Noche en la Tierra

Written by: Tom Waits
Published by: Jalma Music (ASCAP), © 1985
Official release: Rain Dogs, Island Records Inc., 1985
Arrangement and lyrics published in "Tom Waits - Beautiful Maladies" (Amsco Publications, 1997)

Notes:

⁽¹⁾ Big Black Mariah/ Black Maria, Black Mariah
- n.: A police wagon or truck used to take arrested persons to jail (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner, 1975)
- The black van which conveys prisoners from the police courts to jail. The French call a mud-barge a "Marie-salope." The tradition is that the van referred to was so called from Maria Lee, a negress, who kept a sailors' boarding house in Boston. She was a woman of such great size and strength that the unruly stood in dread of her, and when constables required help, it was a common thing to send for Black Maria, who soon collared the refractory and led them to the lock-up. So a prison-van was called a "Black Maria." (Source: "The First Hypertext Edition of The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable", E. Cobham Brewer. © 1997-99 Bibliomania.com Ltd).
- n.: A hearse (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner, 1975)/ Cassel's Dictionary of Slang. Jonathon Green 1998. Cassel & Co., 2000)
- "We can dispose of the fashionable London lady straightaway, as the expression for a police or prison van is quite certainly American in origin. The Boston story is about Maria Lee, a large black woman who kept a boarding house in the 1820s with such severity that she became more feared than the police, who called on her to help them catch and restrain criminals. The story almost certainly became attached to her much later because she was well-known, black, and was named Maria, but there's no evidence that she was actually the source of the name for the police vans. The first reference we have to such a vehicle in Boston is dated 1847, which might seem to be rather too long after her heyday for there to be a direct connection. The book that Eric Partridge mentions is Peter Ploddy, and Other Oddities of 1844, by Joseph Clay Neal, a well-known American journalist and humorist of the period. It contains the story The Prison Van; or, The Black Maria, whose title was until recently thought to be the first known use of the term. In it, the author wrote: "In Philadelphia ... the popular voice applies the name of 'Black Maria' to each of these melancholy vehicles". However, we now know, as the result of research by George Thompson, that the term was in use in New York about a decade earlier, since the term was used in at least two newspaper reports, one of 1835 and the other of 1836. The former was in the New York Transcript of 24 Dec 1835 and said "A man named Henry Stage ... contrived to make his escape on Saturday last while on his way from Bellevue prison to the city in the carriage generally known as 'Black Maria' ". One sidelight on the term which many World Wide Words subscribers have pointed out is that it is universally pronounced (as in "I call the wind Maria"), and not the more common American (as in "Ave, Maria"). This is probably a perpetuation in this fixed phrase of a way of saying the name that was once more common than it is now. Douglas G Wilson has suggested a possible association with a famous black racehorse of the period, also named Black Maria, which was foaled in Harlem, New York, in 1826. She won many races (her purse winnings alone amounted to nearly $15,000, a very large sum for the period), but it seems that her most famous exploit was on 13 October 1832, when she won the race for the Jockey Club purse of $600 at the Union Course. In 1870, an article about her in Harper's New Monthly Magazine noted that "The track was heavy, and yet, to achieve a victory, twenty miles had to be run. We wonder if there is a horse on the turf to-day that could stand up under such a performance as this?". The dates are highly suggestive. Here is a black racehorse whose most famous exploit is in New York in 1832, and only three years later her name is used for a police van in the same city. There can be no proof without further evidence-which may never be forthcoming-but like her many admirers, I'd put my money on her to be first past the post." (Source: World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion, 1996-2004)
- The different explanations of "a Black Maria(h)" being either a police wagon or a prison van or a hearse (or even an ambulance) have led to different interpretations of the song. 1. An arrested person being taken to jail. 2. A prisoner being taken to death row. 3. A deceased person being driven to the graveyards. Though the first interpretation (police wagon/ paddy wagon) is most common, there's several clous in the song that seem to suggest this is about a black hearse (Boxed up, Sent to the skies, Of to bed without his supper, Do the story with the old widow Jones, He got a wooden coat, This boy is never coming home) (Thanks to Fran Mironchik for pointing to these alternative interpretations. September 17, 2003)
- Tom Waits (1985): "A Mariah is - originally it was the woman that ran some kind of a cathouse in New Orleans I guess and every time it got popped they figured she was the one that blew the whistle so the paddy wagon pulled up out in front and down through the years they started referring to it as the Black Mariah. Now it's the hearse or whatever." (Source: "Rain Dogs Island Promo Tape" (taped comments on songs as sent to radio stations). Date: late 1985)
- Rip Rense: "One on which Richards appears is a menacing thing called "Big Black Mariah," which was explained as being about (take your pick) a fabled New Orleans madam, the police, a hearse or Mr. Death" (Source: "Enigmatic Waits survives, thrives" The San Diego Union-Tribune. By Rip Rense. November 1, 1985)

- Tom Waits (1986): "There was something in there that I thought he {Keith Richards] would understand. I picked out a couple of songs that I thought he would understand and he did. He's got a great voice and he's just a great spirit in the studio. He's very spontaneous, he moves like some kind of animal. I was trying to explain Big Black Maria and finally I started to move in a certain way and he said, "Oh, why didn't you do that to begin with? Now I know what you're talking about.' It's like animal instinct." (Source: "Waits Happening" Beat magazine 1986, by Pete Silverton)

