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Tom Waits (born Thomas Alan Waits, in Pomona, California, on December 7, 1949) is a prolific American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor.

He started his career in the early 1970s as a singer in spit 'n' sawdust bars. Initially, he was deeply influenced by the beat generation, novelists like Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, and poets like Allen Ginsberg and Charles Bukowski. Waits is often compared to Charles Bukowski, being similar both in content and lifestyle Read Full BioTom Waits (born Thomas Alan Waits, in Pomona, California, on December 7, 1949) is a prolific American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor.

He started his career in the early 1970s as a singer in spit 'n' sawdust bars. Initially, he was deeply influenced by the beat generation, novelists like Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, and poets like Allen Ginsberg and Charles Bukowski. Waits is often compared to Charles Bukowski, being similar both in content and lifestyle

Waits was unable to make a living from his music in the 70s because his classical bar music, based in pre-rock, and Americana, blues, and Vaudeville styles were not popular. Waits's voice back then was soft, warm and clear.

Waits subsequently developed a devoted cult following and has influenced subsequent songwriters, despite having little radio or music video support. In fact, his songs are perhaps best known to the general public in the form of cover versions of more visible artists, such as the Eagles, Bruce Springsteen and Rod Stewart.

Although Waits’s albums have met with mixed commercial success in his native United States, they have occasionally achieved gold album sales status in other countries.

Lyrically, Waits's songs are known for atmospheric portrayals of seedy characters and places; he sings about the losers on the streets: alcoholics, junkies, prostitutes and social outcasts, although he also includes more conventional and touching ballads in his repertoire.

While opening for Frank Zappa, the audience catcalled and refused to listen to him; he was an unsuitable match with Zappa's avantgarde style.

Countless cigarettes, gallons of alcohol and many all night parties eventually left their trace in his face and voice.

His more recent gravelly voice can be first heard on Small Change. This distinctive voice turned out to be his trademark. It is described by the Music Hound Rock Album Guide 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". Small Change with its sentimental ballads, its bar-jazz attitude and Film Noir-oriented stories turned out to be his biggest commercial success in the 1970s.

Waits subsequently developed a more unique style. His songs have grown more abrasive since then, and the arrangements have turned more surreal and experimental with every new record. His life brings him to new visions, as indicated by the direction taken in his "Alice" release.

While composing the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's One From The Heart Waits met Kathleen Brennan, his bride-to-be. They married in 1980 and she helped him quit drinking and smoking. Since their marriage they have been working together on his albums as co-producers and co-writers. It is hard to say which part belongs to her and which to him, but it's easy to see that they make a perfect team. Additionally, his eldest son Casey can be heard on turntables and percussion on Waits's album "Real Gone".

One of Waits's greatest successes was the album "Swordfishtrombones", released in 1983. It struck with his critics and fans alike. He achieved a new level of song writing and left former conventions (and his earlier career) behind. All songs, whether ballads, jive or jazz are played in a completely different way. It seems that Waits had taken the musical archetypes of these styles and made them his own. All tracks are in the quintessential Waits style. They have a striking rawness and listenability and they set the stage for his success and his future career.

The Bad As Me Songfacts reports that 36 years after the release of Waits' first album, Closing Time in 1973, Bad As Me became Waits's first ever top 10 album in the US when it debuted at #6 with 63,000 sales.

In the late 1980s Waits discovered an outlet for his creativity in composing musicals. His first Musical was named "The Black Rider", and is based on "Der Freischütz" by Carl Maria von Weber. It was co-produced by Robert Wilson and the lyrics come from William S. Burroughs. The story is slightly reminiscent of Kurt Weil's and Berthold Brecht's "Three Penny Opera" and the 1930s. The debut performance of the play was in 1990 at the Thalia Theater, Hamburg and has been played by various theatre groups since then.

