Нетрудно понять, почему поезда оказались столь по душе жителю маленького городка Крайнего Запада, бродяге-американцу Тому Уэйтсу. Для всего поколения бэби-бумеров поезд был символом потерянной невинности, раем, который порушили Вьетнам и Уотергейт, Ирак и Гуантанамо. Для приезжих поезд тоже оставался звуком — и духом — подлинной Америки. Стоять на платформе где-нибудь, скажем, в Кларксдейле, штат Миссисипи, и ждать, пока мимо протащится грузовой состав. И ждать… ждать… пока протрясутся, прогремят, прокатятся все эти бесконечные вагоны. Или на закате солнца сидеть на крыльце и слушать, как где-то далеко, очень-очень далеко раздается одинокий гудок паровоза.
«Штука с поездами состоит в том, — объяснял Уэйтс Марку Роуленду из журнала «Musician», — что когда провожаешь человека, то увозящий его поезд постепенно становится все меньше. На самолете человек вошел в дверь — и все, больше ты его не видишь».
«It was a train that took me away from here»[314], — пел когда-то Уэйтс. Он прекрасно понимает, что поезд никогда не сможет привезти его обратно домой. Не сможет. И не привезет.
Потому что именно в этом правда: домой вернуться невозможно. Туда не отвезет ни поезд, ни автомобиль, только, быть может, память… Быть может, память, навеянная песней. Песней, которая уносит тебя в конкретное время или в нужное место. Песня, которая отвезет тебя к девушке или к тому времени, в котором ты впервые ее услышал. Но не любая песня, а песня, сделанная мастером и сделанная надолго. Песня, которую высек один из вымирающего племени мастеров — Томас Алан Уэйтс. Подлинный оригинал. Американский оригинал.
Вот уже более сорока лет он дерзко ломится вперед собственным, ни на что не похожим путем. Как Чарли Вэррик, персонаж Уолтера Маттау из одноименного фильма, вышедшего на экраны в год дебюта Уэйтса, певец остается «Последним из независимых». Уэйтс живет по своим собственным правилам, в свое собственное время и для своих собственных целей. Ну, а что касается нас, то если мы знаем, что для нас по-настоящему хорошо, то будем только рады ждать.
Дискография
Оl' 55; I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You; Virginia Avenue; Old Shoes (And Picture Postcards); Midnight Lullaby; Martha; Rosie; Lonely; Ice Cream Man; Little Trip To Heaven (On The Wings Of Your Love); Grapefruit Moon; Closing Time
New Coat Of Paint; San Diego Serenade; Semi Suite; Shiver Me Timbers; Diamonds On My Windshield; (Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night; Fumblin' With The Blues; Please Call Me, Baby; Depot Depot; Drunk On The Moon; The Ghosts Of Saturday Night (After Hours At Napoleone's Pizza House)
Emotional Weather Report; On A Foggy Night; Eggs & Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson); Better Off Without A Wife; Nighthawk Postcards (From Easy Street); Warm Beer And Cold Women; Putnam County; Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission); Nobody; Big Joe & Phantom 309; Spare Parts II
Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen); Step Right Up; Jitterbug Boy (Sharing A Curbstone With Chuck E. Weiss, Robert Marchese, Paul Body And The Mug And Artie); I Wish I Was In New Orleans (In The Ninth Ward); The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (An Evening With Pete King); Invitation To The Blues; Pasties & A G-String (At The Two O'clock Club); Bad Liver And A Broken Heart (In Lowell); The One That Got Away; Small Change (Got Rained On With His Own.38); I Can't Wait To Get Off Work (And See My Baby On Montgomery Avenue)
