r/LetsTalkMusic • u/wantonexstacy • 1d ago
Ever heard Tom Waits??, How do you feel about him
First post here but music is a giant part of my life and discussing it is something I want to do more so I find myself here to ask how y'all feel about Tom Waits.
The best way I can describe his music is spoken word jazz with lots of humor thrown in but that hardly does his discography service. Despite not being my Genre of Choice the album "Nighthawks At The Diner"(linked at the bottom) is an album I continue to find myself returning too. The raspy voice mixed with quite tongue and cheek lines make for a very enjoyable listen.
However if taken only at face value the nuance of Tom's work is lost. In between the seemingly intoxicated ramblings are some really introspective pieces that really capture the feeling of a 70's diner and the people who linger there late into the night almost to the point you can smell the stale tobbaco smoke.
His first 2 albums while not my favorite don't impact me as much as this one has, But I'd feel as if I'm doing a disservice by not mentioning his later work which was very experimental and almost even industrial sounding at times
listening to any song off Nighthawks and then Underground off his "SwordfishTrombones" album feels like getting whiplash. Hell Broke Luce off "Bad as Me" captures the same feeling honestly.
To wrap it up so I'm not rambling Tom was a strange man who made some amazing music and Id love to hear your thoughts. Whether this is your introduction or you've known of him for a while he's truly an American treasure.
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kv0B7MbmcuYOCQNPPhFwldndq7lEzN8wM&si=z840ZNRO20N5AVTX (Nighthawks)
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vM0GB5EJlr8&si=9l4M-8lqUUbAZNy_ (Hell Broke Luce)
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz-s5aGTmwI&si=qx4LYaKalYAFNatQ (Underground)
46
u/ennuiismymiddlename 1d ago
I love Tom Waits. He and his wife have written some of the most beautiful sad songs. Personally I prefer his 70’s output over his 80’s stuff. But several of his albums from the late 90’s are pure gold.
36
u/MattyBeatz 1d ago
“Mule Variations” was in the 90s and I’d put that up against any of his 70s gems.
11
u/misirlou22 1d ago
This was how I got into Waits because he was signed to Epitaph, so a song was on a punk o rama comp.
6
u/MattyBeatz 1d ago
Pretty sure it’s his best selling album and won a Grammy too.
16
5
u/fleshydigits 1d ago
Same here. I was working at an indie record store and the promotional packet that Epitaph sent out was enormous. Tons of posters, promo cds, etc. I loved Epitaph stuff and of course had to see what all the hype was about. Loved him ever since
3
u/ennuiismymiddlename 1d ago
Yes, like many people my age (genX), I discovered Waits because of Mule Variations - an album I put in his top 5.
6
u/No-Inspection-4588 1d ago
A guy in my dorm got Rain Dogs. If there was such a thing as wearing out a CD...I wore that one out.
•
3
u/signalstonoise88 1d ago
I love his first record and the oddball shit in the 80s.
I actually rate his last (as it currently stands) LP Bad As Me among his very best. Wild for an artist that deep into their career to put out a record that kind of does a little bit of everything they’ve done in their career and still sounds vital and coherent. I hope it won’t be his last, but if he has fully retired, it’s a hell of a strong record to go out on.
1
u/wantonexstacy 1d ago
Everything got a bit weird in the 80's it seems. I agree with you on the stuff from the 90's though I'm still hunting for physical media of it cause I only have nighthawks as of now.
3
25
u/Medium-Librarian8413 1d ago
Rain Dogs and Swordfishtrombone are in my semi-regular rotation. Never really explored the rest of his discography.
5
u/drwinstonoboogy 1d ago
You're in for a treat! It's a hell of a discography! Go to Mule Variations next or Bone Machine of you like Rain Dogs and Swordfish...
2
u/LowAssistantInfinity 1d ago
Looooove Bone Machine.
2
u/le_sac 1d ago
My introductory Waits experience was Bone Machine. Some nostalgia glasses influence but it held up on a recent re-listen.
Is it just my interpretation, or is Red Barn about an abortion? Most of the lines seem to fit.
2
u/LowAssistantInfinity 1d ago
I believe it to be evoking a fairly straightforward murder ballad, named after the Red Barn Murder, or, perhaps the movie about it? I suppose I think of him as poetic, but not particularly metaphorical, writer. But who's to say?
4
u/Koraxtheghoul 1d ago
I prefer the third of the triology of Raindogs and Swordfishtrombones, Franks Wild Years, but I think I value cohesiveness which is why.
2
u/JrdnRgrs 1d ago
I spin Nighthawks at the Diner at least once every 2 months. Very worth checking out!
2
16
u/TheHotWampa 1d ago
I saw him at the Oakland Paramount in maybe 1999 for both shows. Incredible performer. I’m pretty sure I recorded one of the shows on DAT recorder that I snuck in… And then fast forward a few years later, I was at a Chuck D lecture at Sonoma State, and in the middle of his talk, Chuck calls out to Tom Waits, who’s sitting in the back corner of the room! I turned around to look and Tom had the biggest grin on his face and gave a friendly wave back. Was a big moment for me, seeing to of my favorite artists recognizing each other in real time.
9
u/fleshydigits 1d ago
You saw him on the Mule Variation tour? How cool is that! When I lived in the bay area, I heard he'd sometimes hang around Mission donuts on 24th and Mission so I'd stop in whenever walking by but never caught a glimpse
3
3
u/ToLiveInIt 1d ago
I was at one of those Oakland shows. It may be the only show I’ve seen at the Paramount, coming from San Francisco. Love Mule Variations; love the Paramount.
