# Tom Waits



## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

Forgive me if I've started a repeat topic. I used the search feature but couldn't find a thread devoted to Tom Waits, so I thought I would start one.

Tom Waits is simply my favorite recording artist ever. I went through a phase of such total obsession that for about a 2 year period, I pretty much listened only to Waits. It all started when I first heard _Hold On_ at a record store. The song immediately captured me and I asked the clerk who it was and left that day with Mule Variations and never looked back.

Although I enjoy many songs from his early career, I am primarily a _Franks Wild Years _and later listener.

I think _Pony_ is my favorite piece of recorded music ever.

I think his singing on _Briar and the Rose _is my favorite vocal performance ever.

If I made a list of 10 desert island CDs, five would be his: _ Franks Wild Years, Rain Dogs, Alice, Mule Variations, and Black Rider_ (and I would miss about 4 more terribly.)

If some higher power ever made me choose between all other music or Tom Waits for the rest of my life, I would struggle with the decision.

Anyway, that's my Tom Waits appreciation post.


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

Of course, no mention of Waits is complete without mentioning the famous video of Cookie Monster covering God's Away On Business. A classic.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

..or his cameo in classical music (Gavin Bryars' Jesus blood never failed me yet)....


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

He's inconsistent... Rain Dogs and Swordfish... would be better albums without those horrible schmaltz-ballads.


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## Mesa (Mar 2, 2012)

Horrible schmaltz-ballads? *Get out.*

And indeed, through all of the phases and obsessions i've endured over the last 8 years, Tom Waits never, ever fails to thrill me. As a musician, i have few idols, but Tom is still by a long stretch held in my highest regards amongst them. The man would dominate any 'top 50 songs' or whatever i could come up with, i'm sure.

Immensely fond of Franks Wild Years, Mule Variations and the Black Rider, but Swordfishtrombones remains one of the most staggering artworks i've ever experienced.


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

Admit it, this:




Is pretty bad.

With that said it's about the only clunker on the album*. I'm no Waits hater, but gimme Beefheart any day.

* Ok, there's another one I don't like where he's like "look at this photograph... IT'S HERRrr...." It's been a while since I've heard his stuff.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Don't like too many of the ballads or mid-paced songs (Jersey Girl, Downtown Train etc.) unless there's a sinister or tragic undercurrent (Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis etc.). Otherwise, I could listen to his stuff for hours - like Ray Davies, Lou Reed and Randy Newman, Tom Waits is one of my favourite musical storytellers.


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

I love the guitar work in this song. One of my favorite solos.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

EricABQ said:


> I love the guitar work in this song. One of my favorite solos.


great solo, Marc Ribot is a fantastic guitarist. My favorite of him is that on Clap hands, that is one of my favorite Waits songs too.


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

I don't think I've ever heard a song that paints a more beautifully melancholic picture than this song. It's perfect.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I have a pile of his albums. Good stuff on all of them. 
Favorites are:

The Heart Of Saturday Night
Blue Valentine
Rain Dogs
Frank's Wild Years


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

One of my favorites. From Blood Money.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

My fave:


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)




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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

Regarding this^^^^^^^^, I think Heartattack and Vine is probably my favorite album from his earlier phase.


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## Mesa (Mar 2, 2012)

Chills.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

one of my favorite Waits's pieces:


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

This is a great series of CDs that give jazzed up mellow versions of his songs, helps you appreciate the songwriting, kind of how I backed into liking him.


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

Wow, hearing Grapefruit Moon was refreshing. I hadn't listened to anything from Closing Time in too long.


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

Since I said it was my favorite piece of music ever, I figure I should post it. This song perfectly captures the emotional state I was in when I discovered this song. It's not biographically accurate (I wasn't travelling by train across the country, of course) but it still resonated with me more than any other song.






Edit: Whoops, I forgot I posted this video earlier in this thread. Sorry.


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## Mesa (Mar 2, 2012)

So Eric, have you listened to the Scarlett Johansson album yet? I adore both Tom Waits and Scarlett, but i can't see how both of them together could be anything other than putting blue cheese sauce on fudge cake and thus have avoided it.


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## Bas (Jul 24, 2012)

I love Tom Waits! 
I am not always int he mood for his music (but when I am...) 
He is also a great poet, I think. Even without the music a sentence like:

_"I'm al alone, I smoked my friends down to the filter"_

or

_"The rain makes such a lovely sound to those who are six feet underground"_

or

_"Didn't the devil made the world, when God was sleeping?"_

is brilliant, isn't it. I like his cynical view. Great fan here. My favourite albums are his first (closing time), Alice, Swordfish Trombones, Mule Variations and Orpahns


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

Mesa said:


> So Eric, have you listened to the Scarlett Johansson album yet? I adore both Tom Waits and Scarlett, but i can't see how both of them together could be anything other than putting blue cheese sauce on fudge cake and thus have avoided it.


I only sampled that, never listened to the whole thing.

I thought it was a bizarre pairing.

I actually don't own any Tom Waits covers. I suppose I should check out more. I'm sure someone is doing a commendable job of interpreting his work.


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## Mesa (Mar 2, 2012)

Indeed, i've planned to do covers many times, but never gone through with them once i sobered up. At my current level of musical sophistication the best i could hope for would be equivalent to a crude Mona Lisa with a moustache in a pub toilet.

Listened to Blood Money today, one of the more neglected albums for me, but with pieces like this:




and this:





my comparative lack of listening is _madness_.

Also, one of my favourite Waits covers, rather need to get a super high quality version posterfied:


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