Cinny's Waltz; Muriel; I Never Talk To Strangers; Medley: Jack & Neal/ California, Here I Come; A Sight For Sore Eyes; Potter's Field; Burma Shave; Barber Shop; Foreign Affair
Somewhere; Red Shoes By The Drugstore; Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis; Romeo Is Bleeding; $29.00; Wrong Side Of The Road; Whistlin' Past The Graveyard; Kentucky Avenue; A Sweet Little Bullet From A Pretty Blue Gun; Blue Valentines
Heartattack & Vine; In Shades; Saving All My Love For You; Downtown; Jersey Girl; Til The Money Runs Out; On The Nickel; Mr Siegal; Ruby's Arms
Heartattack & Vine; Jersey Girl; Eggs & Sausage; I Never Talk To Strangers; The Piano Has Been Drinking; Whistlin' Past The Graveyard; Mr Henry; Diamonds On My Windshield; Burma Shave; Tom Trauberts Blues
Opening Montage (Tom's Piano Intro; Once Upon A Town; The Wages Of Love); Is There Any Way Out Of This Dream?; Picking Up After You; Old Boyfriends; Broken Bicycles; I Beg Your Pardon; Little Boy Blue; Instrumental Montage (The Tango; Circus Girl); You Can't Unring A Bell; This One's From The Heart; Take Me Home; Presents (The 2004 reissue included two «previously unreleased bonus tracks» — Candy Apple Red; Once Upon A Town/ Empty Pockets)
Underground; Shore Leave; Dave The Butcher; Johnsburg, Illinois; 16 Shells From A 30.6; Town With No Cheer; In The Neighbourhood; Just Another Sucker On The Vine; Frank's Wild Years; Swordfishtrombone; Down, Down, Down; Soldier's Things; Gin Soaked Boy; Trouble Braids; Rainbirds
Ol' 55; Martha; Rosie; Shiver Me Timbers; San Diego Serenade; Diamonds On My Windshield; (Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night; The Ghosts Of Saturday Night (After Hours At Napoleone's Pizza House); Small Change; Tom Traubert's Blues; Step Right Up; Burma Shave; Foreign Affair; Mr Henry; The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me); Potter's Field; Kentucky Avenue; Somewhere; On The Nickel; Ruby's Arms
Singapore; Clap Hands; Cemetery Polka; Jockey Full Of Bourbon; Tango Till They're Sore; Big Black Mariah; Diamonds And Gold; Hang Down Your Head; Time; Rain Dogs; Midtown; 9th & Hennepin; Gun Street Girl; Union Square; Blind Love; Walking Spanish; Downtown Train; Bride Of Rain Dogs; Anywhere I Lay My Head
Hang On St Christopher; Straight To The Top (Rhumba); Blow Wind Blow; Temptation; Innocent When You Dream (Barroom); I'll Be Gone; Yesterday Is Here; Please Wake Me Up; Frank's Theme; More Than Rain; Way Down In the Hole; Straight To The Top (Vegas); I'll Take New York; Telephone Call From Istanbul; Cold Cold Ground; Train Song; Innocent When You Dream (78)
16 Shells From A 30.6; Red Shoes; Underground; Cold Cold Ground; Straight To The Top; Yesterday Is Here; Way Down In the Hole; Falling Down; Strange Weather; Big Black Mariah; Rain Dogs; Train Song; Johnsburg, Illinois; Ruby's Arms; Telephone Call From Istanbul; Clap Hands; Gun Street Girl; Time
Goin' Down Slow; Poncho's Lament; I'm Your Late Night Evening Prostitute; Had Me A Girl; Ice Cream Man; Rockin' Chair; Virginia Avenue; Midnight Lullabye; When You Ain't Got Nobody; Little Trip To Heaven; Frank's Song; Looks Like I'm Up Shit Creek Again; So Long I'll See Ya
