Lyrics:

Have you seen the old town 
It’s like a record with the needle down 
You can think you’re playing it 
The more you do the more it skips 

And you’ll be begging for another turn 
The sweet comes with the burn 

Instrumental 

Walking on a knife edge 
Wondering why I’m not dead yet 
“Cause it’s something that you can’t refuse 
I paid Charlie just to be excused 

And I’ll be begging for another turn 
The sweet comes with the burn 
The sweet comes with the burn 
The sweet comes with the… 
Burn

Instrumental 

If the liquor doesn’t do me in 
It will hold me like an old friend 
Dancing with me all night 
And tell me that it’s all right 

And I’m still begging for another turn 
The sweet comes with the burn 
The sweet comes with the burn 
The sweet comes with the… 
Burn 

The sweet comes with the burn 
The sweet comes with the burn 
It’s a lesson that I never learn, yeah 

The sweet comes with the burn 
The sweet comes with the burn 
The sweet comes with the… 



Lyrics and song by Robert Jackson and Alicia Best
Copyright A Different Thread 2024

Sweet and the Burn

NOONE KNOWS IM GONE (TOM WAITS)

full video here https://youtu.be/fgohdBfc51U
🎵 “Matilda van de Straat”

(Soft blues-hop beat, slow piano & upright bass groove)

[Verse 1]
Ze zeggen, de wereld draait,
maar niet voor iedereen.
Ik zie schaduwen kruipen
langs muren van steen.
Een man met een blik
vol verhalen die breken,
en schoenen die weten
hoe koud asfalt kan spreken.

[Hook]
🎶 Wandel met me, Matilda van de straat,
we dragen onze dromen in een plastic tas bewaard.
Wandel met me, door regen en rook,
door woorden die niet werden gehoord, maar wel gebroken klonken, zo dof, zo droog. 🎶

[Verse 2]
In elke goot ligt een lied,
dat nooit de radio haalde,
een stem die fluistert:
“Broer, ik leef van wat ik stal — verhalen.”
Ze zeggen: feiten, cijfers, statistiek,
maar ze tellen nooit het hart dat brak,
of de traan die viel in de nacht,
toen niemand keek, niemand sprak.

[Hook]
🎶 Wandel met me, Matilda van de straat,
met de kou in je jas en de hoop die nog praat.
Wandel met me, tot de morgen ons vindt,
en we dansen op de stilte, op de wind. 🎶

[Bridge – spoken word / blues rap]
Je weet,
sommige nachten vragen geen woorden,
alleen adem en de geur van koffie in karton.
Sommige dromen passen niet meer in je rugzak,
ze vallen eruit,
net als jij — van de stoep, van het verhaal,
van de statistiek.

[Verse 3]
En ergens in de verte
zingt een oude radio vals,
over liefde, verlies,
en de prijs van moreel kapitaal.
En ik denk —
misschien was vrijheid gewoon
een ander woord voor dorst.
Of voor jou.

[Hook – finale, zacht en warm]
🎶 Wandel met me, Matilda van de straat,
de stad slaapt niet, ze huilt zacht.
Wandel met me, tot de maan weer lacht,
en we samen verdwijnen — in de nacht. 🎶

(instrumentaal einde: zachte piano, verre sirene, voetstappen wegstervend)

Matilda van de Straat (Tom Waits Cover Freek Banning)

Take Me Home (Tom Waits Cover)

Voice of Tom Waits reading from his poem ‘Seeds On Hard Ground’ (2011)
Excerpt from ‘The Last Ride’, final episode of the Rai 3 documentary series ‘Il Fattore Umano / The Human Factor’ (2025), RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana, 2025

---

Okay

I’m a seed that fell
Upon a hard ground
The hard ground
I’m a seed that fell
Upon the ground
I’m a seed that fell
Upon the ground

I’m a leaf that fell
From an oak tree
An oak tree
From an old oak tree
I’m a leaf that fell
From an old oak tree

I’m a stone that is rolling
On a rough road
I’m a stone that is rolling
On a rough road
I’m a stone that is rolling
On the road

Can I get up off the mat
Like a wrestler that has 
Been beaten, beaten
Can I get up and come
Roaring back?
I guess some of us just 
Get the old maid

I’m the king of something
Yes indeed
I’m the king of the road
I’m the king of the weeds
I’m the king of the alley
I’m the king of the dirt
I’m the king of the doorway
I’m the king of the sidewalk
I’m the king of the hurt
I’m a bursting bubble
And my crown is my hat
When it comes to trouble
I’m the king of all that 

Did I do it all backwards
Did I do it all wrong
Can I pull myself up by the 
Bootstraps of this song
Was I cursed
Is it over
And how long
How long?

Penniless
Derelict
Rolling stone
Drifter
Vagabond
Rambler
Nomad
Pilgrim
Waif
Beggar
Vagrant
Wanderer
Me


seeds on hard ground

This song is about the power of money and what people will do for a couple of dollar bills.

3 or 4 Washingtons (AI Reimagined)

Hungry Hearts acustici  Jersey Girl

Two songs from the Lost Decade: A double-shot of Tom Waits-inspired music from my musical scrapyard. 

