Solomon Burke: Always Keep a Diamond in Your Mind

Fun, indelible song by Tom Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan, who never gets enough credit as his prime collaborator. I don't know about you but I'm hooked with the first line, and by the end of the first verse I'm all in. "I shook the hand of the president and the pope in Rome / I've been to parties where I've had to be flown / They said everything was sacred, nothing was profane / And money was something that you throw off the back of trains." The quotable lines just continue nonstop throughout, including my favorite couplet, "She lives outside of Natchez where she operates a crane / She's like a wrecking ball no longer connected to the chain." This performance is from Solomon Burke's stellar LP, "Don't Give Up On Me," in which he covers tunes from a whole bunch of master songwriters. Check it out.