When Tom Waits released his long awaited indie album Mule Variations in 1999, fans like me found it instantly familiar – like an old friend. Legions of new fans though, were attracted by its scuffed sonics behind theatrically harsh vocals, counterpointed by his outrageously emotional and tender ballads. Yes, at the time it seemed he had mastered his art but had not progressed much as a songwriter since the magnificent Rain Dogs. But in hindsight it provided the perfect transition to Alice and, to a lesser extent, Blood Money in 2002.

Mule Variations is the most bluesy of Waits’s albums. You can almost smell the beer soaked floor boards of a Southern blues bar in Come On Up To The House. All the Southern influences are there, from revivalist gospel to backwoods blues. There’s even a hint of Woody Guthrie’s I Ain’t Got No Home in This World Anymore (“The world is not my home / I’m just a passin thru / Come on up to the house”).

The video of Come On Up To The House, directed by Anders Lövgren, is a masterpiece of creativity. It is utterly intriguing yet straightforwardly simple. When my daughter arrived back from school the other day with writing all over her legs, I knew I had to dig up this excellent vid.

Yeah,

Come down off the cross
We can use the wood
Come on up to the house