# franks wild years ![[franks_cover.jpg|300]] studio album by tom waits released: august 17 1987 recorded: - universal chicago | the sound factory hollywood | sunset sound hollywood length: 55:34 label: island producer: 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 (mainly his wife kathleen brennan) 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' per steve hochman > "this rags-to-rags tale completes the trilogy that began with 1983's 'swordfishtrombones' (featuring the song 'frank's wild years' in which the protagonist torches his suburban socal house and heads north on the hollywood freeway). then came 1985's 'rain dogs' which mixed brecht-weill drama with captain beefheart bizarreness for an effect that conjured up a saturday-night fish fry in the freak show of a decrepit circus... the story basically follows frank on a hazy ill-fated orphic journey 'straight to the top (vegas)' (as one song is titled) through 'temptation' 'way down in the hole' and finally out on the 'cold cold ground.' at the road's end lies 'innocent when you dream (78)' a moral that is told to frank early on but doesn't hit home until the end when it is heard in a lovely tinnily nostalgic rendition the album ranked number 5 among "albums of the year" for 1987 in the annual 'nme' critics' poll allmusic notes the "spare stripped-down arrangements consisting of instruments like marimba baritone horn and pump organ and singing in a strained voice that has been artificially compressed and distorted. the songs themselves often are conventional romantic vignettes or would be minus the oddities of instrumentation arrangement and performance. for example 'innocent when you dream' a song of disappointment in love and friendship has a winning melody but it is played in a seesaw arrangement of pump organ bass violin and piano and waits sings it like an enraged drunk. (he points out the arbitrary nature of the arrangements by repeating 'straight to the top' done as a demented rhumba in act one as a vegas-style frank sinatra swing tune in act two) elvis costello included 'franks wild years' on his list of essential albums highlighting "hang on st. christopher" and "innocent when you dream" various versions of "way down in the hole" were used as the theme music for the hbo series 'the wire' including waits' original version for the second season. "temptation" and "cold cold ground" were used in jean-claude lauzon's 'léolo' (1992). "cold cold ground" was also used in the series 'homicide: life on the street'. "temptation" and "straight to the top (vegas)" featured in 'enron: the smartest guys in the room' (2005) and "innocent when you dream" featured in 'smoke' (1995). "yesterday is here" appears in "the night shift" the second episode of 'poker face' jim sclavunos recalls that > for the better part of a year after its release 'franks wild years' was the nightly go-to-pump-up album for me and my roommate. gussying ourselves up to war-song strains of 'temptation' 'straight to the top' etc was an essential part of our ritual of getting ourselves 'in the mood' before emerging from the squalor of our lower east side tenement ready to take on the world" diana krall covered "temptation" on her 2004 album 'the girl in the other room'. her version was also released as a cd single all tracks are written by tom waits except where noted // republic of bob