977
Genre	Jazz
Length	41:53
Label	Asylum
Producer	Bones Howe
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Robert Christgau (B) link Rolling Stone link
Tom Waits chronology
Small Change (1976) Foreign Affairs (1977) Blue Valentine (1978)

Foreign Affairs is an album by Tom Waits, released in 1977 on Elektra Entertainment. It was produced by Bones Howe, and features Bette Midler singing a duet with Waits on "I Never Talk to Strangers".

Contents 1 Production 2 Artwork 3 Track listing 4 Personnel 5 Notes

[edit] Production

Bones Howe, the album's producer, remembers the album's original concept and production approach thus:

[Waits] talked to me about doing this other material[...] He said, 'I'm going to do the demos first, and then I'm gonna let you listen to them. Then we should talk about what it should be. 'I listened to the material and said, 'It's like a black-and-white movie.' That's where the cover came from. The whole idea that it was going to be a black-and-white movie. It's the way it seemed to me when we were putting it together. Whether or not it came out that way, I don't have any idea, because there's such metamorphosis when you're working on [records]. They change and change. ^[1]

[edit] Artwork

Rickie Lee Jones, Waits' then-girlfriend, is pictured on the front cover with Waits.

[edit] Track listing

All tracks written by Tom Waits, except where noted.

1. "Cinny's Waltz" (instrumental) – 2:17
2. "Muriel" – 3:33
3. "I Never Talk to Strangers" – 3:38
4. "Medley: Jack & Neal/California, Here I Come" ("California, Here I Come" written by Joseph Meyer, Al Jolson and Buddy De Sylva) – 5:01
5. "A Sight for Sore Eyes" – 4:40
6. "Potter's Field" (words: Waits, music: Bob Alcivar) – 8:40
7. "Burma-Shave" – 6:34
8. "Barber Shop" – 3:54
9. "Foreign Affair" – 3:46

[edit] Personnel

• Gene Cipriano – clarinet solos on "Potter's Field"
• Jim Hughart – bass
• Shelly Manne – drums
• Bette Midler – vocals on "I Never Talk to Strangers"
• Jack Sheldon – trumpet solos
• Frank Vicari – tenor saxophone solos
• Tom Waits – piano, vocals

[edit] Notes

v • d • e Tom Waits Major releases Closing Time • The Heart of Saturday Night • Nighthawks at the Diner • Small Change • Foreign Affairs • Blue Valentine • Heartattack and Vine • One from the Heart • Swordfishtrombones • Rain Dogs • Franks Wild Years • Big Time • Night on Earth • Bone Machine • The Black Rider • Mule Variations • Blood Money • Alice • Real Gone • Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards Compilations Bounced Checks • Anthology of Tom Waits • The Asylum Years • The Early Years, Volume One • The Early Years, Volume Two • Beautiful Maladies • Used Songs, 1973-1980 Notable songs "Jersey Girl" • "Downtown Train" • "Heartattack and Vine" • "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love With You" • "Ol' '55" • "Young at Heart" Tours Real Gone Tour • The Orphans Tour • Glitter and Doom Tour Related Anywhere I Lay My Head (Scarlett Johansson album) • Kathleen Brennan • Greg Cohen • Marc Ribot