Way Down in the Hole

Last updated
"Way Down in the Hole"
Song by Tom Waits
from the album Franks Wild Years
Length3:30
Songwriter(s) Tom Waits

"Way Down in the Hole" is a song written by the singer-songwriter Tom Waits. It was included on his 1987 album Franks Wild Years , which was first presented as a stage production put on by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company [1] in Chicago, Illinois.

The song was used as the theme for HBO's The Wire . [2] [3] A different recording was used each season. Versions, in series order, were recorded by The Blind Boys of Alabama, Tom Waits, The Neville Brothers, DoMaJe, and Steve Earle. Season four's version, performed by the Baltimore teenagers Ivan Ashford, Markel Steele, Cameron Brown, Tariq Al-Sabir and Avery Bargasse, was arranged and recorded specifically for the show. [4] An extended version of the Blind Boys of Alabama recording was played over a montage in the series finale.

In 2004, music historian Kim Beissel said that the 1994 song "Red Right Hand" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds was loosely based on "Way Down in the Hole". [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Cave</span> Australian musician (born 1957)

Nicholas Edward Cave is an Australian musician and writer. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Cave's music is characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences and lyrical obsessions with death, religion, love and violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Birthday Party (band)</span> Australian band

The Birthday Party were an Australian post-punk band, active from 1977 to 1983. The group's "bleak and noisy soundscapes," which drew irreverently on blues, free jazz, and rockabilly, provided the setting for vocalist Nick Cave's disturbing tales of violence and perversion. Their 1981 single "Release the Bats" was particularly influential on the emerging gothic scene. Despite limited commercial success, The Birthday Party's influence has been far-reaching, and they have been called "one of the darkest and most challenging post-punk groups to emerge in the early '80s."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds</span> Australian post punk/alternative rock band

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian rock band formed in 1983 by vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and guitarist-vocalist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throughout its career and presently consists of Cave, violinist and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, bassist Martyn P. Casey, guitarist George Vjestica, keyboardist/percussionist Larry Mullins, also known as Toby Dammit, and drummers Thomas Wydler (Switzerland) and Jim Sclavunos. Described as "one of the most original and celebrated bands of the post-punk and alternative rock eras in the '80s and onward", they have released seventeen studio albums and completed numerous international tours.

<i>Franks Wild Years</i> 1987 studio album by Tom Waits

Franks Wild Years is the tenth studio album by Tom Waits, released 1987 on Island Records. It is the third in a loose trilogy that began with Swordfishtrombones. Subtitled "Un Operachi Romantico in Two Acts", the album contains songs written by Waits and collaborators for a play of the same name. The play had its world premiere at the Briar St. Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, on June 22, 1986, performed by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. "If I Have to Go" was used in the play, but released only in 2006 on Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards. The theme from "If I Have to Go" was used under the title "Rat's Theme" in the documentary Streetwise as early as 1984. The title is derived from "Frank's Wild Years", a track from Swordfishtrombones

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Sclavunos</span> American drummer

James Sclavunos is an American drummer, multi-instrumentalist musician, record producer, and writer. He is best known as a drummer, having been a member of two seminal no wave groups in the late 1970s. He is also noted for stints in Sonic Youth and the Cramps, and has been a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds since 1994. Sclavunos has led his own group the Vanity Set since 2000.

<i>Murder Ballads</i> 1996 studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Murder Ballads is the ninth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in 1996 on Mute Records. As its title suggests, the album consists of new and traditional murder ballads, a genre of songs that relays the details of crimes of passion.

<i>Kicking Against the Pricks</i> 1986 studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Kicking Against the Pricks is the third album released by the rock music group Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. First released in 1986, the album is a collection of Cave's interpretations of songs by other artists. The title is a reference to a biblical quote from the King James version of the Bible, Acts 26, verse 14.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mick Harvey</span> Musical artist

Michael John Harvey is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist, he is best known for his long-term collaborations with Nick Cave, with whom he formed The Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Blind Boys of Alabama</span> American gospel group

The Blind Boys of Alabama, also billed as The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and Clarence Fountain and the Blind Boys of Alabama, is an American gospel group. The group was founded in 1939 in Talladega, Alabama, and has featured a changing roster of musicians over its history, the majority of whom are or were vision impaired.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rowland S. Howard</span> Musician, songwriter

Rowland Stuart Howard was an Australian rock musician, guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with the post-punk group The Birthday Party and his subsequent solo career.

