Tom Waits

"I'll take it, with me when I go" Mule Variations.

Garfish, good choice. I too like Tom Waits and have many of his CDs. That doesn't mean Holly Cole's covers are not the "genuine" item. She does an excellent interpretation, and they stand on their own. I also like them. I also like Bob Dylan, but love Joan Baez's covers of Dylan on "Any Day Now". If the only person legit to sing a song is the original singer, music would be a lot poorer.

I'll stand by my post. Tom Waits is a song writing genius, but the CD of Holly Cole singing his songs has many beautifully done songs on it-- certainly different than Tom Waits singing his own works but still excellent in it's own right. And her "Temptations" CD reminded me a bit (just "a bit") of Jennifer Warnes doing Leonard Cohen's songs on "Famous Blue Raincoat". It's hardly unusual for an excellent singer to sing the songs of an excellent songwriter.

Dan Penn wrote (and sang) "At the Dark End of the Street"-- one of the greatest blues/soul songs ever written, IMO, but it took other singers to really bring it to life, again, IMO. Cheers. Craig

Thanks Debsal. We were posting at the same time, and had very similar thoughts. Cheers. Craig

My roommate has been turning me on to Tom Waits lately...some of his stuff is great but I think some of it will have to grow on me (the stuff that sounds like evil clown music)...then again, the Grateful Dead didnt do much for me in the early 80's, but by 87, they were and are to this day my favorite band...I have a feeling that Tom Waits will gradually earn his way into my all time favorites