Tom Waits recorded Swordfishtrombones under Harry’s spell. “Hovering phantom-like over the whole album is the spirit of composer and hobo Harry Partch,” wrote Waits biographer Patrick Humphries. “[Harry] dismantled and rebuilt his own version of the whole concept of music and its purpose,” said Waits, “but I just like the sounds he makes.” Waits also told Playboy, “Partch was an innovator. It’s a little arrogant to say I see a relationship between his stuff and mine. I’m very crude, but I use things we hear around us all the time, built and found instruments.”
