This is the genius of Waits. This song is only available on the Japanese import version of Mule Variations, with no lyrics included. He's got stuff this great that he can basically throw away. There aren't a lot of other artists who can do this; only Elvis Costello comes to mind readily.
I love the atmospheric sound and the imagery. He's simply as good as American composers get.

    This track represents to me one of the great things about Tom Waits' music: he's not interested in prettily packaged music. He's not afraid to allow for "mistakes" like the dog barking or chicken clucking in the background on this track (for those who don't know, the whole album was recorded on a chicken farm). He allows ambient noise to happen while he's recording, and strangely, it becomes part of the music itself. This is one of my favorites, some low-down backwater blues.

    Love the down home redneckville images evoked in this song, "..Carp in the bathtub and it's rainin' real hard...also the lazy picking and slide. Heard another version of this on the radio one afternoon but didn't catch the artist.