Heigh Ho (The Dwarf's Marching Song) - Hal Willner/Tom Waits

Hal Willner is an American music producer and arranger chiefly known for his elaborate tribute albums to different artists and genres. In 1988 he assembled a who's-who of pop and rock musicians to record a collection of Disney covers and songs inspired by Disney films. The result was Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films.

Choosing a single track to represent the album is difficult. There's an enormous variety of styles and approaches to the music. Los Lobos give a shaking samba treatment to 'I Wanna Be Like You.' Suzanne Vega turns the titular 'Stay Awake' into a haunting lullaby mantra. Even Sun Ra puts in an appearance taking Dumbo's 'Pink Elephants On Parade' to it's natural skronking conclusion.

One of the more unusual arrangements on the album is Tom Waits' take on 'Heigh Ho (The Dwarf's Marching Song).' The skeleton of the original has been removed and grafted into a shambling homunculus of gurning saxophones and grinding metal. Far from casting a new light on the original; Tom instead drowns it in shadows.

Lucinda - Tom Waits

'Well they call me William the Pleaser / I've sold opium, fireworks and lead / Now I'm telling my troubles to strangers / And when the shadows get long I'll be dead'

So Tom Waits opens Lucinda, a booming murder ballad from the album Orphans. The song is the perfect melding of Waits' experimental leanings with his Beat poet via Alan Lomax tinged lyrics.

Nearly the whole backing to the song is the sound of Waits booming, slurring and hollering in a beatbox collage of dust blowing and gallows snapping. Aside from a spare harmonica or the every so often bass note, that's all you get. The song is built from the ground up upon the power of his voice, and shows what a formidable instrument it is in its own right.

By limiting the arrangement to his vocals but chopping them up in a unique style, Waits has created a song which wouldn't seem out of place one hundred years ago or coming out tomorrow. It's a rare feat and powerfully kinetic piece of music.