Tom Waits Brings Out the Inner Chanteuse in Scarlett Johansson

Leave it to Scarlett Johansson to do something all the other It girls are doing, except better. Johansson is apparently planning to record her debut album, Scarlett Sings Tom Waits, this winter. The record will, you know, consist of Waits material sung by Ms. Johansson. Scott Storch will be producing of course. Just kidding. Actually it's not entirely clear who Johansson will be collaborating with on this project.

This isn't the first time the pout-y hipster dream girl has been paired with an older icon; Bob Dylan featured Johansson in his ethereal, maudlin video for "When the Deal Goes Down," and then there was the seriously spark-filled martini-sharing sessions between Johansson and Bill Murray in Lost in Translation. This is the first time Johansson has put her heart on her sleeve re: her admiration for one of those gruff, aged iconic men, as opposed to the other way around. The best part is that there isn't even a cringe factor here. Actress plus recording contract usually equals completely mortifying disaster, but we have this weird faith that she can pull it off. Can she?

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Song Stories

“Weird”

Hanson | 1997

Accomplished tunesmith Desmond Child co-wrote "Weird" with the three brothers that make up Hanson. Credited for dozens of cuts, including songs by Kiss, Cher, Bon Jovi and Aerosmith, Child told Rolling Stone that "Weird" holds a special place in his heart, "because it's about being different--and I grew up poor, I grew up being Latin, I grew up being gay, and now I'm fat!" The song was included on Hanson's 1997 album Middle of Nowhere, which sold more than ten million units.

More Song Stories entries »

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