- Notice the excessive use of words starting with the letter "B": cane Break, Big light, Back street, Big Black Mariah, Big Black Ford, Boxed up, Bell dame, Black Johnny, Blind man's cane, yellow Bullet, Blind tiger, Bell Jim, Big Black Mariah, Big Black Ford, Benny jag Blue, off to Bed, Linda Brides, this Boy, Big Black Mariah, Big Black Ford, cane Break, Boxed up, Bell dame, Blue Charlie, Blind man's cane, yellow Bullets, Black tiger, Blue wings, Big Black Mariah, Big Black Ford

⁽²⁾ Cane break n.: A field that is not planted between two fields that are planted with sugar cane. (Source: Tom Waits Digest, Seth Nielssen)

⁽³⁾ Sill n.: The shaft or thill of a carriage (Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.)

⁽⁴⁾ Evermore (ever more?): Might be quoting from Tolkien's trilogy The Lord Of The Rings. "The Battle of Evermore" is an acoustic guitar and mandolin track from Led Zeppelin's album: "Four Symbols, Runes, Zoso", 1971. It is based on events in the third of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books, The Return of the King

⁽⁵⁾ Ladder: n. [16C] the gallows (Source: Cassel's Dictionary of Slang. Jonathon Green 1998. Cassel & Co., 2000)

⁽⁶⁾ Boxed up: 1. adj. [20C.] (N.Z.) imprissoned (Source: Cassel's Dictionary of Slang. Jonathon Green 1998. Cassel & Co., 2000) 2. v. enclosed or confined as if in a box/ coffin

⁽⁷⁾ Rag n.: A flag. (Source: "The First Hypertext Edition of The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable", E. Cobham Brewer. © 1997-99 Bibliomania.com Ltd)

⁽⁸⁾ Blind tiger: [1920s] the owner of an illicit bar. (ety. unknown) (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner, 1975). Though this is the common explanation found in dictionaries, it doesn't seem to be the right interpretation for this song

⁽⁹⁾ Benny Jag Blue:
- Benny:1. Any amphetamine pill, esp. benzedrine. Addict and student use since c1945. (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner, 1975) 2. Intoxication as a result of using Benzedrine, a trade name for an amphetamine. Drug culture. (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner, 1975) Benny/ Bennie/ Bennies n. [1940s] (orig. US drugs) Benzedrine, thus Benny-head, a benzedrine user (Source: Cassel's Dictionary of Slang. Jonathon Green 1998. Cassel & Co., 2000)
- Jag: -jag. Similar to -fest, -jag = any session or period of uniterupted and unrestrained activity. The connotation however, is of a fit rather then a feast. the suffix word conveys a suggestion of compulsion (crying jag, candy jag, cigarette jag). (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner, 1975). Jag n. 1. A spree, usu. a drinking party. 2. Fig., a spree or splurge, a spell of unrestrained activity of any kind. (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner, 1975). 3. [1950s+] the taking of a drug, usu. narcotic, but also cannabis or LSD. (Source: Cassel's Dictionary of Slang. Jonathon Green 1998. Cassel & Co., 2000) 4. [late 19C+] (US) a period of indulgence, a fit, a spree of any kind. [1910s+] (orig. US) a breakdown, an emotional collapse, often as a crying jag, lenghty and profound sobbing (Source: Cassel's Dictionary of Slang. Jonathon Green 1998. Cassel & Co., 2000)
- Blue: 1. Drunk (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner, 1975). 2. Melancholy; sad; depressed. Colloq. n. (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner, 1975). 3. n. [1900s - 30s] a spree (Source: Cassel's Dictionary of Slang. Jonathon Green 1998. Cassel & Co., 2000) 4. (drugs) [1960s] usu. in pl. an amphetamine 5. [early 19C] (orig. US) a general intensifier, e.g. blue murder, scared blue 6. adj. [1910s-60s] euph. for BLOODY adj. (Source: "The First Hypertext Edition of The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable", E. Cobham Brewer. © 1997-99 Bibliomania.com Ltd)

⁽¹⁰⁾ Lindabrides: a euphemism for a female of no repute, a courtezan. Lindabridês is the heroine of the romance entitled The Mirror of Knighthood, one of the books in don Quixote's library (pt. I. i. 6), and the name became a household word for a mistress. It occurs in two of sir W. Scott's novels, Kenilworth and Woodstock (Source: Brewer's Readers Guide, revised edition, 1898)

⁽¹¹⁾ Wooden (over)coat: = wooden kimona. A coffin. Some underworld and fictional use since c1920 (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner, 1975)

⁽¹²⁾ The last verse is not included in the lyric sheet (transcription by Ulf Berggren as sent to Raindogs Listserv discussionlist, November 1, 1999).

Tom Waits es raro.
Lo conocía desde hace tiempo pero no me he metido a investigar su mundo hasta hace bien poco.

Del rock a la polka pasando por el jazz, el vals o el ruido con cucharas...
Para empezar, nada mejor que lo más "normal" y "comercial": Downtown train

y aprovecho y dejo la versión que hizo el Rod Stewart de la misma canción y que fue número uno en su momento...