Franks Wild Years
Encyclopedia
Franks Wild Years is an album by Tom Waits
, released 1987 on Island Records
. Subtitled "Un Operachi Romantico in Two Acts", the album contains songs written by Waits and collaborators (mainly his wife, Kathleen Brennan
) for a play of the same name. The shared title of the album and the play is an iteration of "Frank's Wild Years", a song from Waits' 1983 album Swordfishtrombones
.
The play had its world premiere at the Briar St. Theatre in Chicago, Illinois on June 22, 1986, performed by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company
.
Various versions of "Way Down in the Hole" were used as the theme music for the HBO series The Wire, including Waits' original version for the second season. The songs "Temptation" and "Cold Cold Ground" were used in Jean-Claude Lauzon
's film Léolo
(1992). "Cold Cold Ground" was also used in the series Homicide: Life on the Street
. "Temptation" and "Straight to the Top (Vegas)" featured in the film Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
(2005).
Side One
Side Two
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, released 1987 on Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
. Subtitled "Un Operachi Romantico in Two Acts", the album contains songs written by Waits and collaborators (mainly his wife, Kathleen Brennan
Kathleen Brennan
Kathleen Brennan is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and artist. She was born in Johnsburg, Illinois, as noted by her husband and musical collaborator Tom Waits, in the song of the same name. Brennan and Waits met in 1980 during the filming of the Francis Ford Coppola film One from...
) for a play of the same name. The shared title of the album and the play is an iteration of "Frank's Wild Years", a song from Waits' 1983 album Swordfishtrombones
Swordfishtrombones
Swordfishtrombones is an album by American singer-songwriter Tom Waits, released in September 1983. It was the first album that Waits produced himself....
.
The play had its world premiere at the Briar St. Theatre in Chicago, Illinois on June 22, 1986, performed by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Tony Award-winning Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church in Highland Park, Illinois. It has since relocated to Chicago's Halsted Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Its name comes from...
.
Various versions of "Way Down in the Hole" were used as the theme music for the HBO series The Wire, including Waits' original version for the second season. The songs "Temptation" and "Cold Cold Ground" were used in Jean-Claude Lauzon
Jean-Claude Lauzon
Jean-Claude Lauzon was a Canadian filmmaker. Born to a humble family in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Lauzon worked a variety of odd jobs after dropping out of high school. He went on to study film at the Université du Québec à Montréal at the behest of Andre Petrowski, a member of the National Film...
's film Léolo
Léolo
Léolo is a 1992 film by Quebecois director Jean-Claude Lauzon.The film tells the story of Léo Lauzon , a young boy living in a Montreal tenement with his dysfunctional family. He uses his active fantasy life and the book L'avalée des avalés by Québécois novelist Réjean Ducharme to escape the...
(1992). "Cold Cold Ground" was also used in the series Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...
. "Temptation" and "Straight to the Top (Vegas)" featured in the film Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a 2005 documentary film based on the best-selling 2003 book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, a study of one of the largest business scandals in American history...
(2005).
Track listing
Tracks written by Tom Waits, except where noted. Recorded by Danny Leake and Biff Dawes. Mixed by Biff Dawes at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA.Side One
Side Two
Musicians
- Jay Anderson - bass
- Michael Blair - drums, conga, percussion, maracas, marimba, orchestra bells, glockenspiel
- Kathleen BrennanKathleen BrennanKathleen Brennan is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and artist. She was born in Johnsburg, Illinois, as noted by her husband and musical collaborator Tom Waits, in the song of the same name. Brennan and Waits met in 1980 during the filming of the Francis Ford Coppola film One from...
- vocal arrangements - Angela BrownAngela BrownAngela M. Brown is an African-American dramatic soprano particularly admired for her portrayal of Verdi heroines.-Early life and education:...
- background vocals - Ralph CarneyRalph CarneyRalph Carney is an American musician. While his primary instruments are various saxophones and clarinets, Carney collects and plays many instruments, often unusual or obscure ones....
- sax, baritone horn, violin, tenor sax - Greg CohenGreg CohenA native of Los Angeles, bassist Greg Cohen has been playing in various acclaimed music groups since the '60s. He is perhaps best known for his work with John Zorn's Masada quartet; more recently he has been touring with Ornette Coleman, and performed on Coleman's much-praised Sound Grammar...
- bass, alto horn, horn arrangements, Leslie bass pedals - David HidalgoDavid HidalgoDavid Hidalgo is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his work with the band Los Lobos. He is also a member of the supergroup Los Super Seven and of the Latin Playboys, a side project band made up of some of the members of Los Lobos...
- accordion - Leslie Holland - background vocals
- Lynne Jordan - background vocals
- Marc RibotMarc RibotMarc Ribot born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer.His own work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and composer John Zorn.-Biography:Ribot was...
- guitar, banjo - William SchimmelWilliam SchimmelWilliam Schimmel is one of the principal architects in the resurgence of the accordion, and the philosophy of "Musical Reality"...
- piano, pump organ, accordion, Leslie bass pedals, cocktail piano - Larry TaylorLarry TaylorLarry Taylor is an American bass guitarist, best known for his work as a member of Canned Heat from 1967. Before joining Canned Heat he had been a session bassist for The Monkees and Jerry Lee Lewis...
- bass, upright bass - Moris TepperMoris TepperMoris Tepper, sometimes credited as Jeff Moris Tepper, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and artist.Tepper first came to prominence in the late 1970s with Captain Beefheart. He has also worked with singers Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Robyn Hitchcock and Frank Black. He has recorded several solo...
- guitar - Francis Thumm - prepared piano, pump organ
- Tom WaitsTom WaitsThomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
- vocals, pump organ, OptiganOptiganThe Optigan was an electronic keyboard instrument designed for the consumer market. The name stems from the instrument's reliance on pre-recorded optical soundtracks to reproduce sound...
, guitar, vocal stylings, rooster, piano, FarfisaFarfisaFarfisa is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy.The Farfisa brand name is commonly associated with a series of compact electronic organs, and later, a series of multi-timbral synthesizers. At the height of its production, Farfisa operated three factories to produce instruments, in...
, MellotronMellotronThe Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
, drums, conga, tambourine
External links
- Frank's Wild Years at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company
- Franks Wild Years (album) and Frank's Wild Years (theatrical), info at the Tom Waits Library