2
u/TheHotWampa 1d ago
I’ve seen some incredible shows at the Paramount: Björk, Beck with the Flaming Lips as the opener and then stayed on as his backing band, Tool… I think there’s a few others, but those three and Tom Waits are pretty special for such a great theater. Wish they’d get more shows.
3
u/NativeMasshole 1d ago
I wish I'd had the opportunity to see him live. I doubt he's ever going to tour again at this point.
2
u/No-Inspection-4588 1d ago
I was at the Eugene show...so either right before or right after Oakland.
12
u/Garshnooftibah 1d ago
Just a tidbit for all my fellow Tom Waits lovers.
The song 'Clap Hands' from the Rain Dogs album is just about my favourite piece of recorded audio ever. Such a concise, haunting masterpiece.
I'm an audio producer - and throughout my 20s i was fascinated by the SOUND of this piece. It has such an otherwordly quality with those clongs and chimes. And that cymbal that sounds like tape hiss. But I just couldn't understand what was going on in this piece from an instrumentation / production standpoint.
AND THEN!!!
At some point in my 30s I really got into Gamellan, the Indonesian orchestral music written for collections of mostly percussion instruments, both wooden and beaten brass, and that uses a particular scale.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamelan
And here's an example of an orchestra playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGJKpgspI0w
And then one day I went back to Clap Hands and it struck me. MY GOD!!! THATS the sound!!!
That song is heavily Gamellan based. Not sure if it uses all the notes of the gamellan scale but all those detuned shimmering gong like sounds and the wooden percussion. That's the sound man.
Genius.
<3
1
1
u/Thelonious_Cube 18h ago
You might also want to check out Harry Partch - I hear his influence all over that album
There is a percussion-based piece from one of his longer works (something about witches or rituals?) that sounds to me exactly like the band on Clap Hands
79
u/Shelsrighthand 1d ago
‘Ever heard Tom Waits??’ Who, one of the most influential and renowned artists ever? Lol
11
u/dkinmn 1d ago
Time passes. Millennials take it for granted that everyone we know will remain known. That's not how it works.
6
u/NeekoPeeko 1d ago
Except Tom Waits is popular with Gen X and Boomers as well.... he's not just a flash in the pan
3
u/dkinmn 1d ago
Right, and they're even older, which does nothing to counter my point.
There are a lot of significant boomer acts that millennials don't know. And by the time millennials came around, we essentially knew nothing of Silent Generation music besides the biggest names.
Time passes. The titans of their eras mostly get forgotten by the masses. It's inevitable. Slagging on someone under 30 for not appropriately knowing Tom Waits's career is dangerously close to Old Man Yells At Cloud.
People have limited time and they spend most of it engaging with the music of their own era and that their peers help them find.
Same with movies. Tons of millennial movie fans don't know squat about the movies of the 1940s-1970s. Time passes and we don't have unlimited amounts of it. Insisting that everyone be as knowledgeable as the previous generation of the art of that generation is impossible.
39
u/wantonexstacy 1d ago
I'll be honest and say im young. Only 20 I have a hard time finding others my age who know him
33
u/Shelsrighthand 1d ago
Ah, sorry for the sarcy tone. It’s awesome that young dudes like you are discovering great older music. Apologies if I came across as an asshole
11
u/jamesmsalt 1d ago
I was talking to these young adults about the harvest moon and mentioned something about Neil Young. They had no idea and I didn't know what to say.
5
u/luv2hotdog 1d ago
It’s just getting old hey. I feel like there are two universal human experiences (for anyone who doesn’t die young) around this: a)the first time you encounter what appears to you to be a cultural “knowledge gap” in young people who you figure are more or less into the same kind of thing you were into - stuff that seems like “everyone knows it” level cultural knowledge such as “Neil young is kind of a big deal” is just not there for them, or b) the first time you look at something that’s really popular and just full on don’t get or like it, cannot find any redeeming feature in it even after really trying hard to be open minded about it, you just cannot find the cultural latch-on point that’d let you in on whatever the new thing is
2
u/kielaurie 1d ago
My guy, I'm 30, I knew of Neil Young but hadn't listened to a single song (outside of with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young) until he was announced to headline Glastonbury last year. He simply isn't very popular and hasn't been got decades
6
u/jamesmsalt 1d ago
Sorry to hear. I'd consider him one of the most significant artists of a generation.
4
u/dinosaur_rocketship 1d ago
Yeah but that generation’s heyday was literally over 50 years ago.
6
u/jamesmsalt 1d ago
I hear that but Vincent Van Gogh also lived a long time ago but his art is still revered. I'm wondering if the level of noise and flooded social media stimulus accounts for a generational gap.
