i don't know why I haven't come across this before, as it's been up a few years to judge from the fact that it links to my old defunct website. It's at tomwaitslibrary.com, a whole page listing all his lyrics, comments and other people's observations on his 'Eyeball Kid' character that pops up in a couple of different songs, and specifically the ways in which it relates to Eddie Campbell's Eyeball Kid (with half a dozen colour cover illustrations, some of which you may not have seen before.
Tom Waits: "The Eyeball Kid is a comic-book character. Actually, it was Nic Cage that reintroduced me to comic books. I hadn't thought about comic books since I was a little kid, but he seemed to carry that mythology with him. It was inspiring to see him keep alive some of those principles that we associate with childhood, to the point where he named himself after Cage, the comic-book hero."(hayley campbell found it)
And in 1999 some people talked to Waits for a while after his New York shows: "Alex asked Tom if there was a relation between the Eyeball Kid of the song and the character in the comic book Bacchus by Eddie Campbell (which I've been told - if I remember correctly - is based on Greek mythology). Tom told Alex that yes, when he saw that he became fascinated by the idea of a character with no body and was inspired to do his own version, very different but that's where he said it came from!"
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Amy Winehouse At Cambridge- June 1, - John Lundberg
No, she wasn't actually staggering around the hallowed halls. But a Cambridge English professor caused quite a stir last week when a question on his final exam asked students to compare the poetry of Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618) to song lyrics by Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday and, you guessed it, Amy Winehouse.(thanks to Bob Morales)
The British press is still buzzing about it, with critics accusing the school of dumbing down its exams and focusing particularly on Winehouse--one of their favorite targets. What was the drug-addled starlet's work, they asked, doing in a Cambridge English class?
Labels: Eyeball Kid
posted by Eddie Campbell at
15:50
6 Comments:
Tom Waits is the King! And you inspired Tom Waits to write a song... Does that make you the Queen?
Dumb question aside, that is pretty damn cool.
"What was the drug-addled starlet's work, they asked, doing in a Cambridge English class?"
Another dumb question. And don't tell me half the poets they study weren't drug-addled, because I won't believe you (the you is not aimed at anyone in particular).
Passing over the irony of members of the British press accusing anyone of dumbing down, John Sutherland at the weekend wrote a short piece about the usefulness of comparing contemporary lyrics with older ones.
I had wondered about this ever since--wasn't it "Bone Machine" that one was on?--came out.
Coolness.
Bone Machine and Mule Variations, I believe.
A slightly related sad fact not widely known:
The Smith's "Heaven knows I'm miserable now" was actually based upon a real life event when Campbell knocked over his own glass of beer. It was full at the time. Experts believe it was either Neil Gaiman or Simon LeBon who drunkenly passed on the anicdote to Geoff Travis who subsequently mentioned it to Morrissey. The track was recorded in December 1983 following the band's return from an early, if not terrifically successful, US tour. Not released for almost five months, it went on to become their first top ten single, somewhat bittersweetly, crystallising their reputation for miserabilism.
If Campbell had managed to keep his wildly gesticulating, although not inexpressive, limbs under control, the Smiths may never have recorded this track, become unfairly tarnished as dour by the music media, been embraced by the public at large, and gone on to fulfill their limitless potential.
I hope you're happy Campbell.
There ain't no such thing as the Devil its just Gods when they're drunk.
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