The Springsteen version is like a whole different song. The last verse completely changes it. From an Orthodox Marxist perspective, one could say that it's superior, that is to say, from the perspective of socialist realism. But the Tom Waits version really speaks to the sketchy moods that one finds oneself in in places like Sud-Ouest Montreal, or for that matter, New Jersey.

I know that, uh, my education comes from the shape of a cloud, the whisper of the wind, the babbling of a brook, the song of a bird, the laughter of a child, the beauty of a woman...

-Riley Martin

...the drag of a joint, the snort of a cocaine...

-Howard Stern

...and when I go on off into a [unintelligible] dream, I learn things that I could not have known, such as the anti-universe, and things of this nature, which I'm working on.

-Riley Martin

I'm going to go drink tea on my roof and chat with people on the phone before Karazhan. Helpdesk training starts tomorrow morning. Handout on Friday. A week from Wednesday my last class starts, finishing up the academic journey I began exactly eleven years ago.

Current Location: Hoboken, NJ
Feeling: listless
Listening to: Fear Factory, Echo of My Scream