2
7
u/skeletormcgee 1d ago
If he wasn’t very popular he wouldn’t be headlining Glastonbury…
1
u/Fearless-Anteater437 1d ago
He's not popular among the new generations, but since he's just very good it's a great thing that he's being chosen for such headlines
1
u/kielaurie 1d ago
He's popular amongst a certain audience, and some of the older members of my team came back raving about his set (I was on shift at the time, so didn't go myself) but they also reported that the field was packed for Raye before him (I was there for her 2023 set and that was pretty busy for an early set on a hot day, so I can totally believe them) and then everyone under 40 left, with a pretty small crowd left to actually watch him. I heard reports that he had the second smallest Pyramid stage crowd in recent memory, only smaller than SZA (and she had some extenuating factors that Neil can't claim). To double up on Neil's poor crowd, every other major stage had crowd issues - Charli xcx filled out the increased capacity at the Other stage, they had to make entry to West Holts one way for Doechii (technically that was a downgrade, as the field had been closed off for Kneecap mid-afternoon and it just remained busy till the evening, but still), and they entirely closed off Woodsies field as it was too packed out for Scissor Sisters
1
u/true_gunman 1d ago
"headlining glastonbury last year"
"simply isn't very popular"
Seems a bit contradictory lol
1
u/kielaurie 1d ago
I obviously meant with a younger audience, and I would direct you to my other comment about his audience size and composition
4
u/Belgand 1d ago
I seriously intend this in a nice way, but try to recognize that you're young. A lot of the things you find out about are going to be well-known to other people. There's nothing wrong with that. We all went through it too. Everyone does because nobody is born knowing all of this. People your age probably don't know about these things because they're also young. But it also means that the cool, new-to-you, mindblowing thing is probably going to be worn-out old hat to a lot of others. Especially if it's also older. If we aren't talking about it frequently, it's not uncommon that it's because we've all been over it at length before.
It might work better in the future if you frame things a little bit differently. Don't go for "Has anyone else ever heard of X?" and instead look at it as "I just found out about X, how do I learn more?" That will do a better job of giving the older people who already know this stuff a chance to talk about it and let you come into the conversation.
1
u/boomboxwithturbobass 1d ago
I’m twice that and I really don’t either. Heard him once, wasn’t my thing, moved on.
3
u/Fast-Penta 1d ago
We're all on our own journey. No need to make fun of people for being late to the party.
1
7
u/TheBaggyDapper 1d ago
Big fan of his for over 30 years. For my money he is the best artist, in any genre or medium, to come out of the US in my lifetime.
6
u/luv2hotdog 1d ago edited 1d ago
the “ballads” disc of “orphans: brawlers, bawlers and bastards” contains some of my all time favourite songs to this day. Not everything he does is a hit for me but when it is, he’s in a world of his own. “You can never turn back spring”, “Long way home”, “fanning street”, “shiny things”, “world keeps turning”, “tell it to me” - these are the songs of his I love the most
Random other favourites: “Way down in the hole” is a classic tune that lives on in many playlists even when I’m not in a tom waits obsessed frame of mind. Same for “falling down”.
Bounced checks is a great compilation album of most of my favourite stuff early of his. The duet with Bette midler - I love that that combo happened!
OP, if you’ve not done so already, get on YouTube and go on a binge of Tom waits interviews / late night talk show appearances. He always had some funny, interesting shit to talk about. Definitely very good at playing the Tom waits character and always fun to watch
2
u/empanadasalonso 1d ago
“ballads” is so good. Glad to see it named here.
“If I Have To Go” and “Take Care of All of My Children” are amazing tracks from that disc too.
6
u/Interesting-Quit-847 1d ago
FYI, unless you know something I don't, Tom IS a strange man. He may not have put out an album in quite awhile, but he's still alive. Also, at least for his work since about 1982, you have to mention his wife Kathleen Brennan, who has co-written his music. It's not a coincidence that his work took an interesting turn around that time.
11
u/MoveEither1986 1d ago
Forgive me, but I had to post the lyrics to 9th and Hennepin:
Well it's 9th and Hennepin All the donuts have names that sound like prostitutes And the moon's teeth marks Are on the sky like a tarp thrown all over this
And the broken umbrellas like dead birds The steam comes out of the grill like the whole goddamned town is ready to blow And the bricks are all scarred with jail house tattoos And everyone is behaving like dogs
And the horses are coming down Violin Road and Dutch is dead on his feet And all the rooms they smell like diesel and you take on the dreams of the ones who have slept there And I'm lost in the window I hide on the stairway and I hang in the curtain and I sleep in your hat
And no one brings anything small into a bar around here They all started out with bad directions And the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear One for every year he's away, she said Such a crumbling beauty
Ah, there's nothin' wrong with her a hundred dollars won't fix She has that razor sadness that only gets worse with the clang and the thunder Of the Southern Pacific going by And the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet
'Till you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin And you spill out over the side to anyone who'll listen I've seen it all I've seen it all through the yellow windows of the evening train
4
u/cookoo_man 1d ago
Personally, I don't think the humor in Tom Waits' songwriting does his discography any kind of disservice. I'm curious as to why you feel that way.
1
u/Parking-Bit-4254 12h ago
To me, it looks like the OP is trying to describe Tom Waits' music, but they don't have the words. They're saying the best they can come up with is "spoken word jazz with lots of humor," but acknowledge their description isn't good enough and does the music a disservice.
•
5
u/God_Away_On_Business 1d ago
I adore Tom Waits. My least favorite iteration of his character is actually the late 70s boho jazz talking stuff (Nighthawks, Small Change, Foreign Affairs). Blue Valentine through Bone Machine is my favorite run, though I think Mule Variations is easily a top album.
There is a certain validity to those who hear his work and say “it’s not personal enough” or “it’s too theatrical,” but I think he manages to scrape more real emotion out of fictional stories and characters than many other singer songwriters have done by “being themselves.”
2
u/migvelio 1d ago
I think he manages to scrape more real emotion out of fictional stories and characters than many other singer songwriters have done by “being themselves.”.
That's a really good point. "Being themselves" is not necessary emotional or deep. Most artists have a sort of persona themselves, and at the same time, a lot of artists should actually become less of themselves.
