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

Filipino Box Spring Hog

1. The fourteenth song on Tom Waits' 1999 album, Mule Variations.

2. A term for any strange or disgusting new food. If you can't figure out a food's name or ingredients, you may call it this.

Rattle snake piccata with grapes and figs
Old brown Betty with a yellow wig
Tain't the mince meat filagree
And it ain't the turkey neck stew
And it ain't them bruleed okra seeds
Though she made them especially for you
Worse won a prize for her bottom black pie
The beans got thrown to the dogs
Jaheseus Christ, I can always make room
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog

by Frank Rider August 22, 2009

Crap Shoot

A crap shoot is a view of the future, seeing it as variable and dynamic, and totally unforeseeable. Besides the fact that it is slightly more black than the present.

"What are you doing friday?"

"I don't know. it's a crap shoot."

by Frank Rider August 22, 2009

Big Time

Big Time, from 1988, was Tom Waits' second live album, but it was his tenth release. Waits did a tour called Big Time which was taped and became a little known movie of the same name, and there was an album of the songs released. There are two new songs on the album, but all recordings of old songs are new. Falling Down and Strange Weather are the originals, though the latter was from the stage version of Frank's Wild Years. This is an amazing album, with beautiful versions of already perfect songs.

An excerpt from Big Time's-
Strange Weather

Will you take me across the Channel,
London Bridge is falling down
Strange, a woman tries to save
What a man will try to drown
And he's the rain that they predicted,
Its the forecast every time
The rose has died because you picked it
And I believe that brandy's mine

by Frank Rider August 23, 2009

Every Bit Of Alic

Every Bit Of Alice is a generic term for a man's dream woman. Beautiful, smart, tolerant, quiet, great in bed, great cook, great mother, faithful, ETC.

"What do you look for in a woman, John?"

"I want Every Bit Of Alice!"

by Frank Rider August 22, 2009

Alice

From 2002, this is Tom Waits' fourteenth album, simultaneously released with Blood Money. For a third time, Waits made a studio version of the music that he used in a play, this is the second part of a trilogy involving The Black Rider. Waits' album is absolutely beautiful, but quite scary. Alice, the title track, is a song of obsession and love that pulls you into it's murky waters and holds you under. Table Top Joe is a great song, very full of life, and it reminds one of Straight Up To the Top. Reeperbahn is a sandpaper song with stories of various people, and their tragedies.

An excerpt from Alice's-
Reeperbahn

Now if you've lost your inheritance
And all you're left is common sense
And you're not too picky about the crowd you keep
Or the mattress where you sleep
Behind every window, behind every door
The apple's gone but there's always the core
The seeds will sprout up right through the floor
Down there in the Reeperbahn

by Frank Rider August 23, 2009

Nighthawks at the Diner

This 1975 live studio album was Tom Waits' third release. It begins with a bit of sax, percussion and an intro by Waits. He's a bit of a stage comedian, telling jokes between songs, and giving little introductions before them. The music is beautiful, as with all of Waits' live work. One of the best is Better Off Without A Wife, all about a stag and his love of being alone. Playing after that is Nighthawk Postcards, which is another great story, this time of a journey through a town past dark.

An excerpt from Nighthawks at the Diner's-
Emotional Weather Report

With tornado watches issued shortly
Before noon Sunday, for the areas
Including, the western region
Of my mental health
And the northern portions of my
Ability to deal rationally with my
Disconcerted precarious emotional
Situation, it's cold out there

by Frank Rider August 22, 2009