in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car". Rolling Stone also noted his "rusted plow-blade voice". One of Waits's own favorite descriptions of his vocal style was that of "Louis Armstrong and Ethel Merman meeting in Hell". Humphries cited him, alongside Kris Kristofferson, John Prine, and Randy Newman, as a number of U.S. singers who followed Dylan in breaking away from conventional styles of popular music and singing with their "distinctive" voices. Humphries described "Waitsworld" as a place of "the ricocheted romantics bent out of shape by a broad who should have known better; the twisted psychotics; the loners; the losers". By Blue Valentine, violent death had become a recurrent lyrical theme in his work; he wrote the song "Sweet Little Bullet" from that album, for instance, about a 15-year-old girl who committed suicide by jumping from a high window along the Hollywood Bowl. In his later work, orphanhood also became a recurring theme. Many of his songs make reference to fictional locations that he has invented, such as the eponymous term in his song "Burma Shave". Hoskyns also noted that many Waits songs, such as "Burma Shave" and "Georgia Lee", reflect an "abiding concern for runaways and kids in danger". Andy Gill expressed the view that throughout Waits's oeuvre, "the theme of lowlife redemption, of escape, is ever-present". Waits tended to wear all-black. Humphries noted that "on stage, Waits is a consummate performer, a raconteur of the recherché, and a genuine wit." Waits has stated that a performance should be "a spectacle and entertaining". It was on his 1977 tour for Foreign Affairs that he started employing props as part of his routine; one recurring prop was a megaphone through which he would shout at the audience. Personal life During the 1970s, Waits had a brief relationship with comedian Elayne Boosler, an intermittent relationship with Bette Midler, and a relationship with Rickie Lee Jones. In 1980, Waits married frequent collaborator Kathleen Brennan. They live in Sonoma County, California, and have three children: Kellesimone Wylder Waits (born 1983), Casey Waits (born 1985) and Sullivan Blake Waits (born 1993). After he married and had children, Waits became increasingly reclusive. Safeguarding the privacy of his family life became very important to him. During interviews, he has deflected questions about his personal life, and refused to sanction