What’s this? Tom Waits… IN POLISH?
So, about a year and a half ago an unnamed theater on the east coast did Chekhov’s Three Sisters, directed by a famous Polish director. It was about 4 hours long. I sat through it twice. Not kidding. Bored THE SHIT out of me. And I like Russian theater.
Anyway, this is when I first heard about Kazik Staszewski (prnounced Stazhevski). On the last scene change of Three Sisters the stage went to black, and a photographer walked around the proscenium taking bright old-school flashbulb-type pictures – all while I’ll Be Gone blasted from the speakers. Incidentally, after 3 and 1/2 hours, this is when all of the old people left. 30 more minutes and it would have been done. Something about it being “too loud.” Surprising, you would think that they’d have left after their diapers started overflowing after 2 and 1/2 hours. Anyway, I got to meet the director a few times, and apparently he likes to use Tom Waits songs in his shows in Poland. Unbeknownst to me, there is a Polish folk/rock musician that is well-known for his Tom Waits covers, and in 2003 recorded a bunch of old[er] Tom Waits songs on a CD entitled “Piosenki Toma Waitsa,” or “Songs of Tom Waits.” I have been looking for this CD for quite a while and have been unable to find it… until now!
Done in true eastern-European fashion, some of the songs turn out to be a little more eurotrashy than they ever should be. That said, most of the CD is pretty good. It’s not as good as the original Tom Waits, he doesn’t have the instrumental back-up that Tom Waits has, and certainly doesn’t have the voice, but… he’s made it his own.
What makes this different than just doing a simple cover? Well, he has translated all the lyrics. Rather than just covering the songs, he has made them accessible to an entirely different market. I’ve always thought Tom Waits was pretty big in Europe anyway, but there has to be a point when people (who, perhaps, don’t understand English) just say, “Oh shit, I don’t understand this. I’m not buying this.” This is very admirable to me, although you may think otherwise.
Most of the tracks are from “Swordfishtrombones” and “Frank’s Wild Years.”
Kazik Staszewski – Rybi Puzon [Swordfishtrombones]
Kazik Staszewski – Bourbon Mnie Wypelnia [Jockey Full Of Bourbon]
Neat?… or has the novelty already worn off?
neat. I hope that when scarlett johansons tom waits cover album comes out it is sung in a different language. that would rule.
June 5th 2007 - 4:49pmso glad you ran across Piosenki Toma Waitsa. this was out in 2003 but i’ve never thought anyone “out there” would care.
June 28th 2007 - 1:55pmwhat makes this album awesome from Polish point of view is the attempt of translating the spirit of Tom Waits (though not his lyrics literally). it’s great fun to compare the original stories with “our domestic” versions.
for sure, one thing Kazik has in common with Mr Waits is his unique individuality and incredible nonconformity to music business rules (he’s been on Polish scene since early 80’s doing lots of different projects in rock, pop, punk-rock, rap, free jazz).
and yes, Mr Waits is a big persona in Poland, funnily, kind of “everyday mainstream”, at least more than over the pond.