# The things I love about Tom Waits :)



## tonystanton (Mar 18, 2013)

Hello there, I'd like to start a thread called The things I love about Tom Waits. 
Let's see how many waits fans we find lurking on talk classical. 
Here's a few to get you cats going. 

THE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT TOM WAITS. 

His mountain of songs. 
His many sided persona. (schizophrenia?)
The fact that he will write a song about anything. 
The fact that he will write music like nothing. 
His hair. 
His live shows (big time in particular) 

What things do you love about Tom Waits?


----------



## Guest (Jun 25, 2013)

I love the rôle he played in a recent DVD I saw called *Seven Psychopaths*. Also the rôle he played in a film called *Short Cuts* (dir. Robert Altman). Also love his voice (speaking and singing).


----------



## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

I like *Orphans*....


----------



## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

I love the fact that you never know exactly what you are going to get with each album.

I love the characters.

I love that he's not one of those "everything sounds the same" acts.

But mostly I just love the song writing.


----------



## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

I like all the weird instruments he's played (including the rooster).

I like his choice of band members, starting with Marc Ribot and Colin Stetson, but including so many more.


----------



## lunchdress (Apr 20, 2013)

His lyrics of course...

and this episode of 'Fishing With John'


----------



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

He is a master of setting a scene, whether exotic, nondescript or indeterminate and the high roller/low-life/everyman characters that proliferate are all fair game to him when it comes to a story, even when singing in the first person. And his delivery, especially when spoken - every time I hear 'Shore Leave' and that 'I was in bad need of a shave' line I keep instinctively feeling my own face! And one must have a heart of stone to be unmoved by 'Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis' - one of the most poignant songs I've ever heard. On the other side of the coin what about that perfect piece of nosy-neighbour American Gothic, What's He Building in There? 'There's poison under the sink, of course...' Hilarious and sinister in turns!


----------



## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

I think I said it before on a different thread, but his song "Pony" might be my favorite song ever.


----------



## Schubussy (Nov 2, 2012)

I love that he's still making great music now.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I like the way he laughs on Nighthawks At The Diner, even though I don't care much for that album.
I like the way he sings on The Heart Of Saturday Night album sans the grit and gravel.
I like Frank's Wild Years (the song, and the album that doesn't include the song).
I like Troubles Braids. One of my favorite Waits songs, along with the title track to Blue Valentine.
I like the fact that he has his management book a tour of southern cities, so he can buy fireworks.


----------



## Mesa (Mar 2, 2012)

The movie 'coffee and cigarettes'.
His work ethic.
Listening to 'Blue Valentine' on valentine's day.
The man's tireless quest for sounds that no-one else seeks.

Example: 2:45+


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Tom Waits his great. A plethora of great songs with creative instrumentals and lyrics. Not to mention he has one of the most awesome "stage 'tudes" in music history, especially back in the days when you were still allowed to smoke while performing






Sure, you don't know what on earth he's saying, but you know it's awesome.


----------



## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

I listened to _Real Gone_ all the way through this morning. It had probably been a year since I listened to the whole thing so it was good to get back to it. He called this album "cubist funk." I don't know what that means and he was probably kidding when he said it, but it is a pretty good album. Hoist That Rag is outstanding, with an awesome guitar solo from Marc Ribot, and Sins of My Father really displays his lyrical flair. If you have 10 minutes to kill, Sins is really worth a listen:


----------



## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

I like his "covers" by Cookie Monster.


----------



## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

DeepR said:


> I like his "covers" by Cookie Monster.


Those are really cool. The guy who puts those together has a lot of time on his hands.


----------



## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

This spoken word piece is pretty cool.


----------



## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

"I got hair on my chest
I look good without a shirt"

- Goin' Out West


----------



## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

I listened to Bone Machine this morning. I think this album is among his masterpieces. Plenty of examples of what makes him great. Here are three highlights:


----------



## Selby (Nov 17, 2012)

I love that The Heart of Saturday Night is an allusion to, and draws on similar themes as, Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours. And it is equally brilliant and timeless.


----------



## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

I love his album The Black Rider. One of his best. From Wiki: "The Black Rider is an album by Tom Waits, released in 1993 on Island Records, featuring studio versions of songs Waits wrote for the play The Black Rider, directed by Robert Wilson and co-written by William S. Burroughs. The play is based on the German folktale Der Freischütz, which had previously been made into an opera by Carl Maria von Weber. The play premiered on March 31, 1990, at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, Germany. Its world English-language premiere occurred in 1998 at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival."

Some highlights:











This is one of my all time favorite vocal performances:


----------



## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

TalkingHead said:


> I love the rôle he played in a recent DVD I saw called *Seven Psychopaths*. Also the rôle he played in a film called *Short Cuts* (dir. Robert Altman). Also love his voice (speaking and singing).


Both good films. But check out Down by Law. Masterpiece.


----------



## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

At best, he does a decent junkyard take on Captain Beefheart. At worst, he's a glorified blackface act. 

Fight me


----------



## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

I like the Eagles' version of Ol'55... and that's about everything.


----------



## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

regressivetransphobe said:


> At best, he does a decent junkyard take on Captain Beefheart. At worst, he's a glorified blackface act.
> 
> Fight me


Black face? How? I suppose there's an argument that much of pop/rock is appropriated from "black" music, but then why saddle that on Waits?


----------



## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

I like the way he will sometimes release different versions of the same song. Some examples:

2 versions of _Back In The Good Old World_:











2 of On The Road & Home I'll Never Be (same lyrics, different titles):


----------



## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

Probably one of my ten favorite songs ever:


----------

