Franks Wild Years

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Franks Wild Years
Franks Wild Years cover
Studio album by Tom Waits
Released 17 August 1987
Recorded The Sound Factory
(Hollywood, California)
Length 55:34
Label Island
Producer Tom Waits
Professional reviews
Tom Waits chronology
Rain Dogs
(1985)		 Franks Wild Years
(1987)		 Big Time
(1988)

Franks Wild Years[sic] is an album by Tom Waits, released 1987 on Island Records. Subtitled "Un Operachi Romantico in Two Acts", the album contains songs written by Waits and collaborators (mainly his wife, Kathleen Brennan) for a play of the same name. The shared title of the album and the play is an iteration of "Frank's Wild Years", a song from Waits' 1983 album Swordfishtrombones.

The play had its world premiere in Chicago, Illinois on June 22, 1986, performed by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company at the Briar St. Theatre.

"Hang On St. Christopher" was covered by 80s Hair Metal group, Bulletboys.

Various versions of the track "Way Down in the Hole" have served as the theme music for the HBO series The Wire, including Waits' original version for the second season. The song was also sampled by the hip-hop group 3rd Bass and their producer Sam Sever in 1989 on their collaborative effort The Cactus Album (specifically, the track "Flippin' off the Wall Like Lucy Ball").

"Frank's Wild Years" is also a short Remodernist film by Jesse Richards that was inspired in part by the Waits album.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

Tracks written by Tom Waits, except where noted.

  1. "Hang on St. Christopher" – 2:46
  2. "Straight to the Top (Rhumba)" (Waits / Greg Cohen) – 2:30
  3. "Blow Wind Blow" – 3:35
    • Tom Waits - vocal, pump organ
    • Greg Cohen - alto horn
    • Francis Thumm - pump organ
    • Michael Blair - glockenspiel
  4. "Temptation" – 3:53
  5. "Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)" – 4:15
  6. "I'll Be Gone" (Waits / Kathleen Brennan) – 3:12
  7. "Yesterday Is Here" (Waits / Brennan) – 2:29
  8. "Please Wake Me Up" (Waits / Brennan) – 3:36
  9. "Franks Theme" – 1:49
    • Tom Waits - vocals, pump organ
  10. "More Than Rain" – 3:52
  11. "Way Down in the Hole" – 3:30
  12. "Straight to the Top (Vegas)" (Waits / Cohen) – 3:26
  13. "I'll Take New York" – 3:58
  14. "Telephone Call From Istanbul" – 3:12
  15. "Cold Cold Ground" – 4:07
  16. "Train Song" – 3:20
  17. "Innocent When You Dream (78)" – 3:08

[edit] Musicians

  • Jay Anderson - bass
  • Michael Blair - drums, conga, percussion, maracas, marimba, orchestra bells, glockenspiel
  • Kathleen Brennan - vocal arrangements
  • Angela Brown - background vocals
  • Ralph Carney - sax, baritone horn, violin, tenor sax
  • Greg Cohen- bass, alto horn, horn arrangements, Leslie bass pedals
  • David Hidalgo - accordion
  • Leslie Holland - background vocals
  • Lynne Jordan - background vocals
  • Marc Ribot - guitar, banjo
  • William Schimmel - piano, pump organ, accordion, Leslie bass pedals, cocktail piano
  • Larry Taylor - bass, upright bass
  • Moris Tepper - guitar
  • Francis Thumm - prepared piano, pump organ
  • Tom Waits - vocals, pump organ, Optigan, guitar, vocal stylings, rooster, piano, Farfisa, Mellotron, drums, conga, tambourine

[edit] Samples

"Way Down In The Hole"

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[edit] External links

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