I’m not sure he’s under-appreciated. Seems like Waits fans grow on trees. His shows sell out in minutes. He won a Grammy. People travel over the globe to get a glimpse. I saw him at the Ryman last year and in Paris in 2000. Truly unforgettable. I imagine that some fans prefer either older or newer material exclusively. If I were to introduce a newbie, I’d start them on the older stuff before I played “The Earth Died Screaming” for them.
My first exposure was through Heart of Saturday Night in college, and boy did that get me through some tough nights. To this day it’s still my favorite album. I’m definitely a fan of his earlier years, although I liked Mule Variations a great deal.
I can’t think of many other artists who have so adamantly refused to allow their music to be used for commercial purposes, and I admire him for that. Really an incredible human being.
I didn’t want Blue Valentine to go neglected. The songs “Sweet Little Bullet From A Pretty Blue Gun,” and “Romeo Is Bleeding” are always popping into my head, along with the famous “Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis,” of course.
To add to that, I can think of very few artists that expand the boundaries of music the way he does. He does things that NOBODY else is doing. A visionary.
I’m a recent convert. The first album of his that I bought was Orphans, if that tells you anything. Since then, I’ve went back and picked up a good portion of his library.
He makes me wish I had a voice ravaged by years of cigarettes and liquor.
A fondness for Tom Waits was all I got out of the wreakage of a messed up relationship. For favorites I gotta go, “Hang on St. Christopher” or “The Piano has been Drinking”.
::raises hand::
Oh me! I do!
And Closing Time and Mule Variations too.
But I tend to think of early Tom Waits and later Tom Waits as 2 seperate artists. Swordfishtrombone in then line for me. Everything before that is music by a great cool/folky/bar/blues singer, everything from then on is much more musically interesting, kind of like musical concept art.
I count Alice, Blood Money, and the Black Rider as their own thing too. Very theatrical, modern Opera as sung by one man (which to be fair, is what they were written to be).
I love Tom Waits. 
Has anyone here seen a production of a Waits/Robert Wilson collaboration (Black Rider, Alice or Woycek)? I saw the script for Alice once and it was, perhaps not surprisingly, quite obscure. On paper, anyway. I bet visually it makes a lot more sense. But I’d really be interested in an account from someone who had actually have seen one of these bad boys.
Added it to my list. Reviews didn’t look promising, though.
Another Tom Waits fan here. Watch Down By Law three or four times, then watch it again. His vignet (sp?) with Iggy on Coffee and Cigarettes is worth seeing also.
Another great compilation of covers:
The first Waits album I bought was Real Gone. At the time I had a job driving all over the damn place. I was listening to NPR, and they played some clips from the album during a review. After my shift out in Fresno was done, I stopped at a Tower Records and picked up that and Modest Mouse’s Good News for People Who Love Bad News so I would have something to listen to on the way home.
Now I have several Waits albums. I prefer the more recent stuff overall, but there is stuff I like from the earlier albums too.
Neko Case does a gorgeous cover of “Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis” on one of the two Tom Waits tribute albums, but I just downloaded that track off iTunes since I love Neko almost as much as I love Tom. It changes the whole dynamic of the song, having a girl sing it as opposed to a guy narrating a letter written by a girl.
On that note, I’m actually very psyched for Scarlett Johanssen’s album of Tom Waits covers. The sexiest actress in Hollywood covering my favorite musician… even if it isn’t great, it should be interesting, but I think it will be quite good.
Ironically, that’s the first song I ever heard by him and I loved it. I’ve played the hell out of Bone Machine and it’s one of my favorite albums of all times. Either you get it in your soul or you think it sounds like a drunken cacaphony, I guess.
I also think that that the first 3 songs on *Rain Dogs * (“Singapore,” “Clap Hands,” “Cemetery Polka”) may be the best 3 songs in a row on any album, ever.
I have to say, if that had been the first Tom Waits album I ever heard, I would not be the fan I am now. I tried and tried and tried (because I really like Tom Waits) but I just could not make it through the first half-dozen or so tracks.
I got into Tom way later than I should have. I remember seeing him on SNL back in the 70’s, when I was a teenager with no musical sense, and thinking “what’s THIS guy’s problem?” It wasn’t until many years later, as I kept running across his music again and again, that I finally went out and got a copy of “Mule Variations”. I’ve got a number of his albums now, both early and late stuff. Probably one of my favorite Tom Waits songs is “Mr Siegal” from Heartattack and Vine.
John Hammond did an album of Tom Waits covers a few years ago called “Wicked Grin”. It’s on my list of stuff to buy some day when I have some extra money to spend.
One other thing to add: several years ago I picked up a CD of various artists covering classic Disney tunes. The CD is called “Stay Awake” and Tom Waits does a creepy-as-hell version of “Heigh-Ho”.
Rain Dogs was what got me into Tom Waits, seems to be something for everybody on that album.
Inspired by this thread, I was just listening to “Whistlin’ Down the Wind” in the car on my way back from lunch. Now I have to explain to my co-workers why I have tear-tracks through my mascara. No one should be able to write lyrics that simple and lovely, it’s just spooky.
Waits’ music has such a cinematic quality to it, too. It works so perfectly in movies, which might explain in part why he’s been so involved on stage and screen himself. I can’t think of 12 Monkeys without hearing “And the Earth Died Screaming” setting the dark, post-apocalyptic mood during the opening credits, or the surprisingly good romantic comedy Keeping the Faith with “Please Call Me Baby” playing over Edward Norton stumbling through nighttime New York streets.
I’ve always wanted to see a live eprformance of Frank’s Wild Years. I know Waits performed it in Chicago, before the album was released, but I really wish I could see the full show live. It was probably pretty dumb, but I’ve always been curious about it.
Absolutely. The first time I was cognizant of Tom Waits was when I heard “Tom Traubert’s Blues” in the film Basquiat. Sooo perfect. I immediately went out and devoured as much TW as I could. (Hmm, that didn’t quite come out right…)
Works great in plays, too. Over the years, I’ve used bits of “Mr. Siegal,” “The World Keeps Turning” and “Lord, I’ve Been Changed,” and more I can’t remember right now, in plays that I’ve directed. I almost always get audience comments with him (most often: “What the hell was that amazing song you used [at some point]…”)
Perhaps one of the TW fans out there can help me out, then, I’m looking for a couple of items…
One is a song sung as if Waits was one of these crazy late-night TV salesmen. He doesn’t ever describe precisely what it is he’s trying to sell, but you’ll be glad to know that it never needs winding, never needs winding, never needs winding… it’ll get you a job, it is a job, turn into a nine-year-old Hindu boy and get rid of your wife…you don’t know the meaning of heartache, buddy… Sound familiar? Anybody know where I can find this particular jewel, and what it’s called?
Next, I saw a fantastic little clip of Waits playing live, once, at the piano, and talking about loneliness. How when you’re alone, you might sit there and talk to yourself…maybe share a drink and put your arm around yourself… yeah, sure enough, next thing you know you’re takin advantage of yourself… This ought to be on You Tube somewhere, or is connected to a song as well, but I’ve spent hours reviewing You Tube clips of Waits without finding it. Anybody have a lead?
There are too many great songs he’s written to list all my favs, but I do want to recommend Murder in the Red Barn as one of my top ten.