Tom Waits has shared a taster of his new spoken word piece ‘The Fly’, the B-side to his Massive Attack collaboration ‘Boots On The Ground’.
Last week, the two artists shared the surprise release, alongside a pointedly political film from Massive Attack and US photo artist thefinaleye. It was Waits’ first new music since his 2011 album ‘Bad As Me’ and it also featured vocals from his son Casey.
Now, Waits has posted an excerpt of ‘The Fly’, a wry, darkly comic spoken word poem, in the tradition of his previous tracks ‘What’s He Building In There?’ and ‘The Ocean Doesn’t Want Me’.
“No-one’s had a life stranger than you / You know famine, you know war, you know danger / You were brushed from the slacks on the President’s thigh / You lived for a day on a dead fish’s eye,” the piece begins.
“I know you probably had family in the manger / Roaches, rats, gnats, fleas, flies, no-one’s gonna weep when you die / Twitch and stutter, scrub and laugh, and do that dance that your weird mother choreographed.”
“Like two lazy violins braided together in a low spastic siren to warn us of nothing / And you’re named only after your ability to do so,” he continues.
Check it out here:
All of Waits’ proceeds from the exclusive vinyl release (pre-order here) will be donated to organisations funding mental health resources for veterans and legal advocacy for immigrant communities.
Waits revealed last week that he accepted the invitation to collaborate with Massive Attack “many years ago”.
“Way back then, we sent them ‘Boots On The Ground’,” he continued. “Their long release delay never worried me. Today, as in all of mankind’s yesterdays, guarantees this song will never go out of style. Man’s fiasco folly is a feast for the flies. Hence, the b-side of Massive Attack’s upcoming 12 inch ‘The Fly’ features my appreciation for the winged nuisance.”
Massive Attack have said about the project as a whole: “It’s a career honour to collaborate with an artist of the magnitude, originality and integrity of Tom, but this track is arriving in an atmosphere of chaos. Across the western hemisphere, state authoritarianism and the militarisation of police forces are fusing again with neo-fascist politics. Seen within the American emergency, at home and overseas, this track contains pulses of callous impulse and abandoned mind.”
In 2023, Waits’ longtime music agent Paul Charles claimed that the US singer-songwriter and actor had been “writing again” with the hope that the 76-year-old may tour.
As well as starring in Jim Jarmusch’s new film Father Mother Sister Brother alongside Adam Driver, Waits will release ‘Where The Willow And The Dogwood Grow’ – a curated “essential collection” of covers of songs by himself and wife Kathleen Brennan recorded by the likes by Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Ramones, Willie Nelson and Marianne Faithfull – on May 29.
Waits and Springsteen are also set to appear on the upcoming tribute album ’20th Century Paddy – The Songs Of Shane MacGowan’.
