{"id":24496,"date":"2026-08-01T20:15:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=24496"},"modified":"2026-08-01T20:15:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:15:32","slug":"listen-to-tom-waits-darkly-comic-new-spoken-word-track-the-fly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=24496","title":{"rendered":"Listen to Tom Waits&#8217; darkly comic new spoken-word track &#8216;The Fly&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/ARTISTS\/TOM-WAITS\">Tom Waits<\/a>\u00a0has released the full version of his sardonic spoken-word track \u2018The Fly\u2019 \u2013 check it out below.<\/p>\n<p>The track serves as the B-side to \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/massive-attack-and-tom-waits-meet-an-atmosphere-of-chaos-on-the-powerful-politically-charged-boots-on-the-ground-3940637\">Boots\u00a0On\u00a0The\u00a0Ground<\/a>\u2018, Waits\u2019 politically charged collaboration with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/massive-attack\">Massive Attack<\/a>, which was released online in April and marked the singer-songwriter\u2019s first new original music since his 2011 album \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/reviews\/reviews-tom-waits-12413-306894\">Bad\u00a0As\u00a0Me<\/a>\u2018.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/tom-waits-shares-a-taster-of-dark-spoken-word-piece-the-fly-the-b-side-to-boots-on-the-ground-no-onell-weep-when-you-die-3941795\">A tease of \u2018The Fly\u2019 was released several months ago<\/a>, but now the entire track has been shared, and it sees Waits offer a begrudging tribute to the brief and unloved life of the common housefly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<i>You have no house, well you have mine \/ You have no real friends, stay away from the wine<\/i>,\u201d he recites. \u201c<i>House fly go to sleep, say goodbye \/ No one will weep when you die<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<i>You\u2019re handsome and thin, you try to blend in \/ You bastard, sitting around all over the place \/ You\u2019ll be here even after the bomb \/ Why don\u2019t you go out and eat cat shit with your mom?<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Check out the lyric video, illustrated by the artist\u2019s son Casey Waits, here:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DbdbmZmux5R\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The track is in the tradition of the musician\u2019s previous darkly comic spoken-word pieces, including \u2018What\u2019s He Building In There?\u2019 and \u2018The Ocean Doesn\u2019t Want Me\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Waits\u00a0has\u00a0said: \u201cToday, as in all of mankind\u2019s yesterdays, guarantees this type of song will never go out of style.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMan\u2019s folly of fiascos is a feast for the flies. Hence, the B-side of Massive Attack\u2019s upcoming 12-inch \u2018The Fly\u2019 features my appreciation for the winged nuisance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Boots On The Ground\u2019 and \u2018The Fly\u2019 will be released together on 12-inch vinyl on September 4, with a 180g \u2018EcoSonic\u2019 pressing to be available in red, white or blue vinyl, manufactured using recycled materials in an effort to reduce its environmental impact. Pre-order it <a href=\"https:\/\/store.massiveattack.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Massive Attack \/ Tom Waits - Boots on the Ground\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/L-57FrioeuE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u2018Boots On The Ground\u2019 arrived with a film made by Massive Attack and US photographer thefinaleye, featuring imagery of protests against ICE raids, the militarisation of domestic forces and state authoritarianism.<\/p>\n<p>Massive Attack have said about the project as a whole: \u201cIt\u2019s a career honour to collaborate with an artist of the magnitude, originality and integrity of Tom, but this track is arriving in an atmosphere of chaos. Across the western hemisphere, state authoritarianism and the militarisation of police forces are fusing again with neo-fascist politics. Seen within the American emergency, at home and overseas, this track contains pulses of callous impulse and abandoned mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2023,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/tom-waits-is-reportedly-writing-again-3447515\">Waits\u2019 longtime music agent Paul Charles claimed that the US singer-songwriter and actor had been \u201cwriting again<\/a>\u201d with the hope that the 76-year-old may tour.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/tom-waits-and-kathleen-brennan-covered-by-johnny-cash-bruce-springsteen-and-more-on-new-curated-compilation-where-the-willow-and-the-dogwood-grow-3937076\">Waits and his wife and longtime collaboration Kathleen Brennan also curated \u2018Where The\u00a0Willow\u00a0And\u00a0The\u00a0Dogwood Grow\u2019<\/a>, a collection featuring other artists\u2019 versions of their songs, including recordings by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/johnny-cash\">Johnny Cash<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/bruce-springsteen\">Bruce Springsteen<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/ramones\">Ramones<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/willie-nelson\">Willie Nelson<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/marianne-faithfull\">Marianne Faithfull<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('consent', 'revoke');\n  fbq('init', '370979561341328');\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tom Waits\u00a0has released the full version of his sardonic spoken-word track \u2018The Fly\u2019 \u2013 check it out below. The track serves as the B-side to \u2018Boots\u00a0On\u00a0The\u00a0Ground\u2018, Waits\u2019 politically charged collaboration with Massive Attack, which was released online in April and marked the singer-songwriter\u2019s first new original music since his 2011 album \u2018Bad\u00a0As\u00a0Me\u2018. A tease of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Tom_Waits_Anton_Corbijn.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}