There is a songwriter that is the greatest at working the qurk. He haunts your brain with sad creepy songs, the could've beens, the might haves, the ones that happened for the wrong reasons. He wrote love songs for the lowest of the low, the no hope smoke stained yellow vagabonds of modern society. He was Mickys Big Mouths singing in the rain soaked graveyards of dead dreams and good ideas. The Morbid was wrapped with the wisdom of losers from the centuries past and tied off with humor of black ribbons on a birthday present. A bow of truth stained with the lies and faliures of an urban life in cities that can't sleep because they have one more pack to smoke, one more drink to throw back and one last tear to ignore, places on top like a broken promise.

I have listened to him for years. He has brought piece to my mind and has flavored by booze, sweetened my smoke and made my walking corpse laugh. He is Tom Waits, a Bone Machine with a pen and a flare for the dramatic, not to mention a decent sense of rhythm. Myself and my wayward Siamese Twiin have suggested him for your listening pleasure and now we ask you fellow Bedlam members if you have heard his Nighthawk songs.

How was that Kayo?

Ah...whiskey, smokes, and songs about wasted life.

Side order of razor blade?

In all fairness I dont know the music to make an acurate judgement..but tend to lean towards music that uplifts my soul than has me feeling like life is so hard and sad. From your description I think it may not be my thing. However..can post a music link or a sample dl?

Ah...whiskey, smokes, and songs about wasted life.

Side order of rasor blade?

In all fairness I dont know the music..but tend to lean towards music that uplifts my soul than has me feeling like life is so hard and sad. From your description I think it may not be my thing. However..can post a music link or a sample dl?

Oh, he is very uplifting. A feel good thing with a sense of black humor. No suicide.

http://media.anti.com/tom_waits/orphans/bottomoftheworld.mp3 stream.

Is this typical Tom Waits sound?

Eek,

That is indeed Waits, though the song specifically was a rejected outtake from an early album, recently released with other outtakes on an album called "Orphans, Bastards & Brawlers" ie: the songs that were not accepted, no place on an album, or just rough outtakes. That particular song isn't his prettiest and his voice, albeit usually a scratchy one, is not up to scratch in that tune.

I've not got access to that site, but try to find a song called "Step Right up" for a funny, "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis". "Blue Valentine" "Hold on" - for some of his slower ones. Well, there are so many.

Let's just say he is usually, almost always, funny, and makes the whole life of the

"on-the-road, down-in-the-dumps, but happy-go-lucky vagabond"

seem like it might be worthwhile

He's famous for his little stories in between songs. A lot of folk go to see his shows to hear his stories as well as his songs

"I've been married for 25 years and not once has my wife asked me ehat I do for a living"

"So I borrowed her car and drove down to the beach to meet new friends and that ain't the half of it...

"I was pulled over for driving without sunglasses and bermudas and I was harrassed and intimidated until we got talking about

Pete Kelly's Blues, and I knew a guy named Webb, and they gave me a free colour brochure and a booklet on how to avoid Child Molesting and I drove away with a new lease on life and ten dollars in my pocket."

"Needless to say I was beside myself, so I turned to myself and I said, "Hey Earl, you gonna be a BUM all your life, yeah? I said, "hey! You talking to me?"

Earl was one of my aliases at the time.

Well, anyhow, make a long story short: I threw in with these Italian guys and well,

they talked me into opening up a Used Food Restaurant and, hel.l you know, you got used cars, used clothes, used furniture - Why not used food - for less fortunate people who don't get out much... "

Tom Waits is, among songwriters and many performers, one of the most respected and admired.

He has had covers of his songs performed either by or jointly with

(following only researched from my own media Library - there may be more.)

Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Rod Stewart,

Bruce Springsteen, Frank Zappa, Norah Jones, The Eagles

Sarah Maclaughclin (sic), Bette Midler

Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Knoxville Girls,

Some famous quotations of his:

"I don't need no make-up, i got real scars, i got hair on my chest, i look good without a shirt"

“Their memory's like a train: you can see it getting smaller as it pulls away. And the things you can't remember Tell the things you can't forget that History puts a saint in every dream”

"Let me fall out of the window with confetti in my hair;

Dealt out jacks are better on a blanket by the stairs,

I'd tell you all my secrets but I'll lie about my past,

So send me off to bed forevermore."

All by Tom Waits - A quote for every occasion has that man.