Waits was also responsible for two other musicals, which later became albums released simultaneously in 2002. One was the musical "Blood Money," which covers the "Woyczek" theme of Georg Büchner. This one is one of the darkest works from Waits. The other musical is based on Lewis Carroll's classic children's novel, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". "Alice" is very romantic, dreamy and soft, and contains one of Waits most romantic songs. Even though they were released at the same time, the bootlegs of the "Alice" musical were long before traded between fans and were just rearranged and re-mastered for the official release.

Besides many film contributions as composer – the Internet Movie Database imdb.com lists 47 appearances of Waits as composer and 38 soundtracks containing songs by Waits - he also is an actor with a total of 25 appearances, ranging from some mini-roles as a trumpeter in "Heart of Saturday Night" and the R. M. Renfield in "Bram Stoker's Dracula" to the major role of Zack in Jim Jarmusch's "Down by Law". He recently appeared in Roberto Benigni's "The Tiger and the Snow", playing You Can Never Hold Back Spring at Benigni's wedding dream. Even more recently, Waits played Mr.Nick (the Devil) in Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus".

In addition to a number of concert videos, he also appeared in the critically-acclaimed concert feature film "Big Time" (1990).

Waits has always refused to allow the use of his songs in commercials. He has filed several lawsuits against advertisers for using his material without permission. Waits also successfully sued an advertiser for using a work that was stylistically similar to his work, after he had declined to sell them the rights to his song. He has been quoted as saying, "Apparently the highest compliment our culture grants artists nowadays is to be in an ad — ideally naked and purring on the hood of a new car. I have adamantly and repeatedly refused this dubious honor."

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Tom Traubert's Blues
Tom Waits Lyrics

Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did
I got what I paid for now
See ya tomorrow, hey Frank can I borrow
A couple of bucks from you
To go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, you'll go waltzing Matilda with me

I'm an innocent victim of a blinded alley
And I'm tired of all these soldiers here
No one speaks English, and everything's broken
And my Stacys are soaking wet
To go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, you'll go waltzing Matilda with me

Now the dogs are barking
And the taxicabs parking
A lot they can do for me
I begged you to stab me
You tore my shirt open
And I'm down on my knees tonight
Old Bushmills I staggered
You buried the dagger in
Your silhouette window light
To go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, you'll go waltzing Matilda with me

Now I've lost my St. Christopher
Now that I've kissed her and the
And the one-armed bandit knows
And the maverick Chinaman, and the cold-blooded signs
And the girls down by the strip tease shows go
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, you'll go waltzing Matilda with me

No, I don't want your sympathy
The fugitives say that the streets aren't for dreaming now
Manslaughter dragnets and the ghosts that sell memories
They want a piece of the action anyhow
Go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, you'll go waltzing Matilda with me

And you can ask any sailor
And the keys from the jailer
And the old men in wheelchairs know
That Matilda's the defendant, she killed about a hundred
And she follows wherever you may go
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, you'll go waltzing Matilda with me

And it's a battered old suitcase
To a hotel someplace
And a wound that will never heal
No prima donna, the perfume is on
An old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey
And goodnight to the street sweepers
The night watchman flame keepers
And goodnight Matilda, too

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Tom Waits

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

To comment on specific lyrics, highlight them

Most interesting comments from YouTube:

Willy R

6y↑293

SOME OF THE STRONGEST LYRICS EVER:

Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did
I've got what I paid for now
See ya tomorrow, hey Frank, can I borrow
A couple of bucks from you?
To go Waltzing Mathilda, Waltzing Mathilda
You'll go Waltzing Mathilda with me

I'm an innocent victim of a blinded alley
And I'm tired of all these soldiers here
No one speaks English, and every thing's broken
And my Stacys are soaking wet
To go Waltzing Mathilda, Waltzing Mathilda
You'll go Waltzing Mathilda with me

Now the dogs are barking and the taxi cab's parking
A lot they can do for me
I begged you to stab me, you tore my shirt open
And I'm down on my knees tonight
Old Bushmills I staggered, you buried the dagger in
Your silhouette window light
To go Waltzing Mathilda, Waltzing Mathilda
You'll go Waltzing Mathilda with me

