Tom Waits – Rain Dogs

Title: Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
Year/Genre/Sub-Genre/City: 1985, Experimental Rock, Blues, Avant-Folk, Los Angeles, California 10/26
Matrix #: N/A
Condition: VG+ (LM) | Members: Tom W (49' - ) | Producer: Tom Waits
Cultural Facts:

1. Written in a Manhattan Basement: Waits wrote much of Rain Dogs in a basement room at Washington and Horatio Streets in lower Manhattan. He wandered the neighborhood with a cassette recorder capturing street sounds, building the album around the city's drifters, outsiders and late-night characters.
2. Keith Richards Got the Call: Waits recruited Keith Richards after deciding one song needed a certain guitar sound and simply asking if anyone knew how to reach him. Richards ended up playing on “Big Black Mariah,” “Union Square” and “Blind Love,” beginning a friendship and musical partnership that lasted for decades.
3. Why They're Called “Rain Dogs”: Waits said the title came from dogs caught outside during a rainstorm. The water washes away the scent trail they normally use to find their way home, leaving them wandering lost through the streets - a perfect metaphor for the displaced characters inhabiting the record.