A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes. Of the two F1 hybrids between these two species, a mule is easier to obtain than a hinny (the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey). While there is no known instance of a male mule siring offspring, female mules have on very rare occasion given birth to viable offspring. The size of a mule and work to which it is put depends largely on the breeding of the mule's dam. Mules can be lightweight, medium weight, or even, when produced from draught horse mares, of moderately heavy weight.
An aficionado of the mule claims that they are "more patient, sure-footed, hardy and long-lived than horses, and they are considered less obstinate, faster, and more intelligent than donkeys."
A female mule that has estrus cycles and thus, in theory, could carry a fetus, is called a "molly" or "Molly mule," though the term is sometimes used to refer to female mules in general. Pregnancy is rare, but can occasionally occur naturally as well as through embryo transfer. One of several terms for a gelded mule is a "John mule."
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car." With this trademark growl, his incorporation of pre-rock music styles such as blues, jazz, and vaudeville, and experimental tendencies verging on industrial music, Waits has built up a distinctive musical persona. He has worked as a composer for movies and musical plays and has acted in supporting roles in films including Paradise Alley and Bram Stoker's Dracula; he also starred in the 1986 film Down by Law. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his soundtrack work on One from the Heart.
Lyrically, Waits' songs frequently present atmospheric portrayals of grotesque, often seedy characters and places—although he has also shown a penchant for more conventional ballads. He has a cult following and has influenced subsequent songwriters despite having little radio or music video support. His songs are best-known through cover versions by more commercial artists: "Jersey Girl", performed by Bruce Springsteen, "Ol' '55", performed by the Eagles, and "Downtown Train", performed by Rod Stewart. Although Waits' albums have met with mixed commercial success in his native United States, they have occasionally achieved gold album sales status in other countries. He has been nominated for a number of major music awards and has won Grammy Awards for two albums, Bone Machine and Mule Variations. In 2011, Waits was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Repulsive furniture in a small home out in Queens.
Spotted-tick-fever parents and their bat-weilding teens.
Another murder, splattered across the news.
Can't wait till the flames engulf this city.
Walk in the slaughterhouse for an 8-hour day.
Walk out a butchered sow and crammed back in the train.
I'm claustrophobic, so I stay close to the door.
Get out at Essex, and start to transform.
Into a human.
I make your Xeroxes
(I know. I know)
I staple and I file
(I know. I know)
I'm going braindead.
(I know. I know)
But I know what I'm worth,
Yeah I do.
The head of my company doesn't realize.
That he's expendable, it would still survive.
But I'm the cannon fodder, the grease inside the wheel.
I'm the nerve center, the achilles' heel.
And I'm the critical link.
I'm the crucial link.
I'm the weakest link.
At the Bottom of the Chain.
In the economy.
(Weak link)
At the Bottom of the Chain.
(Weak link)
In the economy.
(Your link)
At the Bottom of the Chain....
(Bottom, bottom, bottom...)
An unimportant cell of an apathetic whole.
Fractured, uninterested, without any goals.
I like to drink a beer, stare out into the streets.
Smoke some cigarettes, cook something to eat.
Waiting for the city to burn.
I've made no impact.
(I know. I know)
On this mass culture.
(I know. I know)
I'm going braindead.
(I know. I know)
But I rule this earth
Yeah, I do.
'Cause when I collate
(I know. I know)
The masses tremble.
(I know. I know)
And when I send a fax
(I know. I know)
The universe shudders at my fury.
And I'm the critical link.
I'm the crucial link.
I'm the weakest link.
At the Bottom of the Chain.
In the economy.
(Weak link)
At the Bottom of the Chain.
(Weak link)
In the economy.
(Weak link)
At the Bottom of the Chain.
(Your link)
In the economy.
(Go!)
At the Bottom of the Chain.
(bottom, bottom, bottom)
In the economy.
(Chain....)
At the Bottom of the Chain.
(---------)
In the economy.
(bottom, bottom)
At the Bottom of the Chain.
(at the bottom of the chain)
..At the bottom!
Say you try
But you just can't help your self
Wanna feel special
Man wanna make you feel like everybody else
Take away your freedom
Strip away your pride
Say you know you weren't born
With the blue blood son
So tak eyour place in line
Where's my mule?
Where's my forty acres
Where's my dream
Mr Emancipator
Live this way
Might as well meet my maker
Where's my mule?
Where's my mule?
I say trust me
But you say it's too much bother
Yeah, the way the man try to beat you down
Make you wanna kill your brother
So go on and bust me
For what's in my mason jar
Yeah, I owes my soul
To the company store
How I'm doing so far?
Where's my mule?
Where's my forty acres
Where's my dream
Mr Emancipator
Live this way
Might as well meet my maker
Where's my mule?
Where's my mule?
Where's my mule?
Where's my forty acres
Where's my dream
Mr Emancipator
Live this way
Might as well meet my maker
Came into town ready to play
But Matt said, "Sorry - the show's not today"
Went to some punks' house and heard GBH
But we were thrown out when their mother came home
Hopped in the Mule and drove through the swamps
Ran out of gas for the 15th time
Waited around, hitched a ride
We got a jug and put a gallon inside
Then we rode away on our yellow Mule
But Reardon fucked up and we ran out of fuel
Went to McDonalds on a Wednesday night
My friends were bored, their conversation trite
But I had come for a bite of a filet-o-fish (filet o fish)
Colin said that it couldn't eat meat
Lost his appetite smelling Roger's feet
Played a lousy show in B-Town
But we got to watch Gitter's place burn down
Then we rode away on our yellow Mule
But Reardon fucked up and we ran out of fuel
We - we rode in on a Mule
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