Now I lost my Saint Christopher now that I've kissed her
And the one-armed bandit knows
And the Maverick Chinamen, and the cold-blooded signs
And the girls down by the strip-tease shows go
Waltzing Mathilda, Waltzing Mathilda
You'll go Waltzing Mathilda with me

No, I don't want your sympathy, the fugitives say
That the streets aren't for dreaming now
Manslaughter dragnets and the ghosts that sell memories
They want a piece of the action anyhow go
Waltzing Mathilda, Waltzing Mathilda
You'll go Waltzing Mathilda with me

And you can ask any sailor, and the keys from the jailer
And the old men in wheelchairs know
That Mathilda's the defendant, she killed about a hundred
And she follows wherever you may go
Waltzing Mathilda, Waltzing Mathilda
You'll go Waltzing Mathilda with me

And it's a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace
And a wound that will never heal
No Prima Donna, the perfume is on
An old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey
And goodnight to the street sweepers
The night watchman flame keepers and goodnight to Mathilda too

Hans van Niekerk

49w↑3

WALTZING MATILDA (see explanation below)

Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did
Got what I paid for now
See ya tomorrow, hey Frank can I borrow
A couple of bucks from you?
To go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda
You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me

I'm an innocent victim of a blinded alley
And tired of all these soldiers here
No one speaks English and everything's broken
And my Stacys are soaking wet
To go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda
You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me

Now the dogs are barking and the taxi cab's parking
A lot they can do for me
I begged you to stab me, you tore my shirt open
And I'm down on my knees tonight
Old Bushmill's I staggered, you buried the dagger
Your silhouette window light
To go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda
You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me

Now I lost my Saint Christopher now that I've kissed her
And the one-armed bandit knows
And the maverick Chinaman and the cold-blooded signs
And the girls down by the strip-tease shows
Go, waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda
You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me

No, I don't want your sympathy
The fugitives say that the streets aren't for dreaming now
Manslaughter dragnets and the ghosts that sell memories
They want a piece of the action anyhow
Go, waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda
You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me

And you can ask any sailor and the keys from the jailor
And the old men in wheelchairs know
That Mathilda's the defendant, she killed about a hundred
And she follows wherever you may go
Waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda
You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me

And it's a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace
And a wound that will never heal
No prima donna, the perfume is on
An old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey
And goodnight to the street sweepers
The night watchman flame keepers and goodnight, Mathilda too

WALTZING MATILDA (from Wikipedia:)

The title was Australian slang for travelling on foot (waltzing) with one's belongings in a "matilda" (swag) slung over one's back. The song narrates the story of an itinerant worker, or "swagman", making a drink of billy tea at a bush camp and capturing a stray jumbuck (sheep) to eat. When the jumbuck's owner, a squatter (landowner), and three troopers (mounted policemen) pursue the swagman for theft, he declares "You'll never catch me alive!" and commits suicide by drowning himself in a nearby billabong (watering hole), after which his ghost haunts the site.

The original lyric was written in 1895 by Australian poet Banjo Paterson, and were first published as sheet music in 1903.

Songteksten voor Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen) © BMG Rights Management

