Tom's story: 2009
21 pieces on this page. Click a picture or "See the whole card" to open the card.
2009 — Tom was 30 and 31
21 pieces on this year: 1 dated to this year · 20 from a range of years, shown here in the middle.
DATED TO 2009
1891The Free Career Test Report for timmy timm: Your Workplace Fit Graph
July 1, 2009 (age 30) PROVED
NOTES, PLANS AND BUSINESS PAPERS
A printout of an online career test from July 1, 2009 that Tom took under the name timmy timm, showing his workplace fit graph, two pages.
the card says: made at age 30
See the whole card → 3 pictures
ABOUT 2009: FROM A RANGE OF YEARS, SHOWN HERE IN THE MIDDLE
1072WHEN YOU'RE GONE
about 2008-2011 (age 29 to 33) LIKELY
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Two printed lyric sheets titled WHEN YOU'RE GONE with Tom's handwritten pen edits and notes, kept with a spiral notebook page noting the lyrics were another writer's originals that Tom edited.
Dated from this piece's own words, the dated books and the pieces around it; likely, not yet proved.
See the whole card → 6 pictures
1938SONG CHART WITH SINGERS
about 2008-2011 (age 29 to 33) LIKELY
SET LISTS, SONG LISTS, TITLE LISTS AND INDEXES
A red-marker chart by Tom dividing his songs into two columns - his own (UNITY, FRESCO, In the Pouring Rain, Water Flesh Bone and more) and a second group headed JD (TRAIN, Married to Something Else, Rainy Day Sunshine and more) - with notes of which singer takes each one, on a mix of printer and notebook paper.
Dated from this piece's own words, the dated books and the pieces around it; likely, not yet proved.
See the whole card → 4 pictures
1967TRACK LISTS AND SONG NOTES
about 2008-2011 (age 29 to 33) LIKELY
SET LISTS, SONG LISTS, TITLE LISTS AND INDEXES
Five white sheets of Tom's handwritten album notes - track times, a twelve-song running order from Let Down to Here and Now, a review sheet scoring the music and lyrics of each track, and a list of edits to make.
Dated from this piece's own words, the dated books and the pieces around it; likely, not yet proved.
See the whole card → 6 pictures
288Corporatists hire hypnotists
about 2007-2011 (age 28 to 33) BEST GUESS
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's handwritten purple-ink lyric notes for ANOTHER HISTORY LESSON (set list 10, track 12), headed Song about types of torture and opening Corporatists hire hypnotists, with a circled reference to the audio talk that sparked it.
See the whole card → 1 picture
1940SONG LISTS
about 2008-2010 (age 30 to 31) BEST GUESS
SET LISTS, SONG LISTS, TITLE LISTS AND INDEXES
Twelve handwritten sheets from Tom's album planning around December 2008, including ticked song-title lists and his plans for the Disciples of Dirt albums - Keep on Diggin, Bones and Stones, and the Higher Ground double album.
the card says: written between age 30 and 31
See the whole card → 12 pictures
591I'm Awoken Not Broken
about 2008-2010 (age 29 to 32) BEST GUESS
ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITINGS (NOT LYRICS)
Tom's handwritten notes and lyric fragments MY OPEN HOUSE, in black ink on lined notebook paper, with scattered short lines and crossed-out words, tied to his 34 albums.
See the whole card → 1 picture
952THE TOM & TOM SONG
about 2008-2010 (age 29 to 32) BEST GUESS
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's handwritten two-page draft of THE TOM AND TOM SONG, with a bubble-letter title, a premise and a comic bio about writing lyrics, singing, playing guitar and making videos, in blue pen on torn loose-leaf with a purple sticky note, tied to the song FEAR (set list 8, track 9) in the 34 Albums.
See the whole card → 4 pictures
1900MUSICIANS TURN MY WORDS INTO SONGS
about 2008-2011 (age 29 to 33) BEST GUESS
SET LISTS, SONG LISTS, TITLE LISTS AND INDEXES
Tom's printed list MUSICIANS TURN MY WORDS INTO SONGS, naming the songs other musicians made from his lyrics - MAYBE SOMEDAY, FIGHT FOR PEACE, TONIGHT'S MOONLIGHT, BREAKING THE CHAINS, THE WATCHER and more - with coloured tiles, a pink sticky note of a burger order and a round kaleidoscope print.
See the whole card → 2 pictures
1903MUSICIANS TURN MY WORDS INTO SONGS
about 2008-2011 (age 29 to 33) BEST GUESS
SET LISTS, SONG LISTS, TITLE LISTS AND INDEXES
Tom's printed list MUSICIANS TURN MY WORDS INTO SONGS, naming the songs made from his lyrics by musicians around the world - MAYBE SOMEDAY, ROCKING THE WORLD, WORTH THE WAIT, COME FOR A RIDE and more - with coloured tiles.
See the whole card → 1 picture
1912SONGS WITH LYRICS BY TOM JENSEN
about 2008-2011 (age 29 to 33) BEST GUESS
LETTERS, FLYERS, PRINTOUTS AND RECORDS
A small printed flyer, SONGS WITH LYRICS BY TOM JENSEN, listing 21 songs other musicians made from his words, from MAYBE SOMEDAY and ROCKING THE WORLD to DOWNWARD SPIRAL and RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES. Note: the e-mail address on this business card is no longer in use.
