History Music / Alice

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1d823fae7027f6a9bfaf8c5470b33eb8.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''And I will think of this... when I'm dead in my grave (...) There's only Alice....!'']]

''Alice'' is a 2002 album by Music/TomWaits. It contains most of the songs written for the 1992 play "Alice" by Robert Wilson. It was released at the same time as ''Music/BloodMoney'' (2002), which contains songs from another play by Wilson.

!! Tracklist
# "Alice" (4:28)
# "Everything You Can Think" (3:10)
# "Flowers Grave" (3:28)
# "No One Knows I'm Gone" (1:42)
# "Kommienezuspadt" (3:10)
# "Poor Edward" (3:42)
# "Table Top Joe" (4:14)
# "Lost in the Harbour" (3:45)
# "We're All Mad Here" (2:31)
# "Watch Her Disappear" (2:33)
# "Reeperbahn" (4:02)
# "I'm Still Here" (1:49)
# "Fish & Bird" (3:59)
# "Barcarolle" (3:59)
# "Fawn" (1:43)

!! ''Kommunitropeszuspadt''
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: "Alice":
-->''Arithmetic arithmetock''
* AlliterativeName and AlliterativeTitle: "'''T'''able '''T'''op Joe".
* AmbiguouslyGay: "Reeperbahn":
-->''Now little Hans was always strange''\\
''Wearing women's underthings''\\
''His father beat him but he wouldn't change''\\
''He ran off with a man one day''\\
''Now his lingerie is all the rage''\\
''In the black on every page''\\
''His father proudly calls his name''\\
''Down there in the Reeperbahn''
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Almost none of the lyrics heard in "Kommeineszuspadt" are actually German[[labelnote:note]]the notable exception is "Sei Pünktlich", which means "Be punctual"[[/labelnote]], including the song's very title. It should be noted the last song's title is misspelled (in a way that makes it literally mean "Come one too late"). Written properly makes "Komm nie zu spät", which translates to "Never be too late" or "Never come too late".
* BodyHorror: "We're All Mad Here":
-->''And you'll die with the rose still on your lips''\\
''And in time the heart-shaped bone that was your hips''\\
''And the worms, they will all climb the rugged ladder of your spine''
* BornUnlucky: "Poor Edward", where the titular character is not only born with another face on the back off his head, but eventually ends his life. Waits then adds he is sent off to Hell.
* FaceOnTheCover: Waits, apparently on the bottom of the ocean, seeing how a fish is swimming by.
* GhostStory: "No One Knows I'm Gone" is about the ghost of a man hung upside-down out in the woods and buried in a lonely graveyard. Apparently, he's officially missing.
* GutturalGrowler: "Everything You Can Think Of Is True" is sung this way.
* {{Instrumental}}: "Fawn".
* InterspeciesRomance: "Fish and Bird" tells the story of two StarCrossedLovers: a bird and a whale. As ridiculous as the premise sounds, it still manages to be deeply sad.
* OcularGushers: "Lost In The Harbour":
-->''And then I will fill the ocean back up with my tears''
* OneManSong: "Poor Edward" and "Table Top Joe".
* OneWomanSong: "Alice".
* OneWordTitle: "Kommienezuspadt", "Reeperbahn", "Barcarolle", "Fawn".
* ThePowerOfLove: "Alice"
-->''And the raindrops on my window''\\
''And the ice in my drink'''\\
''All I can think of is Alice''
* RealLifeWritesThePlot:
** "Poor Edward" was inspired by the 19th century man Edward Mordake, who was born with a duplicate face on the back of his head. It couldn't eat or talk loud, but it could make facial expressions and whisper, which drove him insane. He eventually committed suicide at age 23.
** "Table Top Joe" is about a man born "without a body", who nevertheless still has his hands, which he uses to play music. This may sound bizarre, but it's actually about Johnny Eck, a sideshow artist who was just a man with two arms and a torso. Eck also appeared on the album cover of ''Music/{{Swordfishtrombones}}'' and was referenced on ''Music/TheBlackRider''.
* SanitySlippageSong: "We're All Mad Here", which even ends with crazed moans of people.
-->''As the devil sticks his flag into the mud''\\
''Mrs. Carol has run off with Reverend Judd''\\
''Hell is such a lonely place''\\
''And your big expensive face will never last''
* {{Scatting}}: "Table Top Joe" starts off with scatting.
* ShoutOut:
** The line "the dish ran away with the spoon" in "Everything You Can Think of Is True" is a reference to the English NurseryRhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle".
** "Table Top Joe" namedrops Music/IgorStravinsky.
--->''And I could play Stravinsky on a baby grand''
* SpecialGuest: Stewart Copeland (Music/ThePolice) plays during "Table Top Joe".
* StockSoundEffects: "Everything You Can Think Of Is True" starts off and ends with a train whistle.
----