Jovelino Almeida

4y↑18

Lyrics

Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did
Got what I paid for now
See ya tomorrow, hey Frank can I borrow
A couple of bucks from you?
To go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda
You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me
I'm an innocent victim of a blinded alley
And tired of all these soldiers here
No one speaks English and everything's broken
And my Stacys are soaking wet
To go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda
You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me
Now the dogs are barking and the taxi cab's parking
A lot they can do for me
I begged you to stab me, you tore my shirt open
And I'm down on my knees tonight
Old Bushmill's I staggered, you buried the dagger
Your silhouette window light
To go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda
You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me
Now I lost my Saint Christopher now that I've kissed her
And the one-armed bandit knows
And the maverick Chinaman and the cold-blooded signs
And the girls down by the strip-tease shows
Go, waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda
You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me
No, I don't want your sympathy
The fugitives say that the streets aren't for dreaming now
Manslaughter dragnets and the ghosts that sell memories
They want a piece of the action anyhow
Go, waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda
You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me
And you can ask any sailor and the keys from the jailor
And the old men in wheelchairs know
That Mathilda's the defendant, she killed about a hundred
And she follows wherever you may go
Waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda
You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me
And it's a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace
And a wound that will never heal
No prima donna, the perfume is on
An old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey
And goodnight to the street sweepers
The night watchman flame keepers and goodnight, Mathilda too

Written by Tom Waits • Copyright © BMG Rights Management US, LLC

Sylvie Rousseau

4y↑4

Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did, I've got what I paid for now
See you tomorrow, hey Frank, can I borrow a couple of bucks from you
To go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda,
You'll go waltzing Mathilda with me

I'm an innocent victim of a blinded alley
And I'm tired of all these soldiers here
No one speaks English, and everything's broken, and my Stacys are soaking wet
To go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda,
You'll go waltzing Mathilda with me

Now the dogs are barking and the taxi cab's parking
A lot they can do for me
I begged you to stab me, you tore my shirt open,
And I'm down on my knees tonight
Old Bushmill's I staggered, you'd bury the dagger
In your silhouette window light go
To go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda,
You'll go waltzing Mathilda with me

Now I lost my Saint Christopher now that I've kissed her
And the one-armed bandit knows
And the maverick Chinamen, and the cold-blooded signs,
And the girls down by the strip-tease shows, go
Waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda,
You'll go waltzing Mathilda with me

No, I don't want your sympathy, the fugitives say
That the streets aren't for dreaming now
And manslaughter dragnets and the ghosts that sell memories,
They want a piece of the action anyhow
Go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda,
You'll go waltzing Mathilda with me

And you can ask any sailor, and the keys from the jailor,
And the old men in wheelchairs know
And Mathilda's the defendant, she killed about a hundred,
And she follows wherever you may go
Waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda,
You'll go waltzing Mathilda with me

And it's a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace,
And a wound that will never heal
No prima donna, the perfume is on an
Old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey
And goodnight to the street sweepers, the night watchmen flame keepers
And goodnight to Mathilda, too

All comments from YouTube:

Alec Alexander

5y↑873

I heard the Rod Stewart version and thought it was pretty good. And then I heard Tom's original. I'm nearly 70 and been listening to music all my life (well nearly). This stopped me in my tracks (poor pun). I just burst into tears, as I have each time since. This is beautiful/tragic/emotionally shattering but makes me feel human. You're never as in touch with your emotions as when you cry and Tom can make you laugh and cry and sometimes at the same time. Thank you Tom.

codybluetarp

All i can say, as a violinist, basically; Tom Waits tells the painful stories we all live. the strings here are wonderful. It's all music; but we don't have to like everything we hear. Tom Waits transcends all that. Thank you for this creatively musical post. maybe that's a possibly new way of interpreting the somewhat-contemporary-term, 'Post Truth'. Anyway, that's what i meant, along with all the rest of it. Everyone has the day they live.

Roger Wood

@Theseustoo Astyages my response was in accordance to Waits himself saying he kind of stole the national anthem

Theseustoo Astyages

@nux vomica I know just how you feel... but if Rod actually covered this song (and, I believe, other songs by Tom Waits) it goes to show that he wasn't a complete asshole at all... (and tbh, there are some RS songs that I really quite liked - indeed, if I'm honest, which I actually love!)

But the real point is, Tom Waits is something else entirely! A complete artist: a poet, a musician and a performer whose songs and performances just can't be surpassed.

