Raised Right Men (2011) – Tom Waits

‘He’s like a stray cat who was transformed into a man by a genie or a shaman’.
– Anonymous

Raised Right Men is the third song to be presented here from Tom Waits critically acclaimed 16th album – Bad As Me (2011) after his previous entry Hell Broke Luce. It was his first ever top 10 album and nominated for a Grammy award for best alternative music album. The press release at the time of it’s release stated: This pivotal work refines the music that has come before and signals a new direction. Waits, in possibly the finest voice of his career, worked with a veteran team of gifted musicians and longtime co-writer/producer (and wife) Kathleen Brennan.

Waits conceived Raised Right Men as a commentary on the complexities of masculinity and moral dilemmas. The song weaves a tale of men who grapple with their darker instincts while striving to adhere to the codes they were raised with. Waits has often spoken about his fascination with flawed characters, saying, “I like a beautiful song that tells you terrible things. We all like bad news out of a pretty mouth.”

Heavens to murgatroid, miners to coal
A good woman can make a diamond out of a measly lump of coal
And you need the patience of a glacier, if you can wait that long
Open up his window and admit it when you’re wrong

There ain’t enough raised right
There ain’t enough raised right men
I said there ain’t enough raised right men
It takes raised right man to keep a happy hen
I said there ain’t enough raised right men

Mackey Debiasi was a complicated man
He quarreled with his woman and she quarreled with her man
And his head was just too thick, so she knocked out a tooth
He’s that lonely man on the turnpike in the tolltaker’s booth

Gunplay Maxwell and Flat Nose George
Ice Pick Ed Newcomb on a slab in the morgue
Flat Nose looked at Gunplay and they all looked at me
With a good woman’s love, we could have saved all three

Waits, known for his unconventional studio techniques, used a variety of obscure instruments and recording methods to achieve the song’s distinctive sound. In an interview, Waits mentioned, “I try to break things that are already broken and see what they sound like.”

The band sounds like a bone crushing machine designed by David Lynch.
– Anonymous

References:
1. Tom Waits Returns With ‘Bad As Me’ | NPR
2. Tom Waits on the Edge – an Interview | The Guardian

About observationblogger

“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand