# Robots music question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robots-music-question/299819>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 18, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robots-music-question/299819 "2005-04-18T01:19:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![The\_Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@The\_Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tim)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robots-music-question/299819/1 "2005-04-18T01:19:34Z")

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Recently I watched Robots and in the first scene in the chop shop a song is playing, something about “under this city”. The singer has a very gravelly voice, almost like Tom Waits, but I doubt it is him. I can’t figure out which song (if any) it is on the soundtrack from the samples on the iTunes music store.

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**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robots-music-question/299819/2 "2005-04-18T22:26:05Z")

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Saw the movie last night, and thought I recognized Tom Waits’s distinctive rumbling.

IMDB has the following under Soundtrack Listing:

“UNDERGROUND”  
Written and Performed by Tom Waits

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**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robots-music-question/299819/3 "2005-04-18T22:39:26Z")

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> [@Kizarvexius](#):
>
> Saw the movie last night, and thought I recognized Tom Waits’s distinctive rumbling.
> 
> IMDB has the following under Soundtrack Listing:
> 
> “UNDERGROUND”  
> Written and Performed by Tom Waits

Haven’t seen the movie, but from the description in the OP I guessed it would be this. The song first appeared on Waits’s brilliant _Swordfishtrombones_ album.

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**Author:** ![The\_Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@The\_Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tim)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robots-music-question/299819/4 "2005-04-18T23:27:13Z")

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So my instinct was right. I just couldn’t believe that a Tom Waits song would appear in a movie like Robots. Thanks a lot. Given that I was also looking to buy another Tom Waits CD from iTunes I get to kill two birds with one stone. Which is nice because I fucking hate birds and like conserving stones.