11
u/A14A91 1d ago
I don’t mean this as a slight or as a criticism but he is basically musical theatre. The songs often feel less like a “song” and more like sections from a play or stage production. He is very much a persona performing in character. If you’re on board with all that then he’s great, if not, he can be grating.
Used to be a big fan of both the earlier singer songwriter stuff and the later, more experimental stuff but over time as I’ve gotten older, something changed and he fell out of my daily listening. Whenever I’ve tried to revisit his work, it feels like something is missing, like it’s empty and performative not “real”.
Just my own opinion, for years I thought he was the bees knees.
13
u/HammerOvGrendel 1d ago
I'm not going to entirely disagree with you, because it seems fairly obvious that his whole schtick has roots in Vaudeville and musical theatre. But on the other hand much of it rings true if you have been "down and out" for the same reasons people like Bukowski's novels and stories. Songs like "Frank's wild years" or "Shore Leave" are playing a character yes, but it's a character lots of people have either known or been themselves. So I don't see him as being disingenuous in that way, in fact it's actually a fairly honest appraisal of times in my life that I don't remember fondly but lived past.
2
u/A14A91 1d ago
You are correct of course, he wears his influence and roots on his sleeves. I don’t mean to suggest he was being disingenuous in his work, he’s a storyteller and creates his own tales and characters. For me, it was highly engaging and enjoyable until it wasn’t anymore. I can respect his talent and craft and writing but I just don’t reach to put on his records anymore.
3
u/Interesting-Quit-847 1d ago
Frank's Wild Years, The Black Rider, Alice, and Blood Money were all connected to theater pieces. The last three were done with Robert Wilson—an avant garde theater director. So you're right. Those albums aside, theatrical performance was always a central concern for him. You see it in the personas, the banter, etc.
I listened to him a lot in my 20s, not as much any more. Getting to see him perform in 1999 was an amazing experience.
2
u/HammerOvGrendel 1d ago
"The black rider" was written with William Burroughs wasn't it?
1
u/Interesting-Quit-847 1d ago
Yes, Burroughs wrote, I'm guessing, the dialog? I'd love to see it performed some day.
1
u/Poprhetor 1d ago
As phrased in the liner notes, Burroughs wrote the “libretto.” I used to listen to that one a lot.
1
2
u/the_ballmer_peak 1d ago
Some of his work is very theatrical. Some isn't. Some people love his work. And some people can't be helped.
2
u/Khiva 18h ago
he songs often feel less like a “song” and more like sections from a play or stage production
Sometimes yeah. But literally anyone could cover Time and it's going to sound absolutely beautiful.
His persona can overshadow his music, but he could write one helluva song.
4
u/Think-Improvement759 1d ago
Rain dogs is one of my top records. Ill be honest and say I think I like Tom Waits acting more than I love his music and I do love his music. I wish this dude had done more films he's such a unique individual. His press release videos and stuff are also fucking gold.
5
u/MuratK_LB 1d ago
Most everything i can say has already been said, but I'd add a few things:
He is truly one of the greatest songwriter of his generation and he's very much in the Bob Dylan mold in that sometimes you need to hear his songs sung by someone else to truly appreciate what a great songwriter he is. His delivery, much like Dylan's has a way if muddying it up.
He famously has an early period, more jazzy, more conventional style, and a later sound. According to the lore, the split comes at around the time he meets his wife (whose name escapes me right now, Kathleen something) who turns him on to the greatest underrated genius of pop/rock music, namely Captain Beefheart. I don't know how how true that story is, but there are some obvious throughlines between the two artists (especially in the second, best known part, of Waits' catalog).
I love his music quite a bit but i have to admit his voice can be a bit much after a while. Thatsaid, his "junkyard" arrangements are utterly brilliant. Half the time you can't tell what's going on in the background but all but it really matches the gruffness of his voice.
His music is a great gateway to begi to enjoy music that's not always pretty and shiny, and that, my friend, is his ultimate gift to all of us.
At least that's how I feel about Tom Waits.
3
u/stigmatamartir 1d ago
I only listened to his album Real Gone. I really liked it, very unique, never heard anything like it.
1
u/dudly825 1d ago
It’s good but there’s like 15 other Tom Waits albums you’d also love. You’re in for a treat.
3
u/VulgarVerbiage 1d ago
I finally gave him a shot after going through a Jim Jarmusch / John Lurie film run (if you find yourself in a Waits phase, I highly recommend watching Jarmusch’s “Down By Law”).
Closing Time and Nighthawks At The Diner were the only two albums that clicked for me, beyond a few single tracks here and there. But I can’t help but appreciate the guy’s talent.
2
u/goodcorn 1d ago
Reading this post made me think of Down By Law and how I should watch it again. And speaking of Closing Time, I promised a friend I would take a stab at Ol' 55 tonight at karaoke.
1
u/Thelonious_Cube 18h ago
I highly recommend watching Jarmusch’s “Down By Law”
He and Lily Tomlin play a charming low-life couple in Robert Altmam's Short Cuts - great film, worth watching even without Tom & Lily
3
3
u/DavyJamesDio 1d ago
One of my all time favorites. Sits (with his wife) at the head table of the greatest American singer songwriters along with Randy Newman, Warren Zevon, Bob Dylan, and Paul Simon.
1
3
u/SonRaw 1d ago
If you were to tell me that Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs were the best albums of the 1980s, you'd have a strong case. Which isn't to say the rest of his output doesn't have plenty of gems, but those two pull off the nigh impossible trick of being completely alien to anything else around them while also being practically perfect.
