This is one of the most touching songs by Waits. It very well follows americana ballad tradition when the story is easy to understand and the complex emotions and ideas are explained indirectly by pointing out to the details of the scene.
The song is self-explanatory, really. There's just a few references worth exploring. Schwab's Drugstore (or Schwab's Pharmacy) is probably well-known to many Americans but not to the rest of the world. The place was an actual drug store on a Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood which also served as a cafe. It was a point where movie stars and Hollywood big shots would hang around in 30th-50th. Featured in Sunset Blvd movie, destroyed in 80th. Sunset Blvd is a noir movie, therefore reference helps to set the stage in a film noir style.
Hollywood's movies of the time are not unlike Comedy del Arte, where every mask has its meaning and its speciality. Cagney's is a complex tough guy with a deep multi-faceted personality, a kinda person every male wants to be deep inside. Rita Hayworth's moniker was "Love Goddess", there's no need to say more.
All the other names and places mentioned are circumstantial and placed by Waits to provide the feeling of realism, as he often does.
As the result, song plays very much as a beginning of the film noir. And do you really need a camera to film a noir if you are Tom Waits?
This is one of the most touching songs by Waits. It very well follows americana ballad tradition when the story is easy to understand and the complex emotions and ideas are explained indirectly by pointing out to the details of the scene.
The song is self-explanatory, really. There's just a few references worth exploring. Schwab's Drugstore (or Schwab's Pharmacy) is probably well-known to many Americans but not to the rest of the world. The place was an actual drug store on a Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood which also served as a cafe. It was a point where movie stars and Hollywood big shots would hang around in 30th-50th. Featured in Sunset Blvd movie, destroyed in 80th. Sunset Blvd is a noir movie, therefore reference helps to set the stage in a film noir style.
Hollywood's movies of the time are not unlike Comedy del Arte, where every mask has its meaning and its speciality. Cagney's is a complex tough guy with a deep multi-faceted personality, a kinda person every male wants to be deep inside. Rita Hayworth's moniker was "Love Goddess", there's no need to say more.
All the other names and places mentioned are circumstantial and placed by Waits to provide the feeling of realism, as he often does.
As the result, song plays very much as a beginning of the film noir. And do you really need a camera to film a noir if you are Tom Waits?