Franks Wild Years

Franks Wild Years
Studio album by Tom Waits
Released	17 August 1987
Recorded	Universal Recording, Chicago, Illinois, The Sound Factory and Sunset Sound, Hollywood, California
Genre	Rock, experimental
Length	55:34
Label	Island
Producer	Tom Waits
Tom Waits chronology
Rain Dogs (1985) Franks Wild Years (1987) Big Time (1988)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Mojo
Robert Christgau	(B) link
Rolling Stone	(positive) link

Franks Wild Years is an album by Tom Waits, released 1987 on Island Records. 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 shared title of the album and the play is an iteration of "Frank's Wild Years", a song from Waits' 1983 album Swordfishtrombones.

The play had its world premiere at the Briar St. Theatre in Chicago, Illinois on June 22, 1986, performed by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

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. The songs "Temptation" and "Cold Cold Ground" were used in Jean-Claude Lauzon's film 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 the film Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005).

Chart information

Chart	Peak position
Switzerland	14

Track listing

Tracks written by Tom Waits, except where noted. Recorded by Danny Leake and Biff Dawes. Mixed by Biff Dawes at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA.

Side One

No.	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.	"Frank's Theme"		1:49

Side Two

No.	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

Musicians

• Jay Anderson - bass
• Michael Blair - drums, conga, percussion, maracas, marimba, orchestra bells, glockenspiel
• Kathleen Brennan - vocal arrangements
• Angela Brown - background vocals
• Ralph Carney - sax, baritone horn, violin, tenor sax
• Greg Cohen- bass, alto horn, horn arrangements, Leslie bass pedals
• David Hidalgo - accordion
• Leslie Holland - background vocals
• Lynne Jordan - background vocals
• Marc Ribot - guitar, banjo
• William Schimmel - piano, pump organ, accordion, Leslie bass pedals, cocktail piano
• Larry Taylor - bass, upright bass
• Moris Tepper - guitar
• Francis Thumm - prepared piano, pump organ
• Tom Waits - vocals, pump organ, Optigan, guitar, vocal stylings, rooster, piano, Farfisa, Mellotron, drums, conga, tambourine

External links

• Frank's Wild Years at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company
• Franks Wild Years (album) and Frank's Wild Years (theatrical), info at the Tom Waits Library