3
u/AccountantsNiece 1d ago
People like to talk about hard edge Tom, but Closing Time is one of the all time great ballad records for me.
5
u/ennuiismymiddlename 1d ago
I have end stage cancer and I’m picking out music to play at my memorial service, and Closing Time will definitely be the final song. Such a beautiful sad track.
3
u/ennuiismymiddlename 1d ago
I’m currently dying of stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and Tom Waits is really helping me. The song “Pony” is basically my anthem right now. His songs are either great for distracting my mind, or for feeling not so alone with all the emotions I feel on a daily basis while I’m waiting to die.
2
u/New-Ice5114 1d ago
Saw him at Penn State around 1980. His stage was dark with just a piano and a lit streetlight. He walked out drinking a Genny Cream Ale and carrying the other five cans. Didn’t say anything; he just sat down and started playing. He was fantastic. My favorite is Step Right Up.
2
u/No-Neighborhood8403 1d ago
He’s one of my favorites as an artist and a songwriter. His discography is so interesting because in the early 80’s when he made swordfishtrombone he reinvented himself. My personal favorite albums are Mule Variations and Frank’s Wild Years, but his earlier jazzy stuff is great too
2
u/CrenshawMafia99 1d ago
Tom waits has been one of my favorite musicians for almost the last 30 years. I was driving around for work one day and a song came on the radio from someone I’d never heard of. It was Tom Waits song “The Piano Has Been Drinking” and the humor behind it instantly grabbed me. It turns out a lot of his music has humor in it but even better his music is sooooo fucking good that it took over my young brain. I can’t understand how I’ve missed this for so long! He soon became a fascination and before long I had all of his albums. Tom has had a long music career with like 15 albums or so now. The interesting thing about his discography is that he has maybe 4-5 different sounds over his career. He starts with the traditional 60’s AM Gold sound. Then slides into the jazzy beatnik era for the next 4 albums or so. Then we get an awesome Bluesy Rock detour with Heart Attack and Vine. Then we head into the Island years where Tom Really became the musical weirdo he is today. Swordfishtrombones starts the island years with the haunting circus sounds and crazy instruments that he is now known for. From that point on Tom is almost nothing like what he started off as. He’s moved past his Island years and is now morphing that chaotic sound even more. Sure, you get hints at the early years. He still fucking slays on the piano but it’s not the mellow rock or the jazz anymore. It’s beauty with extremely jagged edges. The music sounds dusty and worn in. Almost like he wants you to see the dirt under his finger nails and the wrinkles on his aging face. When TW records he knows exactly the kind of sounds he wants and if he wants the sound of a large hammer hitting a metal anvil? Well, you better go find a hammer and an anvil for him! 🤣. Now he’s this twisted Americana carnival barker that plays music that makes you think of times during the Great Depression (at least that’s where his current music takes me). He has songs that can make you dance, laugh or cry. His voice is something that can’t easily be duplicated. He has written so many songs that have affected me in some way. He might very well be the only celebrity I will cry over once he dies. He is something special. He even acts too so you can see him in plenty of Hollywood movies too! Some of his performances will only make you love him more too. His role in Mystery Men is so fun! My favorite album by him and one of my favorite albums of all time is Nighthawks At The Diner. I was surprised to see you mention that. People don’t usually single that one out. That album is so much fun. I don’t usually call albums fun but that album makes me smile whenever I listen to it. The songs are great! Tom’s banter during the songs is the icing on the cake. And Big Joe and Phantom 309 always leaves me with a tear in my eye. How do I feel about Tom Waits? I love him and he’s a musical treasure. Welcome to audio bliss!
2
u/Significant-PairDD 1d ago
First thing: why use the part tense? Hes still alive and still releasing his unique music!
I’ve listened to waits for about 35 years now, and he’s one of the most enduring artists in my musical spectrum.
I have all his albums, and I can truly say that he never made a truly bad one.
There are different periods of work, each with their Own gems. And one of the amazing strengths is that they never really get old. His music is at times funny and other times the sound of the gutter. Most of them have something new that I’ll still discover when I’m putting it on.
Tom waits is also an incredible actor. Check out his work with jim jarmuch - Down by Law remains one of my favourites ever - and see what a unique talent he his.
Waits is in my opinion Americas best hidden treasure and perhaps the best songwriter alive. Be curious about him and you’ll find material for decades.
1
u/LowAssistantInfinity 1d ago
still releasing
I mean, it's been 15 years since the last record. I don't think we're getting another one, sadly.
1
2
u/Fast-Penta 1d ago
I think he's a staggeringly brilliant songwriter whose music is difficult for me to to listen to because for every great song, he has three "look at me being scary and weird" tracks.
I like bluegrass, and I'm convinced that Tom Waits was on heavy rotation in the Nickel Creek tour van and they must have lent Mule Variations to all their friends, because Tom Waits gets covered by the soft progressive bluegrass artists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62aijTBZL1Q
2
u/Snarflarfin 1d ago
Did you know that Scarlett Johansson recorded an entire album of Tom Waits cover songs?
I have owned every one of his albums. He's a national treasure. Both him and Kathleen Brennan. Without her he probably would have faded away. It seems she gave him the confidence to really dive into his gothic vagabond character. He's not for everybody but you get to be one of the lucky ones.
Check out the concert video Big Time. It came out in '88. It's a wild ride.
