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Asked about the distinction between words and music, he says: "I'm still a word guy. I'm drawn to people who use a certain vernacular and communicate with words. Words are music, really.
My brother was actually asking me about Tom's voice last week, and as an example of the affectation aspect of it, I had him listen to "Straight to the Top (Vegas)" from Frank's Wild Years, which sounds way different than his "normal" singing voice, years after he took on the gravel-voiced persona.
Nov 26, 2006 · Some people write for the page and that's a whole other thing. I'm going for what it sounds like right away, so it may not even look good on the page. But I'm still a word guy.
Dec 7, 2019 · From rock to jazz and R&B, Waits used his vaudevillian persona to break free from convention. Researching the roots of his genius takes you down a rabbit hole of fans trying to dissect the anatomy of Waits’ soundscapes. There’s even an online library dedicated to the craft.
- 5 min
- ‘(Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night’
- ‘Tom Traubert’s Blues (Four Sheets to The Wind in Copenhagen)’
- ‘The Piano Has Been Drinking’
- ‘Christmas Card from A Hooker in Minneapolis’
- ‘Heartattack and Vine’
- ‘Johnsburg, Illinois’
- ‘Rain Dogs’
- ‘Temptation’
- ‘Hoist That Rag’
- ‘Hell Broke Luce’
After the initial vain attempt to make a mark with his debut album Closing Time in 1973, it was Waits’ second album The Heart of the Night in 1974 that established his distinct style and turned some heads. The jazz flavour is enhanced by a neat soundtrack with just an acoustic guitar, upright bass, and one of Waits’ most unaffected vocal performanc...
The 1976 album was a game-changer as it offered the audience a fresh take on Waits. Yet again he proved to be a deft songwriter, one who doesn’t let the reins loose and makes sure he is always in control, even during the chaos. The thirsty man motif continues unabated here. Written in London, it recounts a stroll around the Danish capital with a gi...
Waits’ signature absurdist lyrics are on full display in this song. Waits imitates a drunkard who is spouting nonsense phrases recalling a “somewhat abused, slightly-out-of-tune piano that one would expect to find in the corner of a bar left out in the rain.” The songs full title ‘The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (An evening with Pete King)’ re...
This 1976 song has a strong jazz seasoning that lingers even after the song ends. The bittersweet melody of the song immediately reminds one of Ray Charles song ‘Georgia on My Mind.’ The self-explanatory lyrics narrate a letter written by a prostitute to a man named Charlie. She lies through and through telling him how happy she is until the writer...
Compared to the bunch of heart-wrenching songs given above, the title track of the 1980 album of the same name is a bit of a bruiser. It witnesses Waits’ new area of interest, whiskey-soaked jams and sees the singer revel and excel in the blues just as Picasso had done before him. The track gained a new fanbase with its use in various advertisement...
Waits’ career can be divided into two halves: pre-Swordfishtrombones and post-Swordfishtrombones. The 1983 album was a crucial moment for his career. The music moved away from the piano and string orchestra arrangement of the 1970s and the tempo pattern also changed. The track is a tribute to Waits’ wife Kathleen Brennan. The song is about his wife...
Elvis Costello told Patrick Humphries in his book The Many Lives of Tom Waits, “I think I was envious of his ability to rewrite himself out of the corner he’d appeared to have backed himself into.” This what exactly happened in Rain Dogs, the 1985 album. Waits shined brighter than in Swordfishtrombones. While ‘Cemetery Polka’, ‘Hang Down Your Head’...
The 1987 album has Latin tinges that were deeply ingrained in Waits’ music since he grew up in California taking frequent trips to Mexico. The song’s slowly percolating rhythms and broken-jukebox horns all add to one of the best vocal performances Waits has ever turned in. What makes the album special is the way he uses his voice. He moves away fro...
On 2004 Waits made yet another smooth transition adapting the hip hop style. He mainly used the beats of hip hop along with beatboxing to back up his unique vocals and turn this into one of the singer’s more modern classics. The track acts as a dystopian anthem and reflects the bold spirit that Waits embodies. With each repetition of the phrase, it...
Taking its title from a piece of graffiti carved into the walls of Alcatraz during a prison break, ‘Hell Broke Luce’ from the 2011 album, witnesses Waits agitating on behalf of the beleaguered Army grunt. ‘Day After Tomorrow on Real Gone’, ‘Road to Peace on Orphans’ and ‘Hell Broke Luce’ are a bunch of protest songs written by Waits on the Iraq War...
Aug 2, 2021 · Not only is he one of our greatest and most singular songwriters, Tom Waits is one of the greatest at talking about this elusive junction of art and craft known as songwriting. The man is a...
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Jul 28, 2008 · The Quietus Looks Back At Tom Waits’ illustrious career. On the day of a rare visit to these shores by Mr Tom Waits, Quietus man, Marc Waldburger devises a ten point introduction to the artist. I have noticed recently that I find myself lost, unawares and generally unconcerned whenever conversations about today’s music, the latest band, or ...
