The video for Tom Wait's "Hell Broke Luce" has been put online and it's a whopper. Really, just speaking visually, every single shot in it is arresting. And Wait's lyrics spelling out the perils and reality of going off to war make it a chilling four minutes. It really isn't a music video. It's not a film, or a dream sequence. It's, dare I say, art; in a good way. Everything comes together in a video that you will not be able to shake. If you're wondering why loose is spelled "luce," in an interview with Slate.com, Waits said, "There was a prisoner in Alcatraz during a prison riot—this goes back to the ’40s. And during the riot, of course, everyone was nervous, and he scratched on the wall with a knife. And he wrote 'hell broke luce,' and that’s how he spelled it." The Wait's quote pulled from Mojo's site about the video, while serving as a description of his intent, doesn't come close to preparing you for the intensity of the whole thing:
“Matt Mahurin has created an apocalyptic war dream to accompany the song ‘Hell Broke Luce.' Kathleen [Wait's partner] and I envisioned it as an enlightened drill sergeant yelling the hard truths of war to a brand new batch of recruits. The video grew from the gnawing image of a soldier pulling his home, through a battlefield, at the end of a rope."
“I think you will agree, it’s uplifting and fun.” Yeah, right. Maximize your screen and see how uplifted you are.
“Matt Mahurin has created an apocalyptic war dream to accompany the song ‘Hell Broke Luce.' Kathleen [Wait's partner] and I envisioned it as an enlightened drill sergeant yelling the hard truths of war to a brand new batch of recruits. The video grew from the gnawing image of a soldier pulling his home, through a battlefield, at the end of a rope."
“I think you will agree, it’s uplifting and fun.” Yeah, right. Maximize your screen and see how uplifted you are.
More video:
Tom Waits - Chicago at YouTube From the Late Show With David Letterman
Visit:
Tom Waits interview at Slate.com
Earlier Tom Waits posts
2 comments:
First, a huge thank you! I've just discovered your blog and have been working my way methodically back through the archives, being introduced to all kinds of wonderful stuff!
Regarding Hell Broke Luce, you might be interested in checking out Cookie Monster's cover version, which I put together a little while back (not viewable on mobile devices for arcane youtube copyright reasons): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbiioBFkD_Q
Thanks again for the amazing blog!
Thanks for the nice words. I don't get comments all the often and it's comments like yours the keep me going. And do dig into the old posts, as you've found out, a lot of the ancient mp3 links are still good.I even dig through old one myself, particularly because I've had two computer crashes during the course of this and lost more than a few songs that I really dug.
That video you posted is a crack up. It just make me think how funny it would be if there a was a Legendary Stardust Cowboy or Hasil Adkins mash up with Mssr Monster.
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