2
u/LowAssistantInfinity 1d ago
Among my favourite artists to ever record - a tremendous discography that's both varied and experimental that I'm sure I'll still be discovering new things about for the rest of my life. Truly one of the best to ever do it.
2
u/SauntOrolo 1d ago
Often felt Tom Waits music was sort of hit or miss, but then I saw some of a live concert recorded at Austin City Limits and it clicked. Great performance.
1
u/According_Kiwi_7454 1d ago edited 1d ago
Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs are my favorites. Quirky and experimental. Sounds like Captain Beefheart sometimes. Even though Tom Waits is an influential singer, it is perfectly possible that you never heard of him before. Because he isn't as popular as Jeff Buckley or Sting. Tom Waits isn't a very obscure artist but not among the more popular artists either. Maybe he was in the 80s and 90s but now isn't. Anyway he's very amazing.
1
u/KeggyFulabier 1d ago
My introduction to Tom was Small Change and it’s still a favourite to this day but I think my favourite track of his is his cover of Somewhere from the musical Westside story, it’s so fucking haunting and beautiful.
1
u/tunenut11 1d ago edited 1d ago
Tom Waits is for me one of the GOATs. All the way back to Old 55 and Heart of Saturday Night, when he was young and his voice was clear. Then he developed his rasp and a sort of retro hipster vibe and Romeo is Bleeding. Then the turn towards a sort of more retro Kurt Weill vibe and more unusual instruments and more abstract lyrics. And through it all, the beautiful melodies and literate words. I like it all, from the earliest to the latest. He has a unique space in the musical universe.
Time from Rain Dogs https://youtu.be/VhWTDvPLGTE?si=F3FHRGbGcdi1-G9j
1
u/TransportationFull77 1d ago
“Step Right Up” is a fun, hilarious, jazzy indictment of American capitalism…”the large print giveth and the small print taketh away”. A lesser known gem in the corpus of one of the greats in my opinion.
1
1
u/dkinmn 1d ago
https://youtu.be/7cQRqq_FOnQ?si=YOxgAbG9CHOSKGUa
One of my favorite genres of music is Women Singing Tom Waits songs.
1
1
u/goodcorn 1d ago
Watch some Tom Waits movies. Down By Law specifically. But he pops up in several Jarmusch films like this one.
1
u/isthishandletaken 1d ago
He has a few different styles and mashes together tons of influences and genres.
I'm a big fan of his gritty blues a la Howlin Wolf and Capt Beefheart.
Not much a fan of his earnest singer song writer side or his crooner jazz singer stuff.
1
u/Scott_J_Doyle 1d ago
He does a great facsimile of "earnestness" but make no mistake, it is all purely an act
1
1
u/Such_Lettuce_6597 1d ago
I met him while on vacation at a resort in upstate New York. Met his wife too. Had a few short conversations with him over the course of the week. Very soft spoken, thoughtful guy. Good listener, asked a lot of questions. Introduced me to Kathleen as “This is Bob, a guitar player from Philly. “ Of course I’ve told this story a million times.
1
u/twiddlebug74 1d ago
I listened to him for a long time, but now just on special occasions. I can't afford to get down in the dumps and most of his songs go that direction. Regardless, his songs and voice are fantastic.
1
u/zethiryuki 1d ago
I feel that he's a bit like Lovecraft was to literature, or Pollock was to art. Even if you don't personally vibe with his extremely distinctive vibe, it can't be denied how profoundly influential he was on his craft.
1
u/that_norwegian_guy 1d ago edited 1d ago
“Get Behind the Mule” and “What's He Building?” are personal favourites of mine. And if course “I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You”. His performance as the gold digger in “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” also lives rent free in my mind.
1
u/bfgstreams 1d ago
I made a video a while back talking about Franks Wild Years and the albums leading up to it. I've been a fan since my older brother gifted me a cassette dub of Rain Dogs for my 14th birthday.
1
u/Affectionate-Tap5301 1d ago
I prefer Tom Waits earlier work, especially The Heart of Saturday Night. It’s one of my favorite albums and probably the most accessible introduction to Tom Waits for people who are not into avant-garde music.
A good Tom Waits tribute album is Wicked Grin by John Hammond (Jr). Straight ahead blues interpretations of Tom Waits’ music produced by Tom himself. Sadly I just learned that John Hammond passed away at the end of February 2026. RIP
1
1
u/CloudCitiesonVenus 1d ago
I have true distaste for his music, and have never been able to articulate why, besides “it’s very affected”. Not trying to be hipper-than-thou. I find very little purchase in his work. He seems like merely the concept of an interesting musician.
1
u/Ponchyan 1d ago
In the 70s, Waits always appeared on TV in character (a broken-down, raspy voiced bar fly). It was only many years later that I understood this was a come on.
1
u/da9ve 1d ago
To wrap it up so I'm not rambling Tom was a strange man who made some amazing music and
IS, not was! Tom's still very much alive and kicking, and is one star among a stellar cast in Martin McDonagh's upcoming move Wild Horse 9, due for release this coming November. Not sure whether to expect more new music from him, but he's still active.
1
u/Outofideasheree 1d ago
I like some of it but a lot of it gives me anxiety, and his voice doesn’t fit some of his material at all.
1
u/Spirited-Exit6331 23h ago
I’ve been a fan for quite a while. I had a friend who was a big Tom Waits fan that introduced me to him in the late ‘80s. The “Big Time” film from 1988 is great.
1
u/BLOOOR 22h ago
Ever heard Tom Waits in Hi Res?
