Tom Waits - Blue Valentines

I had a kid-crush on Rickie Lee Jones when I was like 10 or 11 years old. I fiended for anything I could get my hands on that even had her picture on it, and when I read that she was dating some guy named Tom Waits and, in fact, her picture appeared on the inside cover of some record by him called Blue Valentine, I bought it up. I was a kid -- I didn't understand what I was getting my hands on and why, in years to come, I would be less consumed with Rickie Lee and more with the album I had discovered in my youthful haze. The whiskey-tinged richness of Tom Waits grumbling over the dirty back-alley sounds of the Hammond B-3, the neon-beer-light saxophones, and electric guitars that poured a million shots of bourbon and lit a million cigarettes was a lot to handle for a 10 year old. Hell, it's Valentine's Day, so here's my valentine letter to you. Grab the hand of the one you love, get a pack of Winston Cigarettes, fire up the '72 Buick and head down to the pool hall for a few rounds with the fellahs before you go home and make sweet love.

BONUS TRACK: Romeo Is Bleeding