Jockey Full of Bourbon
A rumba-paced first single from Rain Dogs that turned up in two films and a long list of covers.
Tom Waits, from Rain Dogs (1985)
- Written by
- Tom Waits
- Released
- 1985
- Length
- 2:45
- Album
- Rain Dogs
It was the first single from Rain Dogs. Waits plays guitar and sings, with Stephen Hodges on drums, Larry Taylor on double bass, Michael Blair on percussion and congas, Marc Ribot on guitar and Ralph Carney on bass saxophone, over a rumba and mambo feel. A 1986 newspaper review described it as the everyday life of immigrants in a ghetto, set to a rhumba beat.
It appears in the film Down by Law (1986) and in Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995).
Mark Richardson of Pitchfork called it a slinky rumba, something like Ghost Riders in the Sky as played by Professor Longhair.
Covers and versions
- John P. Hammond (2001) On Wicked Grin
- Joe Bonamassa (2009) On The Ballad of John Henry
- Moxy Fruvous
- Los Lobos
- Diana Krall
- Youn Sun Nah
More songs by Tom Waits
Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen), Heartattack and Vine, Jersey Girl, Downtown Train, Ol' '55, Step Right Up
Sources
- Jockey Full of Bourbon, Wikipedia
- Rain Dogs, Wikipedia
- Tom Waits: Rain Dogs, Pitchfork (2025-04-20)
- Discogs release: Rain Dogs, Island 90299-1, Discogs