Whistlin' past the graveyard - Tom Waits

Seemed like an apt song for a music blip since I've been doing a fair bit of Whistlin' past the graveyard recently. It timed nicely with spotting a graveyard in town which I hadn't been in before, so Roz and I went to explore the Dean Cemetery today.

I used to live down in the Dean Village but somehow I'd never given this place any attention before now. It was in quite good condition even despite the bulk of the headstones being from around the mid to late nineteenth century.

I also had no idea this headstone was there. If you look at the big view you'll see it was a grave for Lieutenant John Irving. I was aware of him before today as he served as an officer on HMS Terror which, along with HMS Erebus, took part in Sir John Franklin's ill fated expedition to find and navigate the Northwest Passage. The ships were trapped in the ice for over two years and none of the crew made it back alive.

Irving's remains were found on King William Island in the 1878 - 1880 expedition and returned to Edinburgh to be buried.

Anyway, here's the song, I had thought about posting the Screamin' Jay Hawkins cover which is pretty good, but in th eend it had to be Waits' original.