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: "Kommeineszuspadt" is not an actual German word. It should be noted the last song's title is misspelled (in a way that makes it literally mean "Come one too late"). Written properly makes "Komm nie zu spät", which translates to "Never be too late" or "Never come too late".

** "Table Top Joe" is about a man born "without a body", who nevertheless still has his hands, which he uses to play music. This may sound bizarre, but it's actually about Johnny Eck, a sideshow artist how was just a man with two arms and a torso. Eck also appeared on the album cover of ''Music/{{Swordfishtrombones}}'' and was referenced on ''Music/TheBlackRider''.

''And the worms, they will climb the rugged ladder of your spine''

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: "Alice"
--> ''Arithmetic arithmetock''

* AmbiguouslyGay: "Reeperbahn"
--> ''Now little Hans was always strange''
--> ''Wearing womens underthings''
--> ''His father beat him but he wouldn't change''
--> ''He ran off with a man one day''
--> ''Now his lingerie is all the rage''
--> ''In the black on every page''
--> ''His father proudly calls his name''
--> ''Down there in the Reeperbahn''

* BodyHorror: "We're All Mad Here"
--> ''And you'll die with the rose still on your lips''
--> ''And in time the heart-shaped bone that was your hips''
--> ''And the worms, they will climb the rugged ladder of your spine''

* FaceOnTheCover: Waits, apparently on the bottom of the ocean, seeing that a fish is swimming by.
* GhostStory: ''No One Knows I'm Gone'' is about the ghost of a man hung upside-down out in the woods and buried in a lonely graveyard. Apparently, he's officially missing.
* GutturalGrowler: "Everything You Can Think Of Is True" is sang this way.
* {{Instrumental}}: "Fawn"

* OcularGushers: "Lost In The Harbour"
--> ''And then I will fill the ocean back up with my tears''

* OneWomanSong: "Alice"
* OneWordTitle: "Kommienezuspadt", "Reeperbahn", "Barcarolle", "Fawn"

--> ''And the raindrops on my window''
--> ''And the ice in my drink'''
--> ''All I can think of is Alice''

** "Poor Edward" was inspired by the 19th century man Edward Mordake, who was born with a duplicate face on the back of the head. It couldn't eat or talk loud, but it could make facial expressions and whisper, which drove him insane. He eventually committed suicide at age 23.
** "Table Top Joe" about a man born "without a body", who nevertheless still has his hands, which he uses to play music may sound bizarre, but its actually about Johnny Eck, a sideshow artist how was just a man with two arms and a torso. Eck also appeared on the album cover of ''Music/{{Swordfishtrombones}}'' and was also referenced on ''Music/TheBlackRider''.

--> ''As the devil sticks his flag into the mud''
--> ''Mrs Carol has run off with Reverend Judd''
--> ''Hell is such a lonely place''
--> ''And your big expensive face will never last''

--> ''And I could play Stravinsky on a baby grand''
** ''Literature/SandmanSlim'': "Alice" from Waits' album "Alice" appears as a song haunting the protagonist (whose murdered girlfriend was named Alice). At one point, his worst enemy makes a jukebox play it just to taunt him.

'''Alice''' is a 2002 album by Music/TomWaits. It contains most of the songs written for the 1992 play "Alice" by Robert Wilson. It was released at the same time as ''Music/BloodMoney'' (2002), which contains songs from another play by Wilson.

'''Tracklist'''

# "Lost In The Harbour" (3:45)

** The line "the dish ran away with the spoon" in "Everything You Can Think of Is True" is a reference to the English nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle".

* BornUnlucky: "Poor Edward", where the titular character is not only born with another face on the back off his head