With due respect to RS, you're quite right... he's not in the same class! :D

Theseustoo Astyages

@F C Love your non-proprietorial approach to mutuality of feeling... I feel what you're feeling, too... ;)

Theseustoo Astyages

Hmmm... maybe Rod Stewart isn't quite the asshole I took him for so many years ago... maybe I should look for this cover you speak of (and the covers others have mentioned, too!) and re-appraise his work... I did always live his "Maggie May"... ;)

81 More Replies...

Willy R

6y↑293

beldengi

5w↑1

Waltzing Matilda is Australia's alternative national anthem. It is spelled Matilda here in Australia.

Johnny Vins

38w↑2

Thank you so much my friend for the beautiful LYRICS.

WingOne

45w↑1

Thank you for this Willy R
Tom and Kathleen too of course

Theresia Maria Weber

1y↑1

the perfume is on

Theresia Maria Weber

Willy R ☁️🤍☁️

2 More Replies...

James McLaren

3y↑202

My mother loves this song (70) i love this song (33) my daughter loves this song ( 7) can't say more about the power of music than that

Desmond Osiris

11w

Will any of them realize this is a song about heroin?

Jani Jane

23w

The most beautiful comment I’ve ever read on YouTube #musicislife💙

Brian Gay

28w↑1

For the chance you can waltz

Kev

29w

this is what its all about. so beautiful that you all can enjoy something together :)

Wiglaf67

4y↑177

The man makes pain sound so beautiful.

A voz da geração de 81

3w↑1

It makes you love it!

Kate Sagan

18w↑1

Such a great statement.

Kathy Lewis

35w↑1

What a beautiful thing to say. There's not enough kleenex in the world for listening to this.

Be Q

49w

Creepy*

Christopher Bacon

2y↑7

He will rip out your heart and you will thank him for it.

2 More Replies...

mmm7088

7y↑144

Unbelievable talent. Dylan, Waits and Prine are national treasures.

Eoghan O'Sullivan

@James Ingram Neil top of the pile ✊🏻

Auguste Victoria

4w↑1

@Dia Kristythe blood of my heart changes in tears there is no song in the whole wide world touching my soul like this the name of my youngest child is matilda-i love you, Tom

Dia Kristy

11w↑1

Can we talk about the beauty of Tom waits here? ******

Jeff Kinkead

15w

Derek trucks if we talking blues

Haviskam

18w

Human treasures, rather.

21 More Replies...

rubievale

4y↑197

I'm Schizoid. I have difficulty with emotions and rarely feel anything at all, be it positive or negative. I am locked in my own world, in my head, safe from the world, BUT this song always moves me to tears and that's saying something. I don't feel joy, anticipation, sadness, in fact pretty much anything except when I listen to this.

Dan Bowen

1y↑1

Then keep playing it over and over and overandoverandover....

Mind Games

damn we learned about you in abnormal psych

Martin McEwen

2y↑1

your a wonder boy
thankyou
wish i could cry

rotchilds smashed skull by a Viking !

2y↑1

If you feel something listening to this then there is hope you can feel other songs too

BLZBOB

2y↑2

Tom touches everybody. Everybody can connect with Tom, even you! Welcome to the fan club!

6 More Replies...

Dan JV

2y↑16

We're so fortunate that were in this world at the same time as Tom Waits.💕

Kate Sagan

5y↑269

Ah Tom, you can't love a total stranger any more than I love you.

Lesa Corrine

1y↑1

Ditto Kate x

John Cater

1y↑2

Totally agree. Thank you Tom for being in my life

sewerslide 1312mg

2y↑2

I can only listen 2 tom waits when I'm drinking, gotta keep thoes deep seeded emotional issues at bay

Bobby Sternlicht

2y↑3

@moonlitme cool as fuck way of putting it bro'

William Cutlip

2y↑1

Yes.

