History Music / BoneMachine

''Bone Machine'' is the eleventh studio album by Music/TomWaits, released in 1992.

Not to be confused with the [[Music/ThePixies Pixies]] song of the same name, which can be found on ''Music/SurferRosa'' (1988).

* WeAllDieSomebody: This is essentially the overall theme of the album.

Not to be confused with the [[Music/ThePixies Pixies]] song [[NamesTheSame of the same name]], which can be found on ''Music/SurferRosa'' (1988).

* NotChristianRock: As evident from AsTheGoodBookSays, the album is littered with Christian imagery.
-->Well you say that it's gospel\\
But I know that it's only church

[[caption-width-right:350: ''Such a Scream.'']]

Not to be confused with the [[Music/ThePixies Pixies]] song [[NamesTheSame of the same name]], which can be found on ''Music/SurferRosa'' (1988)

Your spirit don't leave knowing your face or your name\\
The wind through your bones is all that remains''

''Bone Machine'' is a [[UsefulNotes/GrammyAward Grammy]]-winning 1992 album by Music/TomWaits that showcases a DarkerAndEdgier sound [[NewSoundAlbum than his previous work]]. It was recorded in the cellar of a music studio, according to WordOfGod: "Just a cement floor and a hot water heater" because he liked the echo there. It was his first studio album since ''Music/FranksWildYears'' (1987) and is best recognized for its tracks: "Earth Died Screaming," "Goin' Out West," and "I Don't Wanna Grow Up."

* GriefSong: "Dirt in the Ground," for [[UpToEleven all of humanity at large]].

* GrotesqueGallery: "Goin' Out West":
-->My friends think I'm ugly\\
I've got a masculine face

* DarkWorld: It could be a twisted, darkly reflected version of our world that this album takes place in... or it could just be ours.
* DarkerAndEdgier: The themes and musical arrangements are far darker than Waits's previous output. Case in point: the first track is about the apocalypse.

* QuestToTheWest: "Goin' Out West" is something of a {{deconstruction}}: the singer, brainwashed by media images of idyllic {{Hollywood}} happiness, sets out for where he believes people will "appreciate" him.

->''What does it matter, a dream of love or a dream of lies\\
We're all gonna be the same place when we die\\

Wind through your bones is all that remains''

* BarredFromTheAfterlife: "Earth Died Screaming":
--> Well hell doesn't want you\\

--> And the madness of the crowd\\

* DarkWorld: It could be a twisted, darkly reflected version of our world that this album takes place in . . . or it could just be ours.

Be [[DeadlyEuphemism whistlin' down the wind]].

-->Heaven is full.
** To make matters worse, the Jesus the singer of "Jesus Gonna Be Here" is [[SecondComing waiting for]] is strongly implied by "Black Wings" to ''be'' the devil.

But the ocean doesn't want me today.\\

** This reading is supported by the CallBack in "A Little Rain":

I've got a masculine face.

---> Bring me some water, put it in this skull ...\\

-->There was a murder in the red barn,\\
A murder in the red barn.\\

** "The Earth Died Screaming" appears in ''Film/TwelveMonkeys.''

** "Goin' Out West" was used in ''Film/FightClub.''
** Music/TheRamones covered "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" on their final studio album ''Adios Amigos.''
** ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': During their review of ''Film/TheFinalSacrifice,'' when Mike Pipper shows up, Servo quips: "I'd like to sing something from ''Bone Machine.''"

* {{Spoonerism}}: A clever [[LyricSwap variation on the chorus]] in "In the Collosseum":
-->In the Collosseum\\

-->What's a bone machine? Most of the principles of most machines developed in the machine age were principles that were found in the human body. Originally, I was going to take sounds of machines I'd recorded, and add a really strong rhythmic sense; I was going to try to build songs out of the rhythms. But then it didn't really develop that way. The stories kind of took over. So it's more bone than machine. Bone Machine... We're all like bone machines, I guess. We break down eventually, and we're replaced by other models. Newer models. Younger models. Bone Machine . . . Sounds like a superhero, doesn't it?

Dreaming of you.

** "All Stripped Down" uses the Rapture as a metonymy for death.

* CallBack: The fifteen-year-old girl who "[had] never seen the ocean" in "A Little Rain" my well be the girl addressed by the [[DoubleMeaning secondary interpretation]] of "The Ocean Doesn't Want Me." If not, this is merely a ContinuityNod.

* {{Satan}}: The subject of "Black Wings" seems to be this, unsettlingly laced with elements of the Jesus story.

