In the SPOTLIGHT: Tom Waits

Tom Waits is quite ably the most non-mainstream but influential musician of all time. He won’t be covered by the billboards of the world or rolling stones as one of the greatest song writers of all times besides Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen etc. But quite honestly, this man and his cult following have stood the test of 4 decades of musical madness.

There is a daring sense of ugly pride in the man’s voice, one that owns up to its crass and drunken beauty. He has no covert meaning to his lyrics, he keeps it simple. Whatever Tom sings is painted quite literally on his musical canvas. And what he creates is not necessarily a pretty portrait but one that is a seedy reflection of society. 

Somehow, he does all this by still keeping convention of near piano-led adult-contemporary style of vocal and musical structure. It is this ugly meets elegant mash of sounds that create the sense of enigma that surrounds a Tom Waits tracks. His influence is clear by the musical talent that has covered his body of works like the Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, Rod Stewart etc.

His trademark style has evolved with the times and has only grown cruder, owning up to his age. Although the music in Tom’s tracks have gained also an industrial edge in recent times, something extremely uncanny albeit expected from a maverick musician like him.

I was spoilt for choice for the best tracks which I could showcase as Mr. Waits best. So I decided to take another angle to my recommendations today. The spotlight this time shall circle around album based track recommendations. Here we go with my list of 6 top Tom Waits albums of all time:

Small Changes – The Piano has been drinking (Not Me)

This seems to be the track defining the mans’ lifestyle for a long time. The song gives the worlds definition from the eyes of a drunk. He believes he is sane and the world around him is one that is acting out of line, destructive and anomalously. Its set in a bar where the man finds his world twirl, as he noticing each of the objects and people around him.

Swordfishtrombones – Soldiers Things

Waits’ rendition of the things left of a soldier after his purpose is done. It shows how primary and redundant the life of a veteran becomes on return, a rusted and faded shade of his former self. The beautiful piano background gives the right amount of juice for the emotional swing in this track, along with the double bass. It sounds like a movie montage in itself.

Bone Machine – Who are you

The track is the sweetest sounding goodbye songs to an exhausting and mendacious relationship. It ties together the feelings that happen post a bitter break when the girl leaving has been a cheat. Its quite a refreshing change from what he punk rockers and rock-dolls of our times come out with to wash out the dirty laundry of their relationship. The song. Ergo, teaches us that we do not need aggressive and repetitive riffs along with yelled out obscenities to vent out our emotional turmoil.

Closing Time – Martha

Waits, here, chronicles old and remembered love. Here, Tom Frost, the songs first person, seeks out his old love, in a time 40 years later when they both lead separate and settled lives. He recalls all of their fire and comfort; He misses every bit of it even now and calls back his love.

One from the heart – Opening Montage

This track is from the soundtrack album of ‘One from the heart’, a Coppola movie from his later years. A beautiful piano intro leads this song into a wonderful back and forth duet between Crystal Gayle and Tom Waits. From radio-friendly jazz to Classic Jazz, this song transitions from each arena into another seamlessly. It defines every element differently and brings them together like times of the day tied together by 24 ticking hours. I haven’t watched the movie but it does extremely well as a standalone track too.

Rain Dogs – Tom Trauberts Blues

This song speaks of Tom’s friend who was a backpacker and got convicted for a crime he didn’t commit. Eventually, the man breathed his last in the confines of the prison while serving his time. Waits picks up his friend’s life and creates scenery of pain and helplessness his friend must have undergone with lost passion. The pain is defined in terms of hitch-hikers nomenclatures and ends in the prison cell.

The most recent album of Tom Waits that I found incredibly addictive and engaging was Mule Variations. It has crazy industrial elements that actually blew my mind, obviously something extremely unprecedented to come across. Especially in the opening track Big in Japan which hits you with a big industrial sound and then rock n roll. It marks off the beginning of an incredible musical journey towards some of the weirdest tallying up of tracks I’ve seen put together on an album.

I recommend Tom Waits body of work to anyone who wishes to discover musical and song-writing gems, packaged in an amorphous but beautiful body of albums. In this apathy of dark and doubtful imagery that he creates, we find his true genius. Surely, Tom Waits takes on perspectives of those the run of the mill songwriter wouldn’t dare tread around. He certainly ranks up there in my list of favorite songwriters/musicians such as Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Peter Gabriel.

Don't you know there ain't no devil, it's just god when he's drunk.

-Tom Waits