Some of the songs made famous by other artists include most famously, (THESE are all songs I have/am looking up in my personal music library. Though elaborate, by no means complete. )

Ol' 55 (The Eagles, and later Sarah Maclaughlin)

Downtown Train

Waltzing Mathilda (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen) - Rod Stewart

12 inches - Frank Zappa

I hope that I don't fall in love with you - Nathalie Merchant

One from the heart - Crystal Gale

That Feel - duet with Keith Richards

The Long Way Home - Norah Jones

He's been in at least some dozen movies that I've seen. Always as a cameo role.

There is a songwriter that is the greatest at working the qurk. He haunts your brain with sad creepy songs, the could've beens, the might haves, the ones that happened for the wrong reasons. He wrote love songs for the lowest of the low, the no hope smoke stained yellow vagabonds of modern society. He was Mickys Big Mouths singing in the rain soaked graveyards of dead dreams and good ideas. The Morbid was wrapped with the wisdom of losers from the centuries past and tied off with humor of black ribbons on a birthday present. A bow of truth stained with the lies and faliures of an urban life in cities that can't sleep because they have one more pack to smoke, one more drink to throw back and one last tear to ignore, places on top like a broken promise.

I have listened to him for years. He has brought piece to my mind and has flavored by booze, sweetened my smoke and made my walking corpse laugh. He is Tom Waits, a Bone Machine with a pen and a flare for the dramatic, not to mention a decent sense of rhythm. Myself and my wayward Siamese Twiin have suggested him for your listening pleasure and now we ask you fellow Bedlam members if you have heard his Nighthawk songs.

How was that Kayo?

OoooooooooooohhhHHH!!

That was ...

It was...

I'm speechless Bops. I didn't know you had it in you! Wow. Could've been written by the man himself.

Purple Avenue (Empty Pockets thru the seasons)

slow down, Purple Avenue

To march around in April's shoes

Weathervanes remind me

Of the summertimes that I've left behind

Money's gone, for Auld Lang Syne

I spent on eastern standard time

Whatever happened to my roll

September fell right through the hole

All I've got is empty pockets now

Why does August try so hard

To hoist me on my own petard

I've learned one thing from how we were

That an ounce of prevention's worth a pound of cure

The shadows fall but I cannot thread

The tenor of the things you said

All that's left is flesh and bone

Lights are on but no one's home

All I've got is empty pockets now

I spill myself another drink

I count the whiskers in the sink

The orchestra is blind

But I've never been the worrying kind

Subsequently and furthermore

I'll sleep right here on the draining board

I'll never be paroled

I like to drink them while they're cold

All I've got is empty pockets now

I've only just awoken... and I'm thinking about going to the store to buy a bottle of whisky and a packet of Kents.

Listening to: Yeah... you got it! Specifically, Tales from the riverside/underground (114 alternate takes - mostly live - of his tunes and tales told, on a bootleg album)

*BTW: Just as a precaution; If anybody starts thinking about pulling this thread for whatever reason, Waits is the ultimate traveller, on the road hobo, and he would be better suited and more welcomed to any and all bars frequented by us expats and travellers and travelling souls and is therefore loosely totally related to this forum.

*BTW: Just as a precaution; If anybody starts thinking about pulling this thread for whatever reason, Waits is the ultimate traveller, on the road hobo, and he would be better suited and more welcomed to any and all bars frequented by us expats and travellers and travelling souls and is therefore loosely totally related to this forum.

Don't worry kayo,

Your *BTW: explains it all

@eek:

the "Never mind the topic -cum- U2 song title" thread just reminded me that even U2 have (sort of collaborated with Waits:

I had to google it though:

U2, Tom Waits, Metallica, Garbage and the Pretenders have all been added to We're a Happy Family, the Rob Zombie-helmed Ramones tribute record due this summer. They join previously announced acts including Eddie Vedder, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day and Marilyn Manson.

Source

I'm gonna endeavour to finish every post (in this thread) by transcribing one of his little stories between songs. Sometimes these are related tot he background of the song, sometimes they are just a story thrown in randomly:

Listening to right now, from VH-1 storytellers, before the song "Hold On":

TW: "I got a letter from a nine year old kid in Michigan. He says, "I brought one of your records to school and I got into a lot of trouble....

... Can you Help?"

I swear to god!

And I said to him, listen i got things... I.. I have a - You may not think that I have a life but I DO have a life!

