12th
Tom Waits - Jockey Full of Bourbon
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In spite of listening to this song (rather, a cover of it) since I was about 10 years old, it took me way longer than I’d like to admit to get into Tom Waits. But when, finally, my buddy recommended Rain Dogs to me, Jockey jumped out as not only one of the best tracks, but the one I knew the lyrics to already.
Familiarity really has a lot more to do with our lives than we like to think or admit. I remember one time when I was designing a flyer with that same friend, a year or so before I listened to this track (you’re all going to make fun of me, but summer 2007. Or maybe 2008?), he was telling me that he was going with traditional stylistic conventions. Even though something looked nicer, it would be a lot harder to get picked up if it didn’t look familiar.
I disagreed with him then, but there’s still an element of truth to that statement.
