Category Archives: Experimental Rock

Tom Waits – What’s He Building?

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Tom Waits – “What’s He Building?” from the album “Mule Variations”

Born Thomas Alan “Tom” Waits on December 7, 1949 at Park Avenue Hospital in Pomona, California, the son of Alma Fern (née Johnson) McMurray and Jesse Frank Waits, both schoolteachers.

Mule Variations was released on April 16, 1999 on the ANTI- label. It was his first studio album since The Black Rider (1993) and won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

tom waits mule variations

Personnel on “What’s He Building?”

Jeff Sloan – Percussion
Ralph Carney – Reeds
DJ M. Mark “The III Media” Reitman – Turntable
Tom Waits – The Voice

Mule Variations

1. “Big in Japan”
2. “Lowside of the Road”
3. “Hold On”
4. “Get Behind the Mule”
5. “House Where Nobody Lives”
6. “Cold Water”
7. “Pony”
8. “What’s He Building?”
9. “Black Market Baby”
10. “Eyeball Kid”
11. “Picture in a Frame”
12. “Chocolate Jesus”
13. “Georgia Lee”
14. “Filipino Box Spring Hog”
15. “Take It with Me”
16. “Come on Up to the House”

“What’s he building in there?
We have a right to know…”

Brilliantly creepy.