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What's He Building In There? (Tom Waits Cover)

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I went over to Reg’s place the other day and he sort of scared me. He was out on his deck, pitching butts and spilling gin that he couldn’t afford. He was a mess and had a crazed look in his eyes. I could tell he was ruminating again about Desire. He was sick of maintaining his lawn, building a play house for the kids and pitching cards with Mr. Stiches. Instead, he was just watching his neighbor. Watching. Watching.

So, what’s up with Reg? We have a right to know.

Lyrics: Tom Waits
What’s he building in there?
What the hell is he building
In there?
He has subscriptions to those
Magazines… He never
Waves when he goes by
He’s hiding something from
The rest of us… He’s all
To himself… I think I know
Why… He took down the
Tire swing from the Peppertree
He has no children of his
Own you see… He has no dog
And he has no friends and
His lawn is dying… and
What about all those packages
He sends. What’s he building in there?
With that hook light
On the stairs. What’s he building
In there… I’ll tell you one thing
He’s not building a playhouse for
The children what’s he building
In there?

Now what’s that sound from under the door?
He’s pounding nails into a
Hardwood floor… and I
Swear to god I heard someone
Moaning low… and I keep
Seeing the blue light of a
T.V. show…
He has a router
And a table saw… and you
Won’t believe what Mr. Sticha saw
There’s poison underneath the sink
Of course… But there’s also
Enough formaldehyde to choke
A horse… What’s he building
In there. What the hell is he
Building in there? I heard he
Has an ex-wife in some place
Called Mayors Income, Tennessee
And he used to have a
consulting business in Indonesia…
but what is he building in there?
What the hell is building in there?

He has no friends
But he gets a lot of mail
I’ll bet he spent a little
Time in jail…
I heard he was up on the
Roof last night
Signaling with a flashlight
And what’s that tune he’s
Always whistling…
What’s he building in there?
What’s he building in there?

We have a right to know…

(You are welcome to play with this madness of course, and it is recorded at 160bpm in 5/4 meter. Madness. You can do madness, right?)

Gene Eric Mann's avatar
Gene Eric Mann said

Well this is a fun number! The vocals tickle me. Rock on!

thetworegs's avatar
thetworegs said

What is he building in there???????

the bearded men stood up and left the room.'s avatar
the bearded men stood up and left the room. said

I can't believe you covered this! Nice take on it. Lovely nuttiness.

Guest said

Happy Christmas Norm! :O Bee

Movement To Contact's avatar
Movement To Contact said

This is killer. Perfect collab gents.

Lady Jane's avatar
Lady Jane said

Taking me places. I'm with Bee on the percussion - it's wonderful :)

Wildgeas Music's avatar
Wildgeas Music said

He was probably building a home studio. This is exactly what it sounded like when I built mine. Minus all that 5/4 stuff.

Greg Connor's avatar
Greg Connor said

Really makes my imagination run wild. Nice going guys!

Reefwalker's avatar
Reefwalker said

Great collab guys. Vox right on. The instrumental at the end especially makes the mind wonder, what the hell IS he building in there.

Guest said

Wonderful, really interesting! Great performance Reg and delightful percussion! Bee

Dave Berry's avatar
Dave Berry said

Fantastic guys......oh yeah

igor's avatar
igor said

this is awesome, just awesome!

igor's avatar
igor said

...and that the business is? Yeah! - and what's he building in there? ...what was built, finally? Knock-knocking, what they do - it is unclear. We have a rights to know! ;-)

kirklynch's avatar
kirklynch said

Great stuff, but ya know- Maybe it's none of our business!

thetworegs's avatar
thetworegs said

Nothing for you to worry about !! .............

richardlaceves's avatar
richardlaceves said

yessss indeed most excellent,, seems like a perfect colab of your talents and soul

Johnny Stone's avatar
Johnny Stone said

Excellent.

Saved!