Blue Valentine (album)

This article is about the album. For the film, see Blue Valentine (film).

Blue Valentine
Studio album by Tom Waits
Released	September 1978
Recorded	July 24–August 26, 1978 at Filmways/Heider Recording in San Francisco, California
Genre	Rock, blues, jazz
Length	49:09
Label	Asylum
Producer	Bones Howe
Tom Waits chronology
Foreign Affairs (1977)Foreign Affairs1977 Blue Valentine (1978) Heartattack and Vine (1980)Heartattack and Vine1980
Singles from Blue Valentine
"Somewhere" Released: August 1978

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Mojo
Robert Christgau	B link
Rolling Stone	(favorable) link
The Rolling Stone Album Guide

Blue Valentine is a studio album by the American musician Tom Waits, released in September 1978 on Asylum Records. The album was recorded over the course of six sessions from July to August 1978 with producer Bones Howe.

The woman pictured with Waits on the back cover is Rickie Lee Jones, another singer/songwriter with whom he was having a relationship at the time. This album peaked on the Australian charts in late 1978 at #42.

Track listing

All tracks written by Tom Waits, except where noted.

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Somewhere" (From West Side Story)	Music: Leonard Bernstein; lyrics: Stephen Sondheim	3:53
2.	"Red Shoes by the Drugstore"		3:14
3.	"Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis"		4:33
4.	"Romeo Is Bleeding"		4:52
5.	"$29.00"		8:15

Side two

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Wrong Side of the Road"	5:14
2.	"Whistlin' Past the Graveyard"	3:17
3.	"Kentucky Avenue"	4:49
4.	"A Sweet Little Bullet from a Pretty Blue Gun"	5:36
5.	"Blue Valentines"	5:49

Personnel

• Tom Waits - vocals, electric guitar, piano
• Ray Crawford, Roland Bautista, Alvin "Shine" Robinson - electric guitar
• Scott Edwards, Jim Hughart, Byron Miller - bass
• Da Willie Gonga (George Duke), Harold Battiste - piano
• Charles Kynard - organ
• Herbert Hardesty, Frank Vicari - tenor saxophone
• Rick Lawson, Earl Palmer, Chip White - drums
• Bobbye Hall Porter - congas on ("Romeo Is Bleeding")
• Bob Alcivar - orchestra