GBlog

In 2000 the Tom Waits community was still enjoying the release of "Mule Variations" as it was suddenly announced there would be another main event. Tom Waits and Robert Wilson were going to collaborate on their third play called "Woyzeck".
Again: Tom Waits: author of music and lyrics, Wolfgang Wiens: adaptation/ dramaturgy and Kathleen Waits-Brennan co-author of music and lyrics.
The play premiered November 18, 2000 at the Betty Nansen Theatre in Copenhagen/ Denmark. It went on tour in 2001 (with all of the dialogue spoken in Danish and most of the songs in English) and in 2002 (performed entirely in English).

SPIEGEL: Auch "Blood Money" basiert auf einer Produktion mit Wilson, der Musical-Version von Georg Büchners "Woyzeck", die vor anderthalb Jahren in Kopenhagen herauskam. Beide Alben sind fast durchweg akustisch instrumentiert und erinnern an die Theatermusik von Kurt Weill ...
Waits: Als ich diesen Vergleich das erste Mal hörte, habe ich Weills Musik gar nicht gekannt. Aber ich habe sie angehört, um herauszufinden, was die Leute meinen. Was ich an ihm mag, ist dieses: Er nimmt eine schöne Melodie und erzählt dir furchtbare Dinge. Ich hoffe, dass mir das auch gelingt.
SPIEGEL: An Düsternis herrscht in Ihren Songtexten sicher kein Mangel. Woher kommt diese dunkle Phantasie?
Waits: Wissen Sie: Ich bin ein Rätsel. Ich verstehe selbst nicht, was manche Songs bedeuten. Das ist der Trick beim Songschreiben: Du musst etwas in den Song einbauen, was dich auch selber später noch überrascht. Wenn es zu einfach ist, dann langweile ich mich damit. Es ist dasselbe wie mit Leuten...





oder auch: Tom Waits- Woyzeck in 'ASPEKTE' - 2001
oder auch: Der zärtliche Kehlenschnitt - drkultur

Misery River

(Woyzeck theatre version, 2000)

Carnival Announcer: "Ladies and gentlemen here you see the astronomical horse and the two little canary birds - favorites of all potentates and of all crowned heads, tell the people everything, how old, how many children, what illnesses."

Gentlemen! Gentlemen! Look at this creature, as God made it: nothing, nothing at all.

Misery's the River of the World
Misery's the River of the World
Misery's the River of the World

The higher that the monkey can climb
The more he shows his tail
Call no man happy 'til he dies
There's no milk at the bottom of the pail
God builds a church
The devil builds a chapel
Like the thistles that are growing
'round the trunk of a tree
All the good in the world
You can put inside a thimble
And still have room for you and me

If there's one thing you can say
About Mankind
There's nothing kind about man
You can drive out nature with a pitchfork
But it always comes roaring back again

Carnival Announcer: "Gentlemen, now see the effect of art. The monkey is already a soldier - that is not much, it is the lowest level of the human race! The little dummy is musical. Gentlemen this animal that you see here, with a tail on his body, with his four hooves, is a member of all learned societies, professor of our university, with whom the students learn to ride and fight. Man - you are created of dust, sand and dirt. Do you want to be more than dust, sand and dirt? Observe the progress of civilization. Everything progresses: a horse, a monkey, a canary bird. The commencement of the commencement is starting now!"

The higher that the monkey can climb
The more he shows his tail
Call no man happy 'til he dies
There's no milk at the bottom of the pail

God tempers all the winds
for the new shorn lambs
the devil knows the bible
like the back of his hand

All the good in the world
You can put inside a thimble
And still have room for you and me

If there's one thing you can say
About Mankind
There's nothing kind about man
You can drive out nature with a pitchfork
But it always comes roaring back again

For want of a bird
The sky was lost
For want of a nail
A shoe was lost
For want of a life
A knife was lost
For want of a toy
A child was lost(6)

Misery's the River of the World
Everybody Row! Everybody Row!
Misery's the River of the World
Misery's the River of the World
Misery's the River of the World
Everybody Row! Everybody Row!
Everybody Row



Any copyrighted material on these pages is used in "fair use"
for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only,
and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s).