Wild Years: The Music and Myth of Tom Waits Review

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Wild Years: The Music and Myth of Tom Waits ReviewWaits' fans are no strangers to paradox -- his music, steeped in its own history yet undeniably original, deeply textured as corrugated steel yet with a compassionate heart that doesn't quit, songs that reveal humanity's every weakness, and in doing so somehow redeem it. His music revels in its own originality without falling prey to self-indulgence.

So it shouldn't have surprised me that Tom Wait's biographies have been as badly written, speculative, and poorly directed as his music has been insightful and original. From his early years Waits portrayed the piano playing drunk, the street poet, the loser with dreams, and seemed to love using that voice to speak to the press. Interviewers were treated to long yarns about his life, loves and friends, yarns spun from a humorous imagination by a private man. Books trying to build on this paper foundation have fallen flat as last night's beer, and if some fans (and reporters) were annoyed by his evasions and stories, more were entertained by the them, and willingly accepted Waits as the character he portrayed, a seedy addition to American mythology.
Waits is not the first artist to use a stage persona as a privacy screen, but he was one of the most successful. It is my opinion that this avoidance was not so much a personal aversion to the limelight, but a desire to proect his music from himself. To that end, he only revealed the parts of himself that supported his music, and, like any good thespian, hid the machinery with the scenery.
Finally, someone got the point. Jay S. Jacobs writes about Waits from a thoughtful perspective unseen in previous biographers. Guiding us with a wink and a smile past the many myths and tall tales, Jacobs brings us backstage to the artist without knocking down his front door. Those looking for juicy details and scandalous stories will be disappointed-- the basics of his private life are related only in context of his musical career. Jacobs makes no attempt to analyse or interpret Waits' personality.
That being said, those looking for a portait of Waits the artist will be amply rewarded. The details of his career are recorded here as nowhere else; details of projects he's worked on, creative decisions and how they related to his goals and situation at the time, inspirations for songs both factual and fantastic, interviews with producers and musicians he has worked with broaden our view. Here too we see that the easygoing streetpoet is defended by an uncompromising artst who picks his fights carefully: his refusal to sell his music rights to sell products; his lawsuit against Frito Lay; his legal action against police officers who mistook him for someone they could abuse.
With each successive project, with each professional decision, we are given a block-by block construction of a remarkable career, which fell short (or steered clear?) of the commercial fast track in favour of a more winding road to a more unique, enduring and (I suspect) satisfying destiny.
I know that Waits himself does not approve of projects directed at his life; nevertheless as a musician I am deeply grateful to Jacobs for giving us biography. In the past I was moved and shaken by his music; now I am proud to count him as a role-model.Wild Years: The Music and Myth of Tom Waits Overview

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