-->Now [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} Ophelia]] wants to know\\

''Bone Machine'' is an award-winning 1992 album by Music/TomWaits that showcases a DarkerAndEdgier sound [[NewSoundAlbum than his previous work]]. It was recorded in the cellar of a music studio, according to WordOfGod: "Just a cement floor and a hot water heater" because he liked the echo there. It was his first studio album since ''Music/FranksWildYears'' (1987) and is best recognized for its tracks: "Earth Died Screaming," "Goin' Out West," and "I Don't Wanna Grow Up."

** "All Stripped Down" uses the Rapture as a metaphor for death.

-->Well I'm just gonna wait here\\

''Bone Machine'' is a 1992 album by Music/TomWaits that showcases a DarkerAndEdgier sound [[NewSoundAlbum than his previous work]]. It was recorded in the cellar of a music studio, according to WordOfGod: "Just a cement floor and a hot water heater" because he liked the echo there. It was his first studio album since ''Music/FranksWildYears'' (1987) and notable for the tracks: "Earth Died Screaming," "Goin' Out West," and "I Don't Wanna Grow Up."

* CaughtUpInTheRapture: The singer of "Jesus Gonna Be Here" is very much this.

-->She was fifteen years old\\

The mischievous PerfectlyCromulentWord braingels]]\\

* MythologyGag: In "Whistle Down the Wind," to the album ''Bone Machine'' [[SpritualSuccessor Spiritually Succeeded]]:

* NonAppearingTitle: The phrase "Bone Machine" never appears in any of the lyrics, although the word "bone" does appear in over half.
* NotChristianRock: As noted under AsTheGoodBookSays, the album is littered with Christian imagery.

Of any man at the table

-->Now [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} Ophelia}} wants to know\\

-->I'm gonna get myself unfurled\\

* {{Spoonerism}}: A clever, subtle variation of the chorus in "In the Collosseum":
-->In the Collosseum\\
We call 'em as we see 'em

* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccassion: In "Black Wings":

He was born away in a ''cornfield''[[note]][[AwayInAManger "away in a manger"]][[/note]]\\

* UnusualEuphemism: "Bone Machine" for the human body, as Waits himself explains in the press kit for his album:

Then the stars went out\\

And the locusts take the sky

How the hell did I get here so soon?\\

-->And the strangels will take me\\

The mischievous braingels\\

* SpecialGuest: Les Claypool from Music/{{Primus}} plays electric bass on "Earth Died Screaming," drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia drums on "All Stripped Down" and "In the Colosseum," David Hidalgo from ''Los Lobos'' plays violin and accordion on "Whistle Down the Wind," and Music/KeithRichards duets along with Waits on "That Feel."

* AStormIsComing: "The Earth Died Screaming:"
--> ''And the great day of wrath has come''
* SpecialGuest: Les Claypool from Music/{{Primus}} plays electric bass on "Earth Died Screaming," drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia drums on "All Stripped Down" and "In the Colosseum," David Hidalgo from ''Los Lobos'' plays violin and accordion on "Whistle Down the Wind," Music/KeithRichards duets along with Waits on "That Feel."
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: "Murder in the Red Barn:"
--> ''And there's nothing strange about an axe with blood stains''
--> ''There's always some killing you got to do around the barn''
* TickTockTune: "The Earth Died Screaming."
* UnusualEuphemism: "Bone Machine" for the human body. As ''Tom Waits'' himself explained in the press kit for his album:
--> ''What's a bone machine? Most of the principles of most machines developed in the machine age were principles that were found in the human body. Originally, I was going to take sounds of machines I'd recorded, and add a really strong rhythmic sense; I was going to try to build songs out of the rhythms. But then it didn't really develop that way. The stories kind of took over. So it's more bone than machine. Bone Machine... We're all like bone machines, I guess. We break down eventually, and we're replaced by other models. Newer models. Younger models. Bone Machine... Sounds like a superhero, doesn't it?''
* WhileRomeBurns: "The Earth Died Screaming:"
-->''The earth died screaming\\

Dreaming of you.''

* BadassBoast: "Goin' Out West" is all about his character boasting about his looks and how badass he is, specifically saying he knows karate and voodoo and can handle himself in a high speed chase. He's got the scars and chest hair to prove it.

