Scarlett Johansson

By Stephen Mooallem

When the news broke that Scarlett Johansson had recorded an album of Tom Waits songs, questions abounded-most commonly, "Why?" But here it is, Anywhere I Lay My Head (ATCO/Rhino), an atmospheric, almost art-rocky record of Waits tunes remade, rearranged, and reimagined with the help of Dave Sitek of the New York City indie-rock outfit TV on the Radio. Another popular query went thusly: "Scarlett Johansson's speaking voice is deep and sort of sexy. What does her singing voice sound like?" To which we can reply: It sounds just fine, sort of appealingly androgynous in a glam-rock kind of a way. Oh, and David Bowie sings with her on two songs. Here, the actress explains it all.

STEPHEN MOOALLEM: First of all, can you walk me through how you wound up singing what is essentially a whole album of Tom Waits songs?

SCARLETT JOHANSSON: Well, I had originally recorded a song, a version of "Summertime" [by George Gershwin], for a benefit album. The album was distributed by Rhino, and the people at the label felt really pleased with the song, so they said, "Have you ever thought about recording a whole album?" I've just had so many friends who would kill for that opportunity that I almost couldn't pass it up. I have always loved to sing. When I was a little girl, I wanted to be in musicals and all that kind of stuff. So it seemed like a really exciting adventure. At first, I thought I would just do an album of standards. But then I couldn't figure out which standards to do. I did know, though, that I wanted to record this Tom Waits song called "I Never Talk to Strangers," which is a duet that he does with Bette Midler. But I think it was kind of confusing for some people, because they couldn't understand how a Tom Waits song could fit in with a Cole Porter song and stuff, and it turned into, Why don't we just incorporate more Tom Waits songs into this? So I just decided to do an entire album of Tom Waits songs.

SM: And unlike a lot of other actors who've made albums, you didn't just sort of enlist the pop hitmaker of the moment-there's no Lil' Wayne here.