How Ken Nordine influenced Tom Waits to make ‘What’s He Building’
There aren’t many artists who can fully immerse themselves in a song quite like Tom Waits. Where most people see their songs as an opportunity to spill out everything that’s in their heart, Waits is the kind of writer who looks to tell short stories whenever he plays, usually leaving a lot to the imagination in terms of what’s actually going on with him behind the scenes. Although he may be influenced by almost anything that’s not your standard rock and roll, Waits admitted that Ken Nordine played a pivotal role in getting into character for ‘What’s He Building?’.
Before we even look at the proper song, remember that it’s just as much about acting as it is singing when talking about Waits writing a song. Ever since working on albums like Rain Dogs, Waits has been known to change his vocal affectation to suit whatever character he’s talking about. Mick Jagger may have done something similar on The Rolling Stones’ classic records, but Waits was more interested in making an entire three-act play within the span of a few minutes.
Instead of playing up his schtick for laughs, Mule Variations is where Waits learned to embrace his gothic side. While most of the instrumentation still feels like it’s being played on the kind of instruments that you would find in a beaten-down junkyard, ‘What’s He Building’ all comes down to the kind of vocal that Waits uses.
Most artists usually try to find some semblance of melody in their lyrics, but this song is practically Waits rambling free-verse under the sounds of an ominous piano and electronic warble. This kind of rambling doesn’t really feel like a song by any stretch, but when looking through his old records, Waits found what he needed by listening to Nordine’s work.
Despite being known as a leading figure in the acting world, Nordine’s impressive catalogue of spoken-word jazz albums is an impressive listen. Before you think you’re going to be in for a William Shatner-style cringefest, a lot of his albums get the most out of his croaky voice, especially when he’s trying to say something sinister.
According to Waits, this is exactly what ‘What’s He Building?’ needed, saying, “It’s kind of tipping my hat to Ken Nordine, who was a big influence on me. And I’ve listened to him since I started recording. He has a peculiar imagination and tells remarkable stories. This one started out as a song, and I wasn’t able to get it to fly as a song, so I just took the words and started saying them. And it all just kind of came together.”
This kind of performance tends to feel more like an extended interlude than a proper song, but hearing Waits talk his way through the song is actually much more scary than any vocal he could have put down. Since the whole production sounds a little bit grainy, this goes past being a traditional song and feels more like you’re listening to audio from a snuff film right before everything starts getting ugly.
That’s the whole point, though, isn’t it? Waits had a habit of painting his characters into some hairy situations, and the more you hear this man wondering about this stranger who never waves back to him, you have to start wondering if you’re listening to a stalker getting ready to pounce.
