{"id":2434,"date":"2020-04-10T14:09:53","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T14:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/notesnletters.com\/?p=2434"},"modified":"2020-04-10T15:27:59","modified_gmt":"2020-04-10T15:27:59","slug":"tom-waits-closing-time-the-heart-of-saturday-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/notesnletters.com\/?p=2434","title":{"rendered":"Tom Waits – Closing Time & The Heart of Saturday Night"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

10 albums that shaped my musical tastes and styles<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If I were asked what one album most influenced my musical tastes, as well as the style of my own music, I would have to pick…these two, and call it a tie. I simply can’t separate the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I first heard Tom Waits on the radio in the summer of 1975, probably on WBBM-FM in Chicago, when I heard “San Diego Serenade” and immediately fell in love with his music. The next day, I hurried to a record store, and began leafing through one of those big yellow catalogues, trying to find out more about this “Tom Lakes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite having misheard his name, I managed to find his first two albums, Closing Time<\/em> and The Heart of Saturday Night<\/em>, which instantly became — and still remain — two of my very favorite albums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love the shadowy, melancholy atmosphere of his songs, the gorgeous melodies, the insight and pathos of his lyrics, and the jazzy, trumpet-infused arrangements that were unlike anything else I was hearing at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a pianist and aspiring songwriter myself, I’ve been inspired by his mastery of the instrument and his use of chord progressions I had never imagined. And I’ve followed his evolution as a songwriter and performer who has maintained and occasionally surpassed that level of excellence over a span of almost five decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve borrowed a lot from him in my songwriting, sometimes without intending to. When my son, who makes his living as a musician and songwriter, heard me play some of my recent compositions on the piano, he said they reminded him of Tom Waits. I took this as a great compliment. I’m not anywhere close to playing in that league, of course, but “when you are dreaming, you see for miles and miles…”*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Tom Waits, “Midnight Lullaby”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Favorite tracks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closing Time<\/em> – Midnight Lullaby, Martha, Rosie, Grapefruit Moon, I Hope that I Don’t Fall in Love with You, Old Shoes (& Picture Postcards), Little Trip to Heaven (on the Wings of Your Love)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Heart of Saturday Night<\/em> – Please Call Me Baby, San Diego Serenade, Shiver Me Timbers, Fumblin’ with the Blues, New Coat of Paint<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

10 albums that shaped my musical tastes and styles If I were asked what one album most influenced my musical tastes, as well as the style of my own music, I would have to pick…these two, and call it a tie. I simply can’t separate the two. I first heard Tom Waits on the radio … Continue reading “Tom Waits – Closing Time & The Heart of Saturday Night”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182,101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-favorites","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/notesnletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/notesnletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/notesnletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notesnletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notesnletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2434"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/notesnletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2445,"href":"https:\/\/notesnletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434\/revisions\/2445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/notesnletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notesnletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notesnletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}