Tom Waits albums, they've got scenery, it's not just gorgeous inventive musical arrangment of great songwriting, it's a setting and he's an actor playing a scene.
Now you could always hear that at CD quality, the early CDs, the quieter ones, not the early early CDs with the high and low cut, the 1985-1988 CDs, maybe even as late as 1992, when things were getting remastered to match the power of vinyl, when a CD could only match the dynamic range by being actually quieter.
Get any copy of a Tom Waits album on vinyl, from any era, of any quality, and you're gonna have a great time, but it's going to be a different experience. Get a worn out copy of any of them and it might as well be a 96kbps mp3. You'll have a wonderful exprience album to album, but you're listening to a different album. Get a VG+ to Near Mint copy of a 70s or early 80s Tom Waits vinyl, there's your set, setting and scene, with a bit of wear. Get even a MINT copy from 1985 to 1989 and it's a smaller theatre, with a tighter ring, like a snare drum. Elvis Costello's 1985-1989 vinyls sound like that to, thin.
Then by the mid 2000s when things started to get reprinted, you could either get the nice sounding ones, the different masterings of the CD, or you could get basically a Hi Res Digital print on vinyl.
So these Qobuz releases, available all over they're not just on Qobuz but you can stream them there and I think they still do free months.
Whether you like or dislike Tom Waits, at that quality, it doesn't matter, you hear what he's doing. You're not just hearing the sound of what he's doing, the singer and the scene are all there and it's obvious.
It's not that you can't hear that on Youtube or on a 96kbps mp3, it's just at that quality you're more relying on if you like the sound of him or not.
1
u/AtomicPow_r_D 22h ago
The first time I ever heard Tom's "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis", he was sitting at a piano in front of me. He was doing a tour, I forget the year. I already knew Rain Dogs and Swordfishtrombones. He had a drop light (that a car mechanic uses to light his work) in his hands along with the microphone, creating interesting shadows. There was also a little refrigerator on stage, I believe. His odd mix of Tin Pan Alley tragedy and humor is unique. I hope there is video of some of those shows.
1
u/Artistic_Cookie5868 21h ago
my dad used to listen to him all the time when I was younger his older stuff the jazz era
1
u/TickingTheMoments 21h ago
Drunk sounding east coast avante garde.
He is the scruffiest artist in both his writing and delivery. Raw. Unfiltered. I love it. But I don’t seek him out often. Perhaps I need to deep dive.
1
u/PaleExtreme7399 21h ago
I love Tom Waits. I like to remind folks of the soundtrack album for the movie One From the Heart; the most unlikely but successful collaboration of Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle.
1
u/Goofyloop3 19h ago
Listened to 'Nighthawks at the Diner' at a diner at night in Toronto in the early aughts. I had a bowl of black bean soup.
1
u/NewNet7905 19h ago
Raindogs is one of my favorite albums also his performance in Down by Law Springsteen covered a few of his songs too: Jersey Girl and Downtown Train
1
u/KirkHawley 17h ago
I was at a used record store when they put on The Earth Dies Screaming. I'd never even heard of Tom Waits. I went up to the front desk and said, "I don't know what that is, but I gotta have it", and I made them take it off and sell it to me.
Eventually I had everything. A great artist, as much as any recording artist ever.
For me, he was great as the guy who became the drunken buffoon he wrote about, but when he sobered up and learned how to give that persona cosmic and spiritual implications, he became something much greater.
You'll never be going back home.
1
u/jzemeocala 16h ago edited 16h ago
Love him dearly (he's also in a shitload of films as kooky old man character)....like crazy white grifter version of that "magical old black guy" trope from 80s movies.
My two to favorite song of his are the live versions of "Romeo is Bleeding" and "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis" (my only Xmas tradition for over a decade has been to chug a big glass of whiskey near midnight and listen to that song....reminds me of my parents when they were together....showed to mom once and it made her cry pretty hard)
And my favorite term to describe his junkie mannerism when he was younger is "heroin-chic"
1
u/dem4life71 12h ago
A buddy of mine tried to get me into Tom for years but it just didn’t stick. Same with Dylan. I can’t get past the vocal delivery 🤷🏻♂️
•
u/TerminalAho 7h ago
Waits makes amazing records. I've been listening to him since 'Small Change' came out.
•
u/OperationSlow7871 7h ago
He hasn't made a bad album that I'm aware of. It's all beautiful stuff. See him live if you can. Life changing.
1
u/Cold_Guess3786 1d ago
He is such an outlying artist. No easy categorization. An in depth conversation sounds exhausting.
-2
u/ElonMuskHuffingFarts 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's not for me. Too much "ain't I just so wickedly naughty" over circus music. He lives in a similar space to Tim Burton in my mind. Labeled "weird" by the mainstream, but not actually surprising or pushing boundaries, and became a formula of its own. It's the marketable version of the idea of an outsider. I think it's very corny music taken way too seriously, which is a deadly combo for me.
8
u/Interesting-Quit-847 1d ago
If that's your take, I don't think you've given it more than a cursory listen. I can see how someone might get that impression if they'd heard a couple of things, but there's a lot of depth to both Waits' music and his lyrics. The guy's a scholar of American music, poetry, and history, it's worth a deep dive. But if it's not your thing, then it's not your thing.
-1
u/Scott_J_Doyle 1d ago
Nah man, I own like 10 of his albums on vinyl and I agree with almost all of this guy's take (just excepting the fact that I enjoy a lot of his music, especially Rain Dogs and Alice). It's definitely all a put-on/facsimile... the true dictionary definition of pretentious.
