Released in 1992, Waits's soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch's quirky Night on Earth is built around a recurrent theme reminiscent of Rain Dogs and manipulated into moods that reflect the cities in which the movie's various stories are told. Banjo and accordion are used to great effect to evoke the three European cities. Elsewhere, marimba and other percussion that Tom Waits was using on his "official" recordings at the time are well suited to the darkness and humor in Jarmusch's stories.

Featuring the stars of the CBS television network series. The Original cast of the Beverly Hillbillies, Jed, Granny, Jethro and Elly Mae, sing their hearts out. Meet the Clampett clan - There's Jed, a kind and sensible man turned millionaire, though not as imbocilic as the others, things happen around him without he knowing it; Granny - old and senile, paranoid, and always certain she knows how to deal with a situation; Elly May - Incredibly beautiful but awful naive! And Jethro Bodine - the stupid nephew of Jed. He's a strong as he is dumb; and Mr. Drysdale, a greedy banker who will do anything to keep the Clampett money in his bank, even if he has to hurt other people

This is a production rife with odd pairings: English actor Daniel Day-Lewis joining up with the Mohawks; James Fenimore Cooper adapted by Michael Mann; disparate composers Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman teaming up. This last pairing seems a suspicious attempt to endow the score of this modern film adaptation of a junior high school literary evergreen with both a golden age of Hollywood dramatic bent (Jones) and a '90s-slick guitar-muzak veneer (Edelman). A strange amalgam that doesn't quite work.