Frank Rider's definitions

A and B the C.O.D.

Above and Beyond the Call Of Duty

That work you did is really A and B the C.O.D.

by Frank Rider August 22, 2009

Bone Machine

This 1992 album was Tom Waits' darkest release yet. Full of dark "cyber drama" and vicious guitar strings, he had totally dropped his piano onto the city sidewalk. Here we find Goin' Out West, Murder In The Red Barn, and the delicate suicide story, The Ocean Doesn't Want Me. Waits' voice sounds stepped on and burned out, but the songs are more amazing than ever because of it.

An excerpt from Bone Machine's-
Black Wings

Well they've stopped trying to hold him
With mortar, stone and chain
He broke out of every prison
Well the boots mount the staircase
The door is flung back open
He's not there for he has risen
He's not there for he has risen
Well he once killed a man with a guitar string
He's been seen at the table with kings
Well, he once saved a baby from drowning
There are those who say beneath his coat there are wings

by Frank Rider August 23, 2009

Sithter

1. A sister so evil she could have been the inspiration for Darth Vader, Count Dooku, or any of the other evil Star Wars people.

It's difficult to use sithter in a sentence....

I did it!

by Frank Rider August 23, 2009

Mule Variations

This album was Tom Waits' 1999 release, and his thirteenth. The songs range from Big in Japan, a smooth but tough rock song, to Come On Up To the House, a powerful telling of a world's troubles. Waits did good again, striking a strange chord with Chocolate Jesus, and tugging your thought strings with Black Market Baby.

An excerpt from Mule Variations'-
Get Behind the Mule

Punctuated birds on the power line
In a Studebaker with the Birdie Joe Joaks
I'm diggin' all the way to China
With a silver spoon
While the hangman fumbles with the noose, boy
The hangman fumbles with the noose
Got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow

by Frank Rider August 23, 2009

Blue Valentine

Tom Waits' fifth studio album, from 1978, Blue Valentine is an amazing work of art. This album was really the turning point between classic Waits, and the more avant-garde Waits. His voice became much more gravelly in his hiatus, and he added more low-lifes and hard-lucks to the songs. One of the best songs he has ever recorded is here, Romeo Is Bleeding, along with $29.00, and Blue Valentines.

An excerpt from Blue Valentine's-
A Sweet Little Bullet From A Pretty Blue Gun

I'd rather die before I wake
Like Marilyn Monroe
And throw my dreams out in
The street and the
Rain will make em grow

by Frank Rider August 23, 2009

Frank's Wild Years

This album was Tom Wait's 1987 release. In all actuality, it was the soundtrack to a play of the same name that Waits had written and starred in, it was about a murderous accordion player. One of his most popular songs, Innocent When You Dream, is on the album. More Than Rain is here with I'll Be Gone, as well. It is a sad sort of album, but with plenty of up tempo music and a bit of old style jazziness to it.

An excerpt from Frank's Wild Years'
Straight Up To The Top (Rhumba)-

I'm going straight up to the top
Up where the air is fresh and clean
I know that I will never stop, no no
Until I know I'm wild and free
I'm like a champagne bubble
Pop pop pop

by Frank Rider August 23, 2009

Heartattack

A term coined by Tom Waits. It's quite obviously just heart attack without a space, but it is taken to mean a life and death of shit and revelry. The word was used in the title for his 1980 album, Heartattack and Vine, which had a song of the same name.

An excerpt from Heartattack And Vine
From the album Heartattack And Vine
by Tom Waits,

"See that little Jersey girl in the see-through top
With the peddle pushers sucking on a soda pop
Well I bet she's still a virgin but it's only twenty-five 'til nine
You can see a million of 'em on heartattack and vine

Better off in Iowa against your scrambled eggs
Than crawling down Cahuenga on a broken pair of legs
You'll find your ignorance is blissful every goddamn time
You're waitin' for the RTD on heartattack and vine"

by Frank Rider August 23, 2009