Melodic Monday - "Ruby's Arms"

A new feature (which, like the others, will likely be semi-regular), "Melodic Monday" will spotlight bands, artists, albums, or individual songs that I'm really getting into at the moment and will also highlight my incredibly eclectic taste in music.

A number of months ago, one of the students at the school I teach at asked me if I'd ever heard Tom Waits. While I am familiar with Waits' acting achievements (from films like Short Cuts, Mystery Men, and Domino), I had to plead ignorance as to his musical career, which is why he's famous in the first place. I was subsequently gifted a data disk filled with Waits' music - about seven or eight albums worth - and began to listen.

The man definitely has a very distinct sound. He is known for turning everyday objects into bizarre musical instruments. He has a way of incorporating various styles of music into his sound - vaudeville, blues, folk, early rock & roll. His low, gravelly voice is often filled with emotion and his dark sense of humor really comes across in songs like "Frank's Wild Years".

I'm not entirely sure how I stumbled across the gem that is "Ruby's Arms," as it was not on any of the albums I was gifted... but ever since listening to it, the song has absolutely haunted me. The lyrics tell a heartbreaking story of a young soldier who leaves behind his girl - presumably to join the military. A combination of raw emotion, poetic imagery, and Waits' own surly voice really make this song one of the most poignant and moving songs that I've ever heard.

Give it a listen:

Enter, Sandman... please?

It's odd. Any given night of my life, I can hear my phone going off at 2:30am because my friends from the other side of the country decide to text me, roll over, and still manage to go back to sleep.

For whatever reason... not tonight. Having been sick for the last four days and only now beginning to start feeling better... tonight's the night I can't sleep. Fabulous.

So what does the man do with his time in the wee hours of the A.M.?

Why, naturally, he:

• uploads pictures from the weekend.
• Facebook-stalks people he hasn't seen in years then, realizing how creepy it kinda is, stops and Facebook-stalks people he's seen more recently.
• gets thirsty but refuses to get up and go get a glass of water.
• listens to Patty Griffin's beautiful cover of Tom Waits' "Ruby's Arms" on YouTube (which he's had stuck in his head for at least a week).
• imagines what it would be like to be sleeping right now.
• reads an issue or two out of the third StormWatch trade, "Change or Die".
• watches a video of the Bible teachers at CCHS singing a rewritten version of Third Day's "You Are Beautiful, My Sweet, Sweet Song" about us.
• sucks it up and gets a drink of water anyway because it's so dadgum hot in the office.
• decides to go lay in bed for the last hour-and-three-quarters before his alarm goes off.

Cheers!