Rewind: Kathleen Brennan

I'm an obsessive reader of best-of lists. I seek out, especially, the cumulative ones than span the now five decades that make up the rock and roll era. Tom Waits, heralded as one of the great songwriters of the past thirty years, is frequently seen on these lists, but rarely is his co-writer, his wife, Kathleen Brennan. Am I missing something? Isn't she credited as a writer on his most famous songs? Why is that she doesn't make those lists alongside her husband?

Not surprisingly, her mysterious nature is mentioned more often than her talent.In a 2002 article for GQ, writer Elizabeth Gilbert said of Brennan's elusive persona:

But who is Kathleen Brennan? Hard to know, exactly. She's the most mysterious figure in the whole Tom Waits mythology. Newspaper articles and press releases always describe her as the same way as "the wife and longtime collaborator of the gravelly-voiced singer." [...] She's everywhere, but invisible. She's private as a banker, rare as a unicorn, never talks to reporters. But she is the very center of Tom Waits -- his muse, his partner and the mother of his children.

It makes for a great story: the rarely-seen muse/partner, but the partner side is often overlooked or downplayed. The "woman as muse" trope is as old as there is, but I think it's a comfortable position for fans and critics to take. Also, Tom Waits music is inherently, even stereotypically, masculine, and that the actually voice behind some of those tales of pirates and sailors and one-eyed dwarves might be that of his wife unnerves fans.



Whatever the reason, Kathleen Brennan needs to be recognized for the songwriter she is, alone and alongside her husband.