Legendary Songwriter, Ranked One of the Greatest Ever, Releases Second Song in Seven Years

In what is hopefully a pattern of more new music to come in the near future, Tom Waits appears to be back with his second new song this year, which also marks his second new release in seven years.

For those uninitiated, Tom Waits is one of the most singular American artists of all time. He is a potent and sardonic songwriter who utilizes sounds and styles from the most unlikely places to create songs and stories that sound nothing like anything you’ll ever hear. With instrumentation as down-and-out as the people he depicts in his music, Waits captures all corners of the idiosyncratic, deranged, depressed, and authentic that makes up America.

Waits also stands as one of the most influential songwriters ever, even coming in at spot 55 on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Songwriters list.

It’s been a while since we got new music from Waits until a few months ago when he released his collaboration with Massive Attack, “Boots on the Ground.” Today, Waits dropped another track with a new spoken word piece titled “The Fly.”

I’m a big fan of the new song. I’ve always been incredibly captivated by Waits’ spoken word pieces. I find him to be such a fascinating voice to listen to, and his writing has a way of grabbing my attention extremely effectively. The song is packed with all of Waits’ dark wit, and gritty honesty. The choice to forego any instrumentation works pretty effectively as well, as it puts me right in the room with Waits and makes me feel like I’m staring right at the eponymous fly.

Hopefully, this release is a sign of more to come now that his collaboration with Massive Attack isn’t a one off. Waits is as fierce a creative as there ever has been, and I think the world could use his writing again.

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