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Frank Rider's definitions

Sithter

1. A sister so evil she could have been the inspiration for Darth Vader, Count Dooku, or any of the other evil Star Wars people.
It's difficult to use sithter in a sentence....

I did it!
by Frank Rider August 23, 2009
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Mule Variations

This album was Tom Waits' 1999 release, and his thirteenth. The songs range from Big in Japan, a smooth but tough rock song, to Come On Up To the House, a powerful telling of a world's troubles. Waits did good again, striking a strange chord with Chocolate Jesus, and tugging your thought strings with Black Market Baby.
An excerpt from Mule Variations'-
Get Behind the Mule

Punctuated birds on the power line
In a Studebaker with the Birdie Joe Joaks
I'm diggin' all the way to China
With a silver spoon
While the hangman fumbles with the noose, boy
The hangman fumbles with the noose
Got to get behind the Mule
In the morning and plow
by Frank Rider August 23, 2009
mugGet the Mule Variationsmug.

Pehdtsckjmba

1. A meandering course, seemingly devoid of reason, but based upon a logical idea.

2. A term invented by Tom Waits for his 2008 tour press conference video. It began as an acronym for the cities on his U.S. tour list, and became the 'guiding word' of the tour.
We'll be taking a pehdtsckjmba across the country this summer, and we'll be zig-zagging coast to coast.
by Frank Rider December 6, 2009
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Heartattack And Vine

Tom Waits' sixth album, from 1980, had nine tracks and lasted for forty-five glorious minutes. As soon as it starts playing you get a smooth blast of drum, and a jagged slice of guitar. Half of the album's songs are jumpy and dangerous, while the other half are slow and beautiful. Some high points are Jersey Girl - a love song, and 'Til The Money Runs Out, a loud-mouth fighting song.
An excerpt from Heartattack and Vine's-
Mr. Siegal

I shot the morning in the back
With m' red wings on
I told the sun he'd better go back down
And if I can find a book of matches
I'm goin' to burn this hotel down
You got to tell me brave captain
Why are the wicked so strong
How do the angels get to sleep
When the devil leaves the porch-light on
by Frank Rider August 23, 2009
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9th & Hennepin

1. The twelfth song on Tom Waits' '85 album, Rain Dogs. It is a chilling, but beautiful, description of the bad part of town.

2. A street corner, or part of town know for prostitution, drugs, and crime. A hooker here could be called a Hennepin girl. Cops would be crooked, the food rotten, the bars bloodied, and the sky dark.
Well, it's 9th & Hennepin
And all the donuts have
Names that sound like prostitutes
And the moon's teeth marks are
On the sky like a tarp thrown over all this
And the broken umbrellas like
Dead birds and the steam
Comes out of the grill like
The whole goddamned town is ready to blow.
by Frank Rider August 22, 2009
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Big Black Mariah

A term used for a police vehicle, usually a Golden (or Classic) Age Ford or Chevy.
Tom Waits has a song called 'Big Black Mariah' - it's all about being chased by the police. An excerpt;

"Here comes the Big Black Mariah,
I seen the big black Ford"

And Nick Cave mentions that the character in 'The Curse Of Milhaven' is driven;

"Off to the the asylum'
In an Old Black Mariah"
by Frank Rider August 22, 2009
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Bone Machine

This 1992 album was Tom Waits' darkest release yet. Full of dark "cyber drama" and vicious guitar strings, he had totally dropped his piano onto the city sidewalk. Here we find Goin' Out West, Murder In The Red Barn, and the delicate suicide story, The Ocean Doesn't Want Me. Waits' voice sounds stepped on and burned out, but the songs are more amazing than ever because of it.
An excerpt from Bone Machine's-
Black Wings

Well they've stopped trying to hold him
With mortar, stone and chain
He broke out of every prison
Well the boots mount the staircase
The door is flung back open
He's not there for he has risen
He's not there for he has risen
Well he once killed a man with a guitar string
He's been seen at the table with kings
Well, he once saved a baby from drowning
There are those who say beneath his coat there are wings
by Frank Rider August 23, 2009
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