I can't just drop everything and go to Michigan, for chrissakes! Represent you in court!

What I usually say to guys like that, I say, "just hold on! I'll get to it when I can."

Kayo, you should have made that other post above, your 10,000th one. It was indeed worthy of the occasion

http://media.anti.com/tom_waits/orphans/bottomoftheworld.mp3 stream.

Is this typical Tom Waits sound?

I have to say, I still like this song!

Thats an impressive list of achievements.

To be honest, I wasnt very keen on the link i posted, thats why I asked if that was typical of his sound. BUT, in saying that I often find that a sound 'grows' on me, and then real appreciation comes. First time I heard a Kate Bush album I was around 12 and was flabbergasted because it was so different to what i was used to. 22 years on and im still a huge fan of her work. I think some music is like Shakespeare, it takes a while to tune in to fully understand and appreciate.

If you have any streams or links to a classic Waits sound, then please post. Ty.

Waits is okay, I prefer Randy Newman though.

Waits is okay, I prefer Randy Newman though.

Chalk and cheese!

Beautiful Maladies reminds me of Marquez...."Love in a Time of Cholera" and "100 Years of Solitude"....also to a certain degree "Noone Writes to the Colonel".

@eek:

the "Never mind the topic -cum- U2 song title" thread just reminded me that even U2 have (sort of collaborated with Waits:

I had to google it though:

U2, Tom Waits, Metallica, Garbage and the Pretenders have all been added to We're a Happy Family, the Rob Zombie-helmed Ramones tribute record due this summer. They join previously announced acts including Eddie Vedder, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day and Marilyn Manson.

Source

I'm gonna endeavour to finish every post (in this thread) by transcribing one of his little stories between songs. Sometimes these are related tot he background of the song, sometimes they are just a story thrown in randomly:

Listening to right now, from VH-1 storytellers, before the song "Hold On":

TW: "I got a letter from a nine year old kid in Michigan. He says, "I brought one of your records to school and I got into a lot of trouble....

... Can you Help?"

I swear to god!

And I said to him, listen i got things... I.. I have a - You may not think that I have a life but I DO have a life!

I can't just drop everything and go to Michigan, for chrissakes! Represent you in court!

What I usually say to guys like that, I say, "just hold on! I'll get to it when I can."

This is a masterpiece.

I'll have a pint of what you had.

A true post for the anals of Bedlam.

well done indeed.

One of my earlier signatures was:

I don't mind working,

Cos I used to be jerking

I used to spend most of my time in the bars.

Those are the opening lines of a song by Mr Waits.

Here's the story behind it.

TW: "There are 35 million digestive clans in the human stomach and er... - it's true! - And I've used each one of them, and I've... I've worked some places where the food it's... It's borderline.

But my earliest job - And this next song is about that period of time; see the connection there? - I worked in a pizza place for about five years, as a teenager.

There was a very large man, who worked in the kitchen, as er... a professional, and it was a question of either expanding the kitchen, or getting rid of him and hiring someone smaller.

Fortunately for me, they went with the small guy.

So this is about Bud: Bud was one of those guys he came, he had a little cot in the back, and and well when he was having a little trouble with his wife he would come in the back door, and he would just stay in the back for three or four weeks.

Bud was also a plumber. I was the dishwasher and one night Bud was doing the snake in the toilet, but it was an electric snake, and there was a tremendous amount of power on the snake and

My job was to stand near Bud, and just... Watch him.

And Bud had it covered, and so I watched Bud, and the motor's winding up... And finally the snake came out of the toilet and whipped around the bathroom, and - that was the scary part; it was like a horror movie -and then the lights went out, as the snake slammed into the bulb and it hit Bud in the side of the head and he went down - COLD!

I knew he was dead. I knew it couldn't end any other way; and somehow I also knew that it was my fault.

So I, I went in to my boss, and I said, "Joe. I don't know how to put this. Alright, I'm gonna say it real fast: IKilledBud."

And then they came into the bathroom, andthey realised that - by then Bud was coming back to life and we realised that in fact, Bud was not dead.

Bud not being dead, I rode on that for years.

I could just think about Bud not being dead, and I could get high from it.

So this is, indirectly a song about that.

That particular night I said, "I can't wait to get off work."

Well, I did hear some Johnny Cash tonight - BUT mistook the music for Nick Cave...

Does that count for beautiful maladies Bopsters?

**** waiting for Godot Bebops ****

Well, I did hear some Johnny Cash tonight - BUT mistook the music for Nick Cave...

Does that count for beautiful maladies Bopsters?

What a coincidence, I have just been listening to Jonny Cash, America V album. I love it!

Eek,

That is indeed Waits, though the song specifically was a rejected outtake from an early album, recently released with other outtakes on an album called "Orphans, Bastards & Brawlers" ie: the songs that were not accepted, no place on an album, or just rough outtakes. That particular song isn't his prettiest and his voice, albeit usually a scratchy one, is not up to scratch in that tune.

I've not got access to that site, but try to find a song called "Step Right up" for a funny, "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis". "Blue Valentine" "Hold on" - for some of his slower ones. Well, there are so many.

Let's just say he is usually, almost always, funny, and makes the whole life of the

"on-the-road, down-in-the-dumps, but happy-go-lucky vagabond"

seem like it might be worthwhile

He's famous for his little stories in between songs. A lot of folk go to see his shows to hear his stories as well as his songs

"I've been married for 25 years and not once has my wife asked me ehat I do for a living"

"So I borrowed her car and drove down to the beach to meet new friends and that ain't the half of it...

"I was pulled over for driving without sunglasses and bermudas and I was harrassed and intimidated until we got talking about

Pete Kelly's Blues, and I knew a guy named Webb, and they gave me a free colour brochure and a booklet on how to avoid Child Molesting and I drove away with a new lease on life and ten dollars in my pocket."

"Needless to say I was beside myself, so I turned to myself and I said, "Hey Earl, you gonna be a BUM all your life, yeah? I said, "hey! You talking to me?"

Earl was one of my aliases at the time.

Well, anyhow, make a long story short: I threw in with these Italian guys and well,

they talked me into opening up a Used Food Restaurant and, hel.l you know, you got used cars, used clothes, used furniture - Why not used food - for less fortunate people who don't get out much... "

Tom Waits is, among songwriters and many performers, one of the most respected and admired.

He has had covers of his songs performed either by or jointly with

(following only researched from my own media Library - there may be more.)

Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Rod Stewart,

Bruce Springsteen, Frank Zappa, Norah Jones, The Eagles

Sarah Maclaughclin (sic), Bette Midler

Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Knoxville Girls,

Some famous quotations of his:

"I don't need no make-up, i got real scars, i got hair on my chest, i look good without a shirt"

“Their memory's like a train: you can see it getting smaller as it pulls away. And the things you can't remember Tell the things you can't forget that History puts a saint in every dream”

"Let me fall out of the window with confetti in my hair;

Dealt out jacks are better on a blanket by the stairs,

I'd tell you all my secrets but I'll lie about my past,

So send me off to bed forevermore."

All by Tom Waits - A quote for every occasion has that man.

Some of the songs made famous by other artists include most famously, (THESE are all songs I have/am looking up in my personal music library. Though elaborate, by no means complete. )

Ol' 55 (The Eagles, and later Sarah Maclaughlin)

Downtown Train

Waltzing Mathilda (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen) - Rod Stewart

12 inches - Frank Zappa

I hope that I don't fall in love with you - Nathalie Merchant

One from the heart - Crystal Gale

That Feel - duet with Keith Richards

The Long Way Home - Norah Jones

He's been in at least some dozen movies that I've seen. Always as a cameo role.

There is a songwriter that is the greatest at working the qurk. He haunts your brain with sad creepy songs, the could've beens, the might haves, the ones that happened for the wrong reasons. He wrote love songs for the lowest of the low, the no hope smoke stained yellow vagabonds of modern society. He was Mickys Big Mouths singing in the rain soaked graveyards of dead dreams and good ideas. The Morbid was wrapped with the wisdom of losers from the centuries past and tied off with humor of black ribbons on a birthday present. A bow of truth stained with the lies and faliures of an urban life in cities that can't sleep because they have one more pack to smoke, one more drink to throw back and one last tear to ignore, places on top like a broken promise.

I have listened to him for years. He has brought piece to my mind and has flavored by booze, sweetened my smoke and made my walking corpse laugh. He is Tom Waits, a Bone Machine with a pen and a flare for the dramatic, not to mention a decent sense of rhythm. Myself and my wayward Siamese Twiin have suggested him for your listening pleasure and now we ask you fellow Bedlam members if you have heard his Nighthawk songs.

How was that Kayo?

OoooooooooooohhhHHH!!

That was ...

It was...

I'm speechless Bops. I didn't know you had it in you! Wow. Could've been written by the man himself.

Purple Avenue (Empty Pockets thru the seasons)

slow down, Purple Avenue

To march around in April's shoes

Weathervanes remind me

Of the summertimes that I've left behind

Money's gone, for Auld Lang Syne

I spent on eastern standard time

Whatever happened to my roll

September fell right through the hole

All I've got is empty pockets now

Why does August try so hard

To hoist me on my own petard

I've learned one thing from how we were

That an ounce of prevention's worth a pound of cure

The shadows fall but I cannot thread

The tenor of the things you said

All that's left is flesh and bone

Lights are on but no one's home

All I've got is empty pockets now

I spill myself another drink

I count the whiskers in the sink

The orchestra is blind

But I've never been the worrying kind

Subsequently and furthermore

I'll sleep right here on the draining board

I'll never be paroled

I like to drink them while they're cold

All I've got is empty pockets now

I've only just awoken... and I'm thinking about going to the store to buy a bottle of whisky and a packet of Kents.

Listening to: Yeah... you got it! Specifically, Tales from the riverside/underground (114 alternate takes - mostly live - of his tunes and tales told, on a bootleg album)

*BTW: Just as a precaution; If anybody starts thinking about pulling this thread for whatever reason, Waits is the ultimate traveller, on the road hobo, and he would be better suited and more welcomed to any and all bars frequented by us expats and travellers and travelling souls and is therefore loosely totally related to this forum.

Thanks, Kayo!! I am glad you liked it and am honored you think it sounds like his work, that means alot.

Waits is okay, I prefer Randy Newman though.

Chalk and cheese!

Beer and p1ss. I know which I'll have a glass of.

**** waiting for Godot Bebops ****

I hope you all can watch this. This is On The Nickel performed live. Not the best sound, but such a good song.

Cold, Cold Ground

Crest fallen sidesick in an old cafe

nevr slept with a dream until he had to go away

there's a bell in the tower

uncle ray bought a round

don't worry about the army

in the cold cold ground

Now don't be a cry baby

when there's wood in the shed

there's a bird in the chimmney

and a stone in my bed

when the roads washed out

they pass the bottle round

and wait in the arms

of the cold cold ground

There's a ribbon in the willow

and a tire swing rope

and a briar patch of berries

taking over the slope

the cat'll sleep in the mailbox

and we'll nevrr go to town

till we bury every dream in

the cold cold ground

Gimnes a Winchester rifle and a whole box of shells

blow the roof off the goat barn

let it roll down the hill

the piano is firewood

times square is a dream

I find we'll lay down together in

the cold cold ground

Call the copa on the Breedloves

bring a bible and a rope

and a whole box of rebel

and a bar of soap

make a pile of truck fires

and burn them all down

bring a dollar with you baby

in the cold cold ground

Take a wheathervane rooster

throw rocks at his head

stop talking to the neighbors

till we all go dead

beware of my temper

and the dog that I've found

break all the windows in the

cold cold ground

Bops, you've already seen this; I posted this in the Y.T thread a while ago,

But this is it's proper place:

This is essential Waits.

His fans often think of him as having undergone two distinct phases.

His first seven years were very jazzy, melancholic, bluesy.

This is from that period.

He starts out just chatting away. A lot of his dialogue is in fact lyrics from various songs, but to me, he's the kind of guy I listen to in a pub regardless. He eventually gets on stage and sings a couple of tunes.

my apologies if thailand still does not permit youtube.

Yes, that's his smooth stuff. Nice and cool yet smoky. He gets darker as he gets older, that's for sure.

Excellent thread, and excellent link there kayo. Really enjoyed it! Thanks...

I am sure you will all enjoy this.

Waits-m Temptation

I'm a big fan of Tom Waits, too. My all-time favourite is Anywhere I Lay my Head....I also love his performance as an actor....did anybody see Short Cuts where he plays that drunk limo driver? Outstanding!

I'm a big fan of Tom Waits, too. My all-time favourite is Anywhere I Lay my Head....I also love his performance as an actor....did anybody see Short Cuts where he plays that drunk limo driver? Outstanding!

He always gets the weird parts, and plays them so well. in Bram Stokers Dracula he played Reinfield, great job!

Hang On

This is a great one.