# Franks Wild Years {#franks-wild-years .reader-title}
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9--12 minutes
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Not to be confused with the song \"Frank\'s Wild Years\" on
Swordfishtrombones.
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| Franks Wild Years |
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| Studio album by |
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| <div> |
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| Tom Waits |
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| Released | August 17, 1987 |
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| Recorded | - Universal, Chicago |
| | - The Sound Factory, Hollywood |
| | - Sunset Sound, Hollywood |
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| Length | 55:34 |
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| Label | Island |
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| Producer | Tom Waits |
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| Tom Waits chronology |
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| ----------------------- ----------------------- ----------------------- |
| *Rain Dogs*\ '*Franks Wild *Big Time*\ |
| (1985) Years'*\ (1988) |
| (1987) |
| |
| ----------------------- ----------------------- ----------------------- |
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| \ |
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| Singles from *Franks Wild Years* |
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| <div> |
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| 1. \"Hang On St. Christopher\"\ |
| Released: August 17, 1987 |
| |
| </div> |
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| Review scores |
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| Source | Rating |
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| AllMusic | [[{file-width="108" file-height="110" height="11" |
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| | height="11" width="11"}]{title="4/5 stars"}^\[1\]^ |
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| *Encyclopedia of Popular Music* | [[{file-width="108" file-height="110" height="11" |
| | width="11"}]{title="4/5 stars"}{file-width="108" |
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| | height="11" width="11"}]{title="4/5 stars"}^\[2\]^ |
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| *Los Angeles Times* | [[{file-width="108" file-height="110" height="11" |
| | width="11"}]{title="2.5/4 stars"}{file-width="108" |
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| | width="11"}{file-width="108" file-height="110" |
| | height="11" width="11"}]{title="2.5/4 stars"}^\[3\]^ |
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| *Mojo* | [[{file-width="108" file-height="110" height="11" |
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| | file-height="110" height="11" |
| | width="11"}{file-width="108" file-height="110" |
| | height="11" width="11"}]{title="3/5 stars"}^\[4\]^ |
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| *Q* | [[{file-width="108" file-height="110" height="11" |
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| | file-height="110" height="11" |
| | width="11"}{file-width="108" file-height="110" |
| | height="11" width="11"}]{title="4/5 stars"}^\[5\]^ |
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| *The Rolling Stone Album Guide* | [[{file-width="108" file-height="110" height="11" |
| | width="11"}]{title="3/5 stars"}{file-width="108" |
| | file-height="110" height="11" |
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| | width="11"}{file-width="108" file-height="110" |
| | height="11" width="11"}]{title="3/5 stars"}^\[6\]^ |
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| *Uncut* | [[{file-width="108" file-height="110" height="11" |
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| | file-height="110" height="11" |
| | width="11"}{file-width="108" file-height="110" |
| | height="11" width="11"}]{title="4/5 stars"}^\[7\]^ |
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| *The Village Voice* | B^\[8\]^ |
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: Professional ratings
'*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.^\[9\]^
The album ranked number 5 among \"Albums of the Year\" for 1987 in the
annual *NME* critics\' poll.^\[10\]^
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.)^\[11\]^
Elvis Costello included *Franks Wild Years* on his list of essential
albums, highlighting \"Hang On St. Christopher\" and \"Innocent When You
Dream\".^\[12\]^
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).^\[13\]^ \"Yesterday Is Here\" appears in \"The Night Shift\",
the second episode of *Poker Face*.^\[14\]^
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.\"^\[15\]^
Diana Krall covered \"Temptation\" on her 2004 album *The Girl in the
Other Room*. Her version was also released as a CD single.
<div>
All tracks are written by Tom Waits, except where noted.
----------------------------- --------------------------------------- ------------------------- --------
[No.]{.abbr title="Number"} Title Writer(s) Length
1\. \"Hang On St. Christopher\" 2:46
2\. \"Straight to the Top (Rhumba)\" Waits, Greg Cohen 2:30
3\. \"Blow Wind Blow\" 3:35
4\. \"Temptation\" 3:53
5\. \"Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)\" 4:15
6\. \"I\'ll Be Gone\" Waits, Kathleen Brennan 3:12
7\. \"Yesterday Is Here\" Waits, Brennan 2:29
8\. \"Please Wake Me Up\" Waits, Brennan 3:36
9\. \"Franks Theme\" 1:49
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: Side one
</div>
<div>
----------------------------- ---------------------------------- -------------- --------
[No.]{.abbr title="Number"} Title Writer(s) Length
1\. \"More Than Rain\" 3:52
2\. \"Way Down in the Hole\" 3:30
3\. \"Straight to the Top (Vegas)\" Waits, Cohen 3:26
4\. \"I\'ll Take New York\" 3:58
5\. \"Telephone Call from Istanbul\" 3:12
6\. \"Cold Cold Ground\" 4:07
7\. \"Train Song\" 3:20
8\. \"Innocent When You Dream (78)\" 3:08
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: Side two
</div>
Note: \"Cold Cold Ground\" is incorrectly listed as \"Cold Call Ground\"
on the Island CD release.
Credits adapted from the album liner notes.^\[16\]^
Musicians
- Jay Anderson -- bass (8)
- Michael Blair -- drums, conga, percussion, maracas, marimba, orchestra
bells, glockenspiel (1--4, 6, 10--14)
- Kathleen Brennan -- vocal arrangements (4)
- Angela Brown -- background vocals (11)
- Ralph Carney -- saxophone, baritone horn, violin, tenor saxophone
(1--2, 4--6, 8, 10--13, 17)
- Greg Cohen -- bass, alto horn, horn arrangements, Leslie bass pedals
(1--6, 10--14, 16--17)
- David Hidalgo -- accordion (15--16)
- Leslie Holland -- background vocals (11)
- Lynne Jordan -- background vocals (11)
- Marc Ribot -- guitar, banjo (1, 4, 11, 14)
- William Schimmel -- piano, pump organ, accordion, Leslie bass pedals,
cocktail piano (1, 2, 5--6, 10, 12--13, 17)
- Larry Taylor -- bass, upright bass (2, 7, 8, 15)
- Moris Tepper -- guitar (4, 6, 10, 14)
- Francis Thumm -- prepared piano, pump organ (3, 10)
- Tom Waits -- vocals (all tracks), pump organ (3, 5, 9, 16), Optigan
(2, 4, 8, 10), guitar (4, 7, 15), vocal stylings (12), rooster (6),
piano (16), Farfisa (14), Mellotron (8), drums (14), conga (2),
tambourine (7)
Technical
- Tchad Blake -- additional engineer
- Biff Dawes -- engineer, mixing (at Sunset Sound, Hollywood,
California)
- Lorita Delacerna -- additional engineer
- David Glover -- additional engineer
- Bill Higley -- additional engineer
- Mike Kloster -- additional engineer
- David Knight -- additional engineer
- Danny Leake -- engineer
- Jean-Baptiste Mondino -- conception, photography
- Jeff Price -- art direction
- Stephen Shelton -- additional engineer
- Tom Waits -- producer
- Howie Weinberg -- mastering
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Chart (1987) Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)^\[17\]^ 83
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)^\[18\]^ 24
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^\[19\]^ 21
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^\[20\]^ 49
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)^\[21\]^ 42
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)^\[22\]^ 13
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^\[23\]^ 17
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)^\[24\]^ 14
US *Billboard* 200^\[25\]^ 115
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