There's something dyin' out on the highway tonight

When I heard that Tom Waits is one of the new inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I began thinking about his voluminous body of work. Waits’ voice may be an acquired taste, but the emotions evoked by his razor-sharp insights and splendid songwriting are universal.

Case in point (of which there are many): “House Where Nobody Lives” paints an utterly heartbreaking aural image of a situation where priorities have gotten shifted, lives have lost focus and a home becomes emotionally and finally, physically, empty.

After love has walked out the front door.

We’ve all seen houses like this.

Perhaps you’ve even lived in one.