See the whole card → 1 picture
1955Poems now Songs from PBT
about 2008-2011 (age 29 to 33) BEST GUESS
SET LISTS, SONG LISTS, TITLE LISTS AND INDEXES
Sheets on which Tom listed in black ink the poems from Poems By Tom that had become songs - Water Flesh and Bone, Nature of Man, Fresco, Unity, Little Bird, Let Down and more - with a printed 1998 email of his.
the card says: about 2008-2011 (age 29 to 33)
See the whole card → 4 pictures
1957RATED R · on the adults-only pages
1958UNITY
about 2008-2011 (age 29 to 33) BEST GUESS
SET LISTS, SONG LISTS, TITLE LISTS AND INDEXES
A pink printed CD insert for Tom's album UNITY (his lyrics, 17 tracks), kept with lined sheets of Tom's handwritten lists of the online singers and musicians in his READTOM.COM crew, YouTube alliance notes, song notes for FROM A DISTANCE, and his 100 phones, 100 songs, 100 people plan.
See the whole card → 15 pictures
1968SONG REWORK NOTES - Primal urge
about 2008-2011 (age 29 to 33) BEST GUESS
POEMS IN THE 34 ALBUMS
A white sheet of Tom's handwritten ink notes for reworking a song, with lines such as it's not a name, it's not a face and Primal urge, it's the scourge of the earth, and on the other side a list of songs and small drawings including Nature of Man.
See the whole card → 2 pictures
1130WAITING FOR MUSIC (163 POEMS)
about 2009-2010 (age 30 to 32) BEST GUESS
PRINTED BOOKS, BINDERS AND NOTEBOOKS
A green perfect-bound paperback, WAITING FOR MUSIC, 163 poems by Tom Jensen with a printed summary index, plus two handwritten title lists, about 2009-2010.
the card says: about 2009-2010 (age 31 to 32)
See the whole card → 11 pictures
488Well We All Have Our Troubled Pasts
about 2007-2011 (age 28 to 33) NOT SURE
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's previously unpublished two-line handwritten poem Well we all have our troubled pasts (things we've done we can't take back), in ink on a loose-leaf sheet with a green-ink drawing.
Dated from this piece's own words, the dated books and the pieces around it; this date is not sure.
See the whole card → 1 picture
857See saw
about 2008-2011 (age 29 to 33) NOT SURE
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's handwritten sheet titled "See saw" with the line "You can only be down when you're alone," in dark blue ink on lined notebook paper covered below with large pen scribbles and drawings.
Dated from this piece's own words, the dated books and the pieces around it; this date is not sure.
See the whole card → 1 picture
1048There's blood on the sheets
about 2008-2011 (age 29 to 33) NOT SURE
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's handwritten four-line poem THERE'S BLOOD ON THE SHEETS on three-hole lined notebook paper, a risque verse about playing doctor; never before published.
Dated from this piece's own words, the dated books and the pieces around it; this date is not sure.
See the whole card → 2 pictures
1074CHANGING
about 2008-2011 (age 29 to 33) NOT SURE
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Two printed lyric sheets titled CHANGING with handwritten pen brackets and notes, kept with a spiral notebook page and several handwritten song-title sheets - a lyric about a personality changing all the time that sits in Tom's early binder index, though the notebook note credits the originals to another writer and says Tom edited them.
Dated from this piece's own words, the dated books and the pieces around it; this date is not sure.
See the whole card → 11 pictures
1926SONG TITLE INDEX LIST
about 2008-2011 (age 29 to 33) NOT SURE
SET LISTS, SONG LISTS, TITLE LISTS AND INDEXES
Tom's handwritten lists of his spiritual song titles with their index codes - Adam and Eve, Closer to God, The Golden Rule, The Watcher and others, tallied as GOD 22 - together with a song-times list beginning UNITY and a small stationery note card.
Dated from this piece's own words, the dated books and the pieces around it; this date is not sure.
See the whole card → 3 pictures
702It's the change that we needed
between November 2008 and September 2011 (age 30 to 33) LIKELY
POEMS NOT YET RELEASED
Tom's handwritten blue-ink working draft of IT'S THE CHANGE THAT WE NEEDED, a poem on a new chapter in the White House fifty years after Martin Luther King's dream, on a torn sheet of lined notebook paper with scribbled-over lines, a rhyme grid and notes in the margins.
the card says: written between November 2008 and September 2011 (age 30 to 33)
See the whole card → 2 pictures
MEMORABILIA FROM THIS STORY
Every card on this page is a real piece — 21 pieces.
IF YOU LIKE THIS, TRY:
What the words mean: PROVED a date or a dated book proves it. BEST GUESS our best reading, not yet proved. TOM SAID Tom's own word. LIKELY strong clues, not yet proved. NOT PROVED an estimate from the pieces around it. NOT SURE the sources disagree. No word: the card gives none yet. "About 1996-2002" means somewhere in those years; the piece is shown once, in the middle year.