<i>Original Seeds</i> 1998 compilation album by Various artists

Original Seeds: Songs that inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is a various artist compilation, which was initially released in June 1998. It was re-titled as Original Seeds Volume 1: Songs That Inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds when the follow-up Original Seeds Volume 2: Songs That Inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds appeared in 2004. Both appeared on the Rubber Records label in Australia and the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Where the Wild Roses Grow</span> 1995 single by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Kylie Minogue

"Where the Wild Roses Grow" is a murder ballad by Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and pop singer Kylie Minogue. It is the fifth song and lead single from the band's ninth studio album, Murder Ballads (1996), released on Mute Records. It was written by the band's frontman, Nick Cave and produced by Tony Cohen and Victor Van Vugt.

"Young Hunting" is a traditional folk song, Roud 47, catalogued by Francis James Child as Child Ballad number 68, and has its origin in Scotland. Like most traditional songs, numerous variants of the song exist worldwide, notably under the title of "Henry Lee" and "Love Henry" in the United States and "Earl Richard" and sometimes "The Proud Girl" in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grinderman</span> Australian-American rock band

Grinderman was an Australian-American rock band that formed in London, England, in 2006. The band included Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn P. Casey and Jim Sclavunos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Right Hand</span> 1994 single by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

"Red Right Hand" is a song by Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. It was released as a single from their eighth studio album, Let Love In (1994), on 24 October 1994. A condensed version was included in the single, while the longer version was included with the album. The title comes from John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, in which it refers to the vengeful hand of God.

"Avalanche" is a song by Leonard Cohen. It appears on his third album, Songs of Love and Hate, released in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tupelo (song)</span> 1985 single by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

"Tupelo" is the second single by Australian post-punk band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and the only single from the band's second album The Firstborn Is Dead.

<i>Live at the Royal Albert Hall</i> (Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds album) 2008 live album by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds

Live at the Royal Albert Hall is a live album by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, released on 24 November 2008. It was recorded on 19 and 20 May 1997 during the tour for The Boatman's Call and eight of these tracks were originally released as a nine-track bonus disc for The Best of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. It features a version of "Where the Wild Roses Grow" with vocals by Blixa Bargeld, which is delivered in a way that is similar to the demo version that can also be found on the B-Sides & Rarities three-disc set. These live recordings display the more mellow sound and performances that the group had been showcasing at that period, and would continue to deliver in the later No More Shall We Part.

<i>Skeleton Tree</i> 2016 studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Skeleton Tree is the sixteenth studio album by Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. It was released on 9 September 2016 on Bad Seed Ltd. A follow-up to the band's critically acclaimed album Push the Sky Away (2013), Skeleton Tree was recorded over 18 months at Retreat Recording Studios in Brighton, La Frette Studios in La Frette-sur-Seine and Air Studios in London. It was produced by Nick Cave, Warren Ellis and Nick Launay. During the sessions, Cave's 15-year-old son, Arthur, died from an accidental fall. Most of the album had been written at the time of Cave's son's death, but several lyrics were amended by Cave during subsequent recording sessions and feature themes of death, loss, and personal grief.

"Sara" is a song from Bob Dylan's 1976 album Desire. It is the closing song on the album. Unlike many of the songs on the album, which were written by Dylan and Jacques Levy, "Sara" was written solely by Dylan, as an autobiographical account of his estrangement from then-wife Sara Dylan. It was recorded on July 31, 1975.

References

  1. "Frank's Wild Years". www.steppenwolf.org. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  2. Alvarez, Rafael (2009). The Wire: Truth Be Told - The Complete Official Series Guide. Canongate Books. pp. 246–248.
  3. Peterson, James Braxton (2014). "The Depth of the Hole: Intertextuality and Tom Waits's "Way Down in the Hole"". The Hip-Hop Underground and African American Culture. pp. 119–138. doi:10.1057/9781137305251_7. ISBN   978-1-349-45480-8.
  4. ""The Wire" on HBO: Play Or Get Played, Exclusive Q&A With David Simon (p. 16)". 2006. Retrieved 17 October 2007.
  5. Original Seeds Vol. 2: Songs that inspired Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Kim Beissel, CD liner notes, Rubber Records Australia, 2004