5 More Replies...

Duane Gibson

6y↑288

One of my favorite songs of all time of any music, and I like many types. My wife passed away on the 18th of Dec. and her father followed Jan 2, on what would be her 49th birthday. I listened to his tonight, the live version and this the original is my favorite. What a comfort for me tonight. Some might think this is crazy. But for me it is wonderful.

Call me Ishmael

31w

It IS wonderful.

John Cater

Beautiful song. A song that one turns to try and understand life and what it throws at you. Hope life is good today.

eric faucher

You just tore my heart out

TPHVICTIMS

Duane Gibson , I’m so sorry.

Sally Champlin

Just saw this, darling Duane. How lovely to read your words. I'm working on this song with my great guitarist and will base my show on this song, Kentucky Avenue, Whistlin' Past the Graveyard and songs from my own album, "It's Raining' in L.A." Tom creates everyone's world in truth, hope and profound golden joy, doesn't he? Check out my site? sallychamplin.com A few samples live there now. xxooo

13 More Replies...

Michael Parker

9w↑11

I'm a recovering alcoholic, but I still get the urge to drink from time to time. I listen to this song of a stranger in a strange land, totally drunk, and lost. It brings me back and the urge to drink passes. My Doctors tell me that if I were to continue to waltz with Matilda that it will kill me way, way before my time. I listened to them, got sober, and I'm due for a liver transplant in a year or so. I would've been dead a long time ago if it weren't for this song. Thank you, Tom Waits, for helping me stay sober.

Andrew Robinson

8w↑2

Music has a wonderful ability to heal, in unexpected ways! If it helps at all, "waltzing matilda" refers to being carefree and rootless - wandering along with nothing more than your meagre belongings tied inside a cloth (a "matlida") that's attached to a stick over your shoulder and swinging ("waltzing") as you walk. Best of luck with your health. I love how Tom Waits and other writers like him can create art that so many people can interpret to mean something personal.

Timothy Perrigoue

5y↑236

Been listening to Tom since the 70's... I love seeing how positively he is received today by people who have yet to hit 20 years of age. Tom is timeless... truthsome in lyrics will do that.

Be Q

49w

Yeah

Ricardo Rodriguez

1y↑1

@Joe Puckett I lived in Denver, that beautiful town, for 20 years and the Tom Waits show I saw at the Paramount in 1999(?) changed who I am as an artist and remains the most transformative 90 minutes of art I've ever experienced.

Ferran Cabo

@IndieMovie 4 Life My memories from those years are very foggy, they come like flashback images and I can remember her singing Long way home. As i mentioned those 2, I could also say 10 more. But those got stuck in my head. Maybe it was in 2006, when i was 10, it's been a long time since that happenned, so sorry if its not accurate. She got me into Tom through all my childhood, not only 1 year! Cheers

IndieMovie 4 Life

@Ferran Cabo I don't mean to critique your comment, because that is a beautiful way to get into Tom Waits as any, but I'm guessing by your age that you were in either 1995 or 1996. If that's the case, then where did your mom hear the song "Long Way Home"? Cause when you were five it must have been 2000 or 2001, and Orphans wasn't released until 2006.

Joe Puckett

3y↑1

Saw him in '74 at a little bar called Ebbets Field in Denver. Bar held around 200 people....damn that was an awesome. Had the pleasure to see him in on his last tour....it is one of the best concerts I have ever seen. Fantastic artist.

2 More Replies...

Gregor Milligan

8y↑44

"It's a battered old suitcase, to a hotel someplace, and a wound that will never heal" still stands as possibly the greatest lyric ever written.

KazooGuy

18w

Yes.

Roger Wood

42w↑1

Absolutely!

Luca Rossi

9w↑2

The last "too" makes me shiver every time I hear it... and I've heard it hundreds time...

Hans van Niekerk

49w↑3

William Roberts

1y↑57

Probably the most talented multi dimensional person in my generation.

pass go

45w↑1

I'd say one of the most talented musicians from the 20th century

Be Q

49w

😂

mysterytrain3