Time Waits (For No One)

The Devil's Gramophone [instrumental]

Temptation by Tom Waits performed by The Sarah McDonald Quintet at The Cool Room at The Northern Arts Hotel in Castlemaine featuring Kumar Shome on guitar, Ron Romero on sax, Luke Andresen on drums, James Lockwood on bass and me, Sarah McDonald on voice.

Temptation Northern Arts 5th Oct 24

"Sarah McDonald effortlessly segues from applying a dash of tropical swelter to thirties standards, tinkering with Thelonius Monk torch songs to a soul jazz rendition of an Amy Winehouse classic." 

Joel Shortman, Rathdowne Records.

"..deceptively laid back and self-assured, with an undercurrent of emotions waiting to sweep you by. When she sings “Rusted brandy in a diamond glass”, it’s the rust she focuses on, not the diamond. Tom Waits would approve...

..There’s a lot of nostalgic glamour associated with the ’20s and ’30’s era. Singers who choose to sing this material often end up as replicas of the sultry divas of the past, dressing up in satin gowns and pearls and stale femininity. Not Sarah McDonald. She approaches her material with a tomboyish attitude, phrasing the classic jazz and obscure torch songs that comprise her set list with a punk sensitivity and a kind of modern-day angst delivered by this beautiful, soulful chili-infused chocolate voice of hers. When she opens her mouth, she showers her audience with raw emotion. No pretense, no polished femininity, no nonsense. It helps that she’s sexy as hell when she does it; and that she’s surrounded by a killer band: Ron Romero on tenor sax, Kumar Shome on guitar, Ben Hanlon on the bass and Lewis Pierre-Humbert on the drums. As these musicians spew fire from their instruments, people get up and dance to her singing, even if she sings Monk’s “I mean you” (not the most danceable song out there)."

Nikos Fotakis, australianjazz.net

Sarah McDonald evokes cool smoky jazz club atmosphere with expressive melifluous phrasing contrasting with rhythmic dexterity.  She is a singer who has been as influenced by horn players and drummers as she has by the great vocalists. Having delved deeply into music, she draws from the greats of the history of jazz, blues and soul and selects choice standards, along with original, contemporary and more esoteric repertoire that she infuses with a soulful authenticity.

She has had a wealth of experience performing original music in various guises, playing in a range of contemporary original bands, world music ensembles and playing music for circus, theatre and film.

She also plays flute and sings in Tarab Ensemble, playing classical Arabic music:

https://www.facebook.com/thisistarab/


For bookings contact: iiiiilk.type.kind@gmail.com

Eddie Sing & The 31 Days is an indie rock project born out of raw energy, restless storytelling, and a relentless catalog that now spans over 890 songs. The music is jagged and soulful, political and personal, always chasing the thin line between confession and confrontation.

The discography is a sprawling diary of modern America:

American Split captured the fracture lines of identity and country.

Election Day roared with urgency, a soundtrack to democracy on edge.

The Ache dove inward, exploring pain and longing with unflinching honesty.

American Split AI re-imagined the past through the lens of technology, merging analog grit with digital reinvention.

Sex and Politics tangled human desire with civic struggle, both dirty and divine.

Across albums, singles, and hidden gems, Eddie Sing & The 31 Days builds not just music, but a living archive of resistance, romance, and rock-and-roll survival. Every track is another crack in the façade, another shout into the dark, another reminder that art is rebellion with a backbeat.

The day has passed and the sun is low; "It's not dark yet, but it's getting there," as Dylan sang. Perhaps there's still enough light to start a revival.



I'm open to collaboration.


Faroe Islands.

“One road is ending, another road begins, come on let’s do it over again” - A Different Thread

Some things are just meant to be. Alicia Best (US) and Robert Jackson (UK) met while busking on the cobbled streets of Ireland and discovered both a musical and personal harmony that was serendipitous. In the decade since forming A Different Thread, Best and Jackson have taken their act on the road, touring over a dozen countries, supporting artists such as The Milk Carton Kids and Jody Stephens (Big Star), and garnering critical praise from the likes of Folk Radio UK, which hailed the duo as “warm, deep songwriters that have drank from the well of 20th century tradition.”

Their new album, Over Again (out Sep 2nd 25’), was written during a period of transition, marked by their arrival stateside and a solar eclipse. Recording began in their tiny home studio, continued in Sylvan Esso's Betty's (The Mountain Goats, Watchhouse), and finished at Alma Vale Studio (Phantom Limb/Yola, Elles Bailey) in the UK. 

Their sound is transcontinental, blending Jackson's British folk rock background with Best's North Carolina-bred alt-country melodies. Informed by their life experiences (navigating visas, vanlife, love across oceans) and liberal commentary on both environmental and social justice topics, the album mixes electric guitars with Appalachian dulcimer, gospel-tinged vocals with honky-tonk fiddle. While inspired by artists like Gillian Welch, The Avett Brothers, and John Prine, A Different Thread maintain a distinct sound that is all their own. 

Alicia and Robert see the creation of Over Again as a testament to the power that music has to heal and transform: “For us, this album marks a new beginning—like a rebirth—as we shed negative cycles to work towards a brighter future.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvHALnMouU4&list=RDZvHALnMouU4&start_radio=1&rv=E_J4TTAfPPI

https://precariouspropositions.wordpress.com/

New tracks tagged #tom waits