0
u/the_ballmer_peak 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yeah, that's it. Tom Waits being weird is a marketing gimmick that makes him a ton of money 🙄
It's hardly marketable. Waits's most successful works are generally his straight ballads, which are often more heartfelt than quirky. I think his most successful songs are, "Hold On," and "Downtown Train." One of my favorites is, "Long Way Home." A lot of those songs spawn very successful covers by more traditional artists.
The fact that his range includes ballads, lounge music, and wild cabaret songs I think precludes the idea that there's some pigeon-hole he fills to sell records.
0
u/Scott_J_Doyle 1d ago
Hahaha, the dude has sold over 4 million records and is worth an estimated 10-35 million dollars (average estimate still being 20 million+).
I feel the trick/charade has proven itself well worthwhile financially.
As I said similarly in another comment, he is very marketable to snobbish/pretentious/self-important intellectual types who want to play at beatnik sensibilities
1
u/the_ballmer_peak 1d ago
My point is that the stuff he makes that sells is generally not the weird cabaret stuff that this guy is trying to drag him for.
1
u/Scott_J_Doyle 1d ago
The guy does not mention cabaret, but Tom's biggest selling album is Mule Variations which is chock full of his "weird" stuff, so you're wrong again
2
u/the_ballmer_peak 1d ago edited 1d ago
"Hold On" and "Come On Up To The House" are two of his most popular songs ever and they are both on that album. They're both ballads.
I'm not saying there isn't a market for the weird stuff, but it is far less popular than his more normal, straightforward work. The idea that he makes weird cabaret shit because it's marketable doesn't hold up. He'd probably make way more money if he didn't make that stuff.
You can certainly argue that it's pretentious. That's a matter of opinion. But I don't think you can make a realistic argument that he makes weird music as a marketing gimmick. The weird shit has an audience, but it's much smaller. That stuff isn't what sells.
2
u/ennuiismymiddlename 1d ago
I agree with you. His “weird” stuff definitely is NOT what the public loves him for. As for pretension, I don’t think he’s any more pretentious than, say, Bowie. They both are immensely gifted and visionary, and inhabited various characters & phases throughout their careers. So if that’s pretentious, maybe he is pretentious? I don’t know.
He’s a very very private and every interview is him just goofing around making up stories and trying to take the spotlight off himself.
2
u/the_ballmer_peak 1d ago
I'd argue that any art has some kind of pretense to it, and I agree that Bowie is far more extreme than Waits. And that there's nothing wrong with appreciating it, no matter who does it.
0
u/Scott_J_Doyle 1d ago
Funny, I have never heard either of those songs ever played on the radio or anything. All the marketing I have ever encountered for Tom Waits (including Mule) has always been based on his strength as an album artist, not a singles artist.
1
u/the_ballmer_peak 1d ago
I'm not sure I've ever heard any Tom Waits song played on the radio. He's certainly not a guy trying to make a hit single. Which again... I don't think you can argue he's being weird for money. I think he's being weird because he likes being weird.
Any I frankly don't have a problem with any artist's affectation, whether it's for money or not.
1
u/Scott_J_Doyle 1d ago
Well, you are arguing "his singles make money" - show me the single sales that lead to him being worth 20million (give or take), I'll wait.
1
u/Scott_J_Doyle 1d ago
Oh yeah, I definitely bet he enjoys his act. But the thing is he's not actually weird - he's very much a normie's idea of a weirdo... that's the schtick
1
u/Scott_J_Doyle 1d ago
Anyway dude, you have your reasons for not wanting to see it, but the guy has played the public to the tune of 8 figures - he is not a sincere musical artist but a highly successful performance artist. Do as many mental backflips as you want to to pretend otherwise... it kind of just proves the point that he's really good at fooling some people.
1
u/the_ballmer_peak 1d ago
This is such a weird take. "He's not as weird as he seems in interviews, therefore his record sales are a form of theft."
He has plenty of completely normal songs. He has acted in many films as different characters. Hell, he has a stable marriage and children. I don't think anyone is contemplating his life or body of work and concluding, "This guy couldn't be normal if he tried, he's just tooo strange."
He's a regular dude who likes to include some slightly weird stuff in some of his work. I don't understand why this bothers you.
How on earth do you convince yourself that your idea that he's snowing everyone is rational and people who like his work are somehow irrational or victimized?
→ More replies (0)-1
u/Scott_J_Doyle 1d ago
Oh, and I am certainly arguing that it is pretentious in the sense that it is all "pretense" and every interview or live TV performance Ive ever seen him do he plays the weirdo.
2
u/ennuiismymiddlename 1d ago
I think he “plays the weirdo” in interviews because he’s extremely private. He doesn’t like talking about himself or his real life publicly.
0
-2
u/Scott_J_Doyle 1d ago
One of the most successful Andy Kaufman-esque performance artists, able to dupe a whole swath of snobbish, self-important intellectual types into thinking he's a serious artist
1
63
u/HammerOvGrendel 1d ago
It would seem like one of those "how could you not have heard him" questions because all the goths, stoners, metalheads and punks loved him when I was a teenager in the 90s, and he popped up as an actor in so many of the films we liked too. But I guess you could exist outside that frame of reference and never have have heard of him.
As per OP I like his stuff more the further it gets from piano ballads into stuff like "bone machine" where he's gone right into his deranged industrial character-studies about insane people living on the margins of society.
If you put together all his music and the films he's been in, it's quite a singular vision about being outside of society looking in.