Earth Died Screaming; Dirt In The Ground; Such A Scream; All Stripped Down; Who Are You; The Ocean Doesn't Want Me; Jesus Gonna Be Here; A Little Rain; In The Colosseum; Goin' Out West; Murder In The Red Barn; Black Wings; Whistle Down The Wind; I Don't Wanna Grow Up; Let Me Get Up On It; That Feel
Back In The Good Old World (Gypsy); Los Angeles Mood (Chromium Descensions); Los Angeles Theme (Another Private Dick); New York Theme (Hey, You Can Have That Heartattack Outside Buddy); New York Mood (A New Haircut And A Busted Lip); Baby I'm Not A Baby Anymore (Beatrice Theme); Good Old World (Waltz); Carnival (Brunello Del Montalcino); On The Other Side Of The World; Good Old World (Gypsy Instrumental); Paris Mood (Un De Fromage); Dragging A Dead Priest; Helsinki Mood; Carnival Bob's Confession; Good Old World (Waltz); On The Other Side Of The World (Instrumental)
Hope I Don't Fall In Love With You; Ol' 55; Mockin' Bird; In Between Love; Blue Skies; Nobody; I Want You; Shiver Me Timbers; Grapefruit Moon; Diamonds On My Windshield; Please Call Me, Baby; So It Goes; Old Shoes
Lucky Day (Overture); The Black Rider; November; Just The Right Bullets; Black Box Theme; 't'ain't No Sin; Flash Pan Hunter (Intro); That's The Way; The Briar And The Rose; Russian Dance; Gospel Train (Orchestra); I'll Shoot The Moon; Flash Pan Hunter; Crossroads; Gospel Train; Interlude; Oily Night; Lucky Day; The Last Rose Of Summer; Carnival
Hang On St Christopher; Temptation; Clap Hands; The Black Rider; Underground; Jockey Full Of Bourbon; Earth Died Screaming; Innocent When You Dream (78); Straight To The Top; Frank's Wild Years; Singapore; Shore Leave; Johnsburg, Illinois; Way Down In The Hole; Strange Weather; Cold Cold Ground; November; Downtown Train; 16 Shells From A 30.6; Jesus Gonna Be Here; Good Old World (Waltz); I Don't Wanna Grow Up; Time
Big In Japan; Lowside Of The Road; Hold On; Get Behind The Mule; House Where Nobody Lives; Cold Water; Pony; What's He Building?; Black Market Baby; Eyeball Kid; Picture In A Frame; Chocolate Jesus; Georgia Lee; Filipino Box Spring Hog; Take It With Me; Come On Up To The House
Heartattack & Vine; Eggs 8e Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson); A Sight For Sore Eyes; Whistlin' Past The Graveyard; Burma Shave; Step Right Up; 01' 55; I Never Talk To Strangers; Jersey Girl; Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis; Blue Valentines; (Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night; Muriel; Wrong Side Of The Road; Tom Traubert's Blues
Misery Is The River Of The World; Everything Goes To Hell; Coney Island Baby; All The World Is Green; God's Away On Business; Another Man's Vine; Knife Chase; Lullaby; Starving In The Belly Of A Whale; The Part You Throw Away; Woe; Calliope; A Good Man Is Hard To Find
Alice; Everything You Can Think; Flower's Grave; No One Knows I'm Gone; Kommienezuspadt; Poor Edward; Table Top Joe; Lost In the Harbour; We're All Mad Here; Watch Her Disappear; Reeperbahn; I'm Still Here; Fish 8e Bird; Barcarolle; Fawn
Top Of The Hill; Hoist That Rag; Sins Of My Father; Shake It; Don't Go Into That Barn; How's It Gonna End; Metropolitan Glide; Dead And Lovely; Circus; Trampled Rose; Green Grass; Baby Gonna Leave Me; Clang Boom Steam; Make It Rain; Day After Tomorrow
Brawlers: Lie To Me; Low Down; 2:19; Fish In The Jailhouse; Bottom Of The World; Lucinda; Ain't Goin' Down To The Well; Lord I've Been Changed; Puttin' On The Dog; Road To Peace; All The Time; The Return Of Jackie & Judy; Walk Away; Sea Of Love; Buzz Fledderjohn; Rains On Me