#Song big in japan full#

They always want me to do ads for underwear and cigarettes, but I never did them. Then I brought my guys in and we all sat down, my mob with the Japanese mob. It was like this big, heavy stand-off, then they all started laughing, we all tipped our hats and did that little bow. I said, 'Fuck, I'm gonna go in there and sit down.' And I did. And they are in this huge air-conditioned car, with tea and little cookies and six guys sitting around talking with cigars. Everyone says, 'Don't go in there, don't go in there,' but it was the only place with seats - everybody else was huddled together like cattle. There was a whole car of Japanese gangsters dressed like Al Capone and Cagney, really zooted. Last time I was there, I was on a bullet train, had my little porkpie hat, my pointed shoes and my skinny tie. This is a song about those people who can't work anywhere else but Japan, and, so it's just a goof, you know? I've been over there several times, but I haven't been there in many years. Well, I hope to be big in Japan after this. And over there, they're hawking cigarettes, underwear, sushi, whiskey, sunglass es, used cars, beach blankets. And then there are all those people that don't do any commercials, they have this classy image. You can go over there and find people you haven't heard of in 20 years, that have moved over there, and they're like gods. It's also kind of a junkyard for entertainment.

There are people that are big in Japan, and are big nowhere else. I see myself in the harbor, ripping up the electrical towers, picking up cars, going in like Godzilla and leveling Tokyo. Naturally, a number of interviewers at the time asked Tom the obvious question: Are you big in Japan? He gave at least three different answers, two of them hilarious (he must have been tired for the middle one): What Tom Waits fan wouldnвЂ™t want to hear him holler вЂњI got the moon, I got the cheese / I got the whole damn nation on their kneesвЂќ? Lyrically, itвЂ™s nonsense, but of the most enjoyable sort. Musically, itвЂ™s fairly reminiscent of another вЂ90s classic, вЂњGoin' Out West.вЂќ It also includes something you donвЂ™t hear on many Tom songs though: A Stax-esque horn section. If you love Tom Waits, itвЂ™s hard not to love вЂњBig in Japan.вЂќ It includes so much of whatвЂ™s great about his post- Swordfishtrombones music: Loud growly bellowing, squalls of jagged blues-guitar, distorted beatboxing, almost violently aggressive percussion. It sounded like some guy alone in a room, which it was, trying his hardest to sound like a big, loud band. I had it on a cassette, and used to listen to it and laugh.

#Song big in japan full#

I turned it on, and I started screaming and banging on this chest of drawers really hard, till it was kindling, trying to make a full sound like a band. I was in Mexico in a hotel, and I only had this little tape recorder. He explained in a Mule Variations promo interview: It turns out thereвЂ™s an extremely-Waits story about where those 15 seconds of distorted audio come from. TheyвЂ™re just typical Tom lo-fi beatboxing before the band kicks in. IвЂ™d never paid too much attention to them before. I also find this song from TomвЂ™s collection the one I want to dance to most often.The opening 15 seconds of вЂњBig in JapanвЂќ encapsulate everything I love about Tom Waits, both musically and narratively. My kids like TomвЂ™s music and particularly this song. She had only heard that song the one time that day and in her second language as well. Later that afternoon when I was returning home with them from Aussie football practice in Bogota, my 4 year old daughter who was upon my shoulders suddenly belted out вЂIвЂ™m Big in Japan, IвЂ™m big in JapanвЂ™, and sounding just like Tom.

As I was just starting to get into it, I played it while my kids were over at the house one morning. I have a sweet family connection to this song. Interestingly Bob Dylan remains the one artist with the most albums in this list вЂ“ 11. ThatвЂ™s Tom!Д«ig in Japan is the first song on his 1999 album Mule Variations which received a grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album selling more than 500,000 copies worldwide ranking number 416 of Rolling StoneвЂ™s list of The 500 greatest albums of all time. HeвЂ™s grandstanding and beguiling himself all at the same time.

But there is no taking away the immediate and compounding impact of the instrumentals/percussion in this which sends this song into the stratosphere of great art, not to mention the barrage of gritty, yet tongue in cheek lyrics. Like many of TomвЂ™s songs you get a broader appreciation of it after repeated listens. It seems to me an unheralded gem in TomвЂ™s collection since such scant information exists about it. I am a huge fan of this song and I wish I had come across it much sooner in my musical expedition. The first line of Big in Japan sums things up pretty well вЂ“ вЂI got the style, but not the graceвЂ™.