Besides for Bob Dylan there probably hasn't been a more original artist in 20th century music than Tom Waits. His work has ranged from simply arranged piano and guitar ballads, to jungle beats, lullaby and German brass orchestrations. "Innocent When You Dream" appeared on the album Franks Wild Years, much of that music also appearing in a play of the same name in the late 80's. The sound produced on this album, this song in particular, stumbles out as though it is being played through an old Victrola, the instruments used are mind numbing and probably lead to 100% employment in the session musician's union, from the liner notes: drums, conga, percussion, maracas, marimba, orchestra bells, glockenspiel, sax, baritone horn, violin, tenor sax, piano, pump organ, accordion, Leslie bass pedals, cocktail piano, Optigan, guitar, rooster, piano, Farfisa, Mellotron, drums, conga and tambourine. Yup, one song. Waits's orginal version is brutal and harsh, it is twenty drunks shouting in a bar at three in the morning, a constant tension between chalkboard and fingernail. Because of this the beauty of the lyrics can get lost in a voice you can see with vapors and cigarette smoke.
Similarly Elvis Costello is quite unique, he set the cornerstone for the 80's sound, penned symphonies and has worked with people from Roy Orbison and Burt Bacharach to Emmylou Harris and his wife Diana Krall. I suggest purchasing the "Piano Jazz" album with Marian Mcpartland to comprehend fully the amount of knowledge and thought that goes into this man's work and the depth of his musical skill.
So it was no surprise when Costello donned his iconoclast hat again and headed down to Barbados to record a cover album of his favorite songs. On this album named after the convenience store across the street from the studio there is Grateful Dead, Springsteen, Little Richard, Howlin' Wolf, Randy Newman and Peggy Lee to name a few. In such a vast field of talented songwriters Waits's lyrics hold their own in a way rarely realized when he is singing them personally, maybe even more than "San Diego Serenade" his most poignant. In addition this song appears on the second disc which to me has always been much more interesting than the first. The reason being songs two through eleven were all arranged and sung as in the style of George Jones. I have never heard of a musician consciously attempting this and certainly never using George Jones as a template, but more should.
Unlike Waits's barroom sound, when sung by Costello the song takes on a whole different personality. A treaty has been signed in the cold war between voice and piano; the complexities erased with Bauhaus clarity and simplicity. In its new format of simple guitar and piano one can focus on the poetic lyricism and beautiful harmony of Costello and possibly himself as an overdub on another track. I say that because the best part of this song outside of the lyrics is the melodic background sung by someone who remains nameless in every edition of the liner notes.
Do not the four words Innocent when you dream hold so much promise, a terrible amount of forgiveness and childhood purity? What about the refrain?
And it’s such a sad old feeling
All of the fields are soft and green
And it’s memories that I’m stealing
But you're innocent when you dream, when you dream
You are innocent when you dream
It overpowers the three short verses that comprise the remainder of the song, there is no solo, there is no outro. The song is cathartic by default, a guilt enema, most of our dreams have died and sometimes we find ourselves too misanthropic for the long mind sex of bringing new ones to life; this song is a pheromone for new ones and the foreplay for their creation. Many people have a strong distaste for Costello's voice and singing style, I put money on those people recusing themselves from his trial after this gem.
