“And if I should live to be
The last leaf upon the tree
In the spring,
Let them smile, as I do now,
At the old forsaken bough
Where I cling.”
– Oliver Wendell Holmes
“I fight off the snow
I fight off the hail
Nothing makes me go
I’m like some vestigial tail
– Tom Waits
Today’s post is the last for now in this micro-mini-series featuring the elder statesmen of songwriting. Tom Waits hasn’t hit his 70’s yet, but we Tom-waits-reduced won’t hold that against him. His voice, both literal and metaphorical would be sorely missed in our musical landscape had he decided on a career in, say, pharmaceuticals instead of songwriting. He, too, is addressing mortality in his songs. The image of “the last leaf on the tree” is not a new one. The Oliver Wendell Holmes poem quoted above showed up in the Yale Book of American Verse in 1912. Writers are always re-working older archetypal/poetic images. I think its actually part of the job description. I will mention also that anyone who can use the word ‘vestigial’ in a song gets bonus points. And by the way, the 2nd old-dude voice on this recording is Kieth Richards…
