Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis
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| "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Tom Waits | |
| from the album Blue Valentine | |
| Released | September 1978 |
| Recorded | July 24 – August 26, 1978 |
| Studio | Filmways/Heider Recording Hollywood, California |
| Genre | Jazz, blues |
| Length | 4:33 |
| Label | Asylum |
| Songwriter | Tom Waits |
| Producer | Bones Howe |
"Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis" is a song written and performed by Tom Waits, released on his 1978 album Blue Valentine.[1]
"Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis" has been described as a "laconic first-person sketch".[1] The lyrics are in the form a letter from a prostitute to a man named Charlie. She reveals that she is pregnant, that she has quit alcohol and drugs, describes her current living circumstances (including her stable relationship with a new husband who promises to raise her arriving baby like he would his own son), and outlines the better choices she would make if she "still had all the money we used to spend on dope". At the song's conclusion, the author confesses to Charlie that she has been lying to him; she does not have a husband, but will "be eligible for parole come Valentine's Day."
Personnel
- Tom Waits – lead vocal, acoustic piano
- Da Willie Gonga (George Duke) – electric grand piano
Live performances
In the late 1970s, Waits often performed "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis" as a medley with "Goin' Out Of My Head," originally recorded by Little Anthony & the Imperials and mentioned in the lyrics, and the Christmas carol "Silent Night".[2]
For a performance in New York on November 21, 1985, Waits introduced the song with the following anecdote:
I was in Minneapolis – it was 200 degrees below zero – I know, you think I'm bullshitting, no, I swear to God, I was wearing just a bra and a slip and a kind of dead squirrel around my neck – he was colder than I was. The police cars would go by and they'd wave ... merry Xmas, merry Xmas, merry Xmas ... anyway, I got caught in the middle of a pimp war between two kids in Chinchilla coats, they couldn't have been more than 13 years old. They're throwing knives and forks and spoons out into the street – it was deep – so I grabbed a ladle, and Dinah Washington was singing "Our Day Will Come" and I knew that was it.[2]
