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Recorded at Dockside Studio in Louisiana’s Cajun country, Scarlett Johansson’s debut album Anywhere I Lay My Head features her distinctive vocal interpretations of ten songs by legendary singer-songwriter Tom Waits. It also introduces one original track, "Song For Jo," which she co-wrote with David Andrew Sitek (TV on the Radio), who produced the album and lent his instrumental skills throughout. The title track comes from Waits’ 1985 opus Rain Dogs, and Johansson’s set also pulls cuts from Alice, Swordfishtrombones, Big Time, Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards, Real Gone, Small Change and Bone Machine. David Bowie adds backing vocals on two tracks, "Falling Down" and "Fannin Street," and the disc also features the talents of Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner and multi-instrumentalist Sean Antanaitis from Celebration, among others.
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On the day Academy Award-nominated actress Scarlett Johansson was born, Tom Waits was holed up in an L.A. studio knocking off the final gin-soaked lines of Rain Dogs, his near-perfect album of 1985. That Johansson’s cool enough to be a fan of Waits’ character-driven songs and distinct rasp is one thing; choosing to cover 10 of his songs for her first album (and naming it after the lone Rain Dogs selection) could be downright precarious. Expect the robust voice that is her big-screen reputation, which, after the kick-off instrumental “Fawn” (Alice, 2002), makes its debut on Town With No Cheer (Swordfish Trombones, 1983). Backed by a Waits-like orchestra of pump organ, vibes, horns and wind chimes, Johansson pulls off her best performances on the songs that beg for her persona. She makes “Big Time” (Big Time, 1988) and “I Wish I Was In New Orleans” (Small Change, 1976) sound like her own, finding irony in the respective lines “Come from St. Petersburg, Scarlett and me” and “By the whiskers on my chin, New Orleans, I’ll be there.” The latter, led merely by a music box, is the record’s finest, leaving a Waits fan to wonder what Johansson could do with “Tango Til They’re Sore” or “The Piano Has Been Drinking.” Trouble arises when arrangements are altered—“I Don’t Want To Grow Up” sounds like Blondie, circa 1981”—but, all in all, it’s a nice effort. --Scott Holter
Tracks
Fawn
Town with No Cheer
Falling Down
Anywhere I Lay My Head
Fannin Street
Song for Jo - Scarlett Johansson, Johansson, Scarlett
Green Grass
I Wish I Was in New Orleans
I Don't Wanna Grow Up
No One Knows I'm Gone
Who Are You