Tom Waits continues to impress me as a musician, songwriter, and human being. Today, he released an amazing poem, whose purchase will help fund agencies providing relief to the homeless (Redwood Food Bank, Sonoma County's Homeless Referral Services, & Family Support Center).
But, as to why his lyric-writing greatly impresses me (drawing mostly from Blood Money and Mule Variations) is Tom's recognition of total depravity and God's grace. How often we forget that we are dead in trespasses and sin (Eph. 2:1), "bad through and through (in head and heart and will)" (KDY), and even (as Christians) our righteous deeds are like filthy rags before God (Isa. 64:6).
Though the Bible does it better, T$Waits helps us out:
"If there's one thing you can say about mankind, there's nothing kind about man." -Misery is the River of the World
"All the good in the world you can put inside a thimble and still have room for you and me." -Misery is the River of the World
"I don't believe you go to heaven when you're good, everything goes to hell, anyway." -Everything Goes to Hell
"We are all lost in the wilderness, we're as blind as can be." -Eyeball Kid
"Man's a fiddle that life plays on. When the day breaks, and the earth quakes, life's a mistake all day long...a man must test his mettle in a crooked ol' world." -Starving in the Belly of a Whale
But, luckily, Tom doesn't leave it there. Again, while the Bible does it much better, Tommy boy has songs pointing to God's common grace evidenced among mankind (so that we don't bask in utter depravity) and in God's grace through His own action. But this grace can only be appreciated upon understanding our fallen state.
"The face forgives the mirror, the worm forgives the plow, the questions beg the answer, can you forgive me somehow? Maybe when our story's over, we'll go where it's always spring, the band is playing our song again and all the world is green." -All the World is Green
"So if you find someone, someone to have, someone to hold, don't trade it for silver, don't trade it for gold. I have all of life's treasures and they are fine and they are good. They remind me that houses are just made of wood, what makes a house grand ain't the roof or the doors, if there's love in a house...it's a palace for sure." -House Where Nobody Lives
"We are all lost in the wilderness, we're as blind as can be. He came down to teach us how to really see." -Eyeball Kid
"Does life seem nasty, brutish and short? Come on up to the house. The seas are stormy and you can't find no port. Come on up to the house...And you been whipped by the forces that are inside you. Come on up to the house." -Come on Up to the House
"Come down off the cross, we can use the wood. Come on Up to the House." -Come on Up to the House
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