There aren't too many Tom Waits songs about fluffy bunny rabbits, first kisses and the magic power of cupcakes. Waits' songs are more often than not dark explorations the human psyche or tales of world-weary travellers who have become grizzled and beaten down thanks to life's trials and tribulations. As a Waits fan, you have to embrace this darkness. You won't make it through an album like Bone Machine or Mule Variations without allowing yourself to go to the dark place that he wants to take you. You need to be willing. How else will you be able to fully appreciate the haunting quality of many of his songs? A lot of people turn to music as an escape, something to take their minds off of whatever hardship or stress they have going on in their lives at that moment. That simply isn't possible with Waits. The only saving grace is that, as bad as things might be in your own life, things are at lot worse in the lives of his characters.