-->Hell's boiling over, and heaven is full

-->''I've got hair on my chest''\\
''I look good without a shirt''

--> And the madness of the crowd''\\

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: "The Earth Died Screaming," interestingly enough placed as the first track of the album:
---> ''There was thunder''
---> ''There was lightning''
---> ''Then the stars went out''
---> ''And the moon fell from the sky''
---> ''It rained mackerel''
---> ''It rained trout''
---> ''And the great day of wrath has come''
---> ''And here's mud in your big red eye''
---> ''The poker's in the fire''
---> ''And the locusts take the sky''
---> ''And the earth died screaming''
* FaceOnTheCover: Played with; Waits' face is almost unrecognizable.
* GladiatorGames: "In the Colosseum," a song about the violent spectacle in the Colosseum.
* GodIsLoveSongs: "Jesus Gonna Be Here:"
--> ''Jesus gonna be here''
--> ''He is gonna be here soon''
* GrotesqueGallery: "Goin' Out West:"
--> ''My friends think I'm ugly / I've got a masculine face.''
* GriefSong: "The Earth Died Screaming" and "Dirt in the Ground."
* GrowingUpSucks: "I Don't Wanna Grow Up:"
--> ''I don't wanna put no money down''
--> ''I don't wanna get me a big old loan''
--> ''Work them fingers to the bone''
--> ''I don't wanna float a broom''
--> ''Fall in and get married then boom''
--> ''How the hell did I get here so soon?''
--> ''I don't wanna grow up''
* HellIsThatNoise: Some of the sounds on this album can make listeners wonder and range from unusual instruments to odd machines and random objects.
* InHarmonyWithNature: "The Ocean Doesn't Want Me Today," where a man thinks that drowning in the ocean will be the best way to go.
* {{Instrumentals}}: "Let Me Get Up on It."
* InterruptedSuicide: "The Ocean Doesn't Want Me Today," where a man ponders over walking into the ocean and disappear in it. But he decides the ocean doesn't want him that day and waits.
* IWillWaitForYou: "Jesus Gonna Be Here" and "The Ocean Doesn't Want Me Today."
* JesusWasWayCool: "Jesus Gonna Be Here," where Jesus apparently drives around in a car:
--> ''I got to keep my eyes open''
--> ''So I can see my Lord''
--> ''I'm gonna watch the horizon''
--> ''For a brand new Ford''
--> ''I can hear him rolling on down the lane''
--> ''I said Hollywood be thy name''
--> ''Jesus gonna be, gonna be here soon''

* MurderBallad: "Murder in the Red Barn:"
--> ''There was a murder in the red barn''
--> ''A murder in the red barn''
--> ''Now thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house''
--> ''Or covet thy neighbor's wife''
--> ''But for some murder is the only door through which they enter life''
* NewSoundAlbum: The themes were far darker than Waits' previous album with songs about death ("Dirt in the Ground"), murder ("Murder in the Red Barn"), suicide ("The Ocean Doesn't Want Me Today"), arena fights ("In the Colosseum")... Musically everything sounds more minimalistic and percussion driven.

* NightSwimEqualsDeath: A voluntary consideration for the man in "The Ocean Doesn't Want Me Today:"
--> ''I'd love to go drowning''
--> ''And to stay and to stay''
* NobleDemon: The protagonist in "Black Wings." "He broke out of every prison" and "they say he once killed a man with a guitar string," yet "he once saved a baby from drowning," and "there are those who say beneath his coat there are wings."
* NonAppearingTitle: "Bone Machine" is never referenced in any of the song's lyrics, but it's likely a reference to the human body, making the song "All Stripped Down" a close call.

* OnceKilledAManWithANoodleImplement: "Black Wings:"
--> ''They say he once killed a man with a guitar string''
* PowerGivesYouWings: "Black Wings:"
--> ''Some say beneath his coat there are wings.''
* ProductPlacement: According to "Jesus Gonna Be Here" Jesus drives around in "a brand new Ford."
* QuestioningTitle: "Who Are You?"
* QuestToTheWest: "Goin' Out West", where the singer is trying to escape his current life and start a new one "out west", where people will "appreciate him".

-->''There was thunder, there was lightning''\\
''Then the stars went out''\\
''And the moon fell from the sky''\\
''It rained mackerel, it rained trout''
* SecondComing: The singer of "Jesus Gonna Be Here" is waiting for this. Truth to tell, he sounds a little cracked.

** Near the end of "The Earth Died Screaming" the ''Funeral March'' from Music/FryderykChopin is quoted.
** "The Earth Died Screaming" appeared in ''Film/TwelveMonkeys.''

** ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000:'' During their review of ''Film/TheFinalSacrifice,'' when Mike Pipper shows up, Servo quips: "I'd like to sing something from ''Bone Machine.''"
* SignsOfTheEndTimes: "The Earth Died Screaming:"

* SmallTownBoredom: "Whistle Down the Wind" is about someone who feels this but can't make himself leave. It's implied that he's contemplating suicide:
--> ''I can't stay here, and I'm scared to leave.''
* AStormIsComing: "The Earth Died Screaming:"
--> ''And the great day of wrath has come''