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Tom Waits
Biography
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car. " With this trademark growl, his incorporation of pre-rock music styles such as blues, jazz, and vaudeville, and experimental tendencies verging on industrial music, Waits has built up a distinctive musical persona. He has worked as a composer for movies and musical plays and as a supporting actor in films, including Down by Law and Bram Stoker's Dracula. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his soundtrack work on One from the Heart. Lyrically, Waits' songs frequently present atmospheric portrayals of grotesque, often seedy characters and places—although he has also shown a penchant for more conventional ballads. He has a cult following and has influenced subsequent songwriters despite having little radio or music video support. His songs are best-known through cover versions by more commercial artists: "Jersey Girl", performed by Bruce Springsteen, "Ol' '55", performed by the Eagles, and "Downtown Train", performed by Rod Stewart. Although Waits' albums have met with mixed commercial success in his native United States, they have occasionally achieved gold album sales status in other countries. He has been nominated for a number of major music awards and has won Grammy Awards for two albums, Bone Machine and Mule Variations. In 2011, Waits was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Waits currently lives in Sonoma County, California with his wife, Kathleen Brennan, and three children.
More about Tom Waits at Wikipedia
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Discography
- Blood Money, 2002
- Bad as Me, 2011
- Bone Machine, 1992
- The Heart of Saturday Night, 1974
- Real Gone, 2004
- Alice, 2002
- Heartattack and Vine, 1990
- Rain Dogs, 1991
- The Black Rider, 1993
- Swordfishtrombones, 1983
- Small Change, 1989
- Black Rider Outtakes
- A Nickel's Worth of Dreams
- Mule Variations, 1999
- Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards, 2006
- Franks Wild Years, 1987
- Nighthawks at the Diner, 1998
- Closing Time, 1973
- Foreign Affairs, 1995
- Blue Valentine, 1990
- My Set Purpose, 2004
- Alice (The Original Demos)
- Cold Beer on a Hot Night
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external sites.
Recently Played on Dig Music.
| Song | Face To The Highway |
| Artist | Tom Waits |
| Album | Bad As Me |
| Label | WMA |
| Year | 2011 |
| Song | Bad As Me |
| Artist | Tom Waits |
| Album | Bad As Me |
| Label | WMA |
| Year | 2011 |
| Song | Frank's Wild Years |
| Artist | Tom Waits |
| Album | swordfishtrombones |
| Label | Island/PolyGram |
| Year | 1983 |
| Song | Diamonds On My Windshield |
| Artist | Tom Waits |
| Album | The Heart Of Saturday Night |
| Label | Asylum/WEA |
| Year | 1974 |
| Song | Talking At The Same Time |
| Artist | Tom Waits |
| Album | Bad As Me |
| Label | WMA |
| Year | 2011 |
Media
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below to open the video in your own player.
- YouTube Tom Waits Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis 5:56
- YouTube Tom Waits Gods Away On Business 3:04
- YouTube Tom Waits Press Conference 3:48
- YouTube Tom Waits Tom Trauberts Blues 1977 7:17
- YouTube Tom Waits Rain Dogs 3:28
Non-ABC videos are automatically sourced from YouTube , the user-contributed video sharing site. The ABC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Non-ABC images are automatically sourced from Discogs , a community-built database of music information. The ABC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Links
Artist Website
On the ABC
- DIG Radio - Web Article - Tom Waits Orphan Interview
- DIG Digital Radio - Tom Waits, Ray Davies Judge Song Contest
- Tom Waits - Radio National Breakfast - 10 November 2006
- The Planet - 7 October 2004 - Tom Waits
- DIG Digital Radio - Tom Waits Interviews... Tom Waits
- The Planet - 23 May 2002 - Tom Waits
- Tom Waits is a stayer. He has been writing and recording songs for over 30 years and ...">Deep End - 2 November 2004 - Tom Waits
- Tom Waits + The Planet + 07/10/2004
- Vicki Kerrigan's interview with Tom Waits is now available as audio on demand at the ...">Deep End - 5 October 2004 - Tom Waits
- Tom Waits - The Planet - 23/5/2002
Elsewhere on the Web
Links suggested here are generated automatically. The ABC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Page created on Mar 29, 2009. 4:43am and updated on Jan 1, 2012. 5:18am.
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Comments
OK.. I just hear this song for the first time..."Talking at the same Time" and I have to say I liked it! Tom Waits must have a wide vocal range. I just realised that all the previous songs I've heard him singing were sung in that deep drone tone..so I have to eat humble pie a bit...
I'm sorry but when I hear Tom Waits I can't help feeling that the man is in some degree of Pain. ...?!
I find his voice hard to listen to.... Not saying his music isn't good, it's just the pain I seem to hear in his voice...
Isn't it interesting how people can perceive the same music so differently!..such contrasting views...
I can't get enough of Tom Waits.. he just tugs at my heartstrings .. even when I don't recognise it's him singing doesn't surprise me ( I rarely jump on 'just played list' .. when it piques my interest). .. I have just about worn out my copies of Heart Attack and Vine and Blue Valentine... have Closing Time on Vinyl. Yes, Crammond I remember seeing him on Don Lane.. classic.. Don was sweating like a pig and Tom chain smokin.. off his face.. then sat down at the piano and played 'postcard from a hooker' and all was forgiven.. just magic <3
Dig people, I would love to hear Tom Waits' own version of Ol' 55 from the Closing Time album. It was covered by the Eagles in the early 70s. Hopefully you can find it in a digital format.
Jamil
Genius indeed! Love his work!
Tom is simply one of the few remining geniuses. Girlfriend who visits every friday always mistakes him for Nick Cave (she has a Cave fetish, and I don't blame her - but the amount of money I've won from her, and then forfeited on the Cave/Waits/Beefheart thang...) Anyway if Tom Waits reamins me of anyone, it's Alice Cooper. That same love/hate relationship with God/Satan (Cooper deserves more airplay, BTW. Chek out his 2001 'Dragontown'. It's by turns hilarious and terrifying).
Oh yeah, Tom Waits. Well, there were his early albums (remember seeing him on 'The Don Lane Show'), his classic, percussive trio of 'Swordfish Trombones', 'Rain Dogs' and 'Frank's Wild Years', and then the aftermath, including the horrifying 'Bone Machine'..... the man is not a God. That's the point.
Agreed Megan,Time to revisit Waits after all these years.Brilliant !!!!
timeless! i can' t belive this was 1978
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