Incongruity

Chipotle Grille is a strange place to encounter Tom Waits' 1980 non-hit "Mr Siegal."


"How do the angels get to sleep, when the devil leaves the porchlight on."

One of those disorienting moments when your ability to recognize a tune is at direct odds with its context. The number of times I've heard a Waits' ditty issuing from a source other than my own stereo can be counted on the fingers of a drunken one-armed circus freak. (I'm talking original Waits versions, mind you, not covers by Rod Stewart or Springsteen or Raffi.) Not the first time this sort of thing has happened, of course. I once heard XTC's obscure "Thanks For Christmas" playing in an airport in Flint, Michigan. Granted, not as jarring as a Godspeed You! Black Emperor record spinning at your grandmother's potluck dinner, but unusual enough to take notice.

And then there was the time Kurt Cobain screeched "Rape Me" through the speakers of a family steakhouse while the contented diners calmly poked their meals, unaware of anything out of the ordinary. Could've been Guy Lombardo for all they knew or cared. Kinda takes the sting out of subversion.