Wednesday, October 16, 2024
musicreleases

Tom Waits Releases Unheard Rendition of ‘Get Behind The Mule’

Carl Bulzacchelli

Celebrating 25 Years of Mule Variations

Tom Waits, widely regarded as one of the most innovative and influential artists in popular music, has just released a previously unheard version of his iconic track Get Behind The Mule. This release coincides with the 25th anniversary of his thirteenth studio album, Mule Variations.

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The Legacy of Tom Waits

Included in Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011, Tom Waits’ impact on music spans multiple genres. From folk to blues, jazz to gospel, his work has influenced countless artists, including Bruce Springsteen, Radiohead, and Nick Cave. His unique voice and aesthetic have even led to the creation of the term ‘Waitsian’ to describe his singular style. Waits’ embrace of beat writers like Jack Kerouac and spoken word poetry also provided a blueprint for early hip-hop artists like Chuck D, making his work a cornerstone in the exploration of the human condition.

Mule Variations: A Milestone in Waits’ Career

Originally released in 1999, Mule Variations marked the beginning of Waits’ collaboration with the indie label ANTI-Records, a sister label to the legendary punk outfit Epitaph Records. Brett Gurewitz, founder and CEO of Epitaph, reflected on the milestone: “Reaching the 25-year mark for ANTI-Records fills me with gratitude for Tom Waits and his album Mule Variations, which didn’t just start our label; it sparked a lasting partnership built on trust, creativity, and a love for pushing artistic boundaries.” Andy Kaulkin, ANTI- President, added, “Tom’s embodiment of the spirit of artistic authenticity and resilience was our north star when we started, and his unparalleled creativity continues to inspire everything we do.”

Tom Waits’ career took a significant turn in 1983 with the release of Swordfishtrombones, where he departed from his earlier noir romanticism and traditional Tin Pan Alley songwriting. Instead, he became a fiercely inventive sound sculptor, creating abstract aural landscapes while maintaining his innate lyricism, melodic sophistication, and humanity. This phase of his career introduced an array of unconventional instruments, including calliopes, glass harmonicas, and a custom-built percussion instrument dubbed the “conundrum.”

Mule Variations encapsulates the best of both phases of Waits’ career, blending surreal and rural elements into a cohesive whole. The album’s track “Hold On” was nominated for Best Male Rock Performance at the GRAMMYs and won the GRAMMY Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

As Waits himself explained, Mule Variations was intended to be “somewhere between surreal and rural,” a concept he referred to as “surreal.” The album remains a testament to his ability to merge disorienting, avant-garde elements with deeply personal, often tender storytelling.

Critical Acclaim

Pitchfork’s 1999 review of Mule Variations captured the challenge of reaching the heights of Waits’ best work: “To reach the levels of one of his very best songs, you’d have to spend the next twenty years training with ninjas in a high mountain monastery, travel from there to Haiti to have bizarre Voudun rites performed over your writing hand, and then sell your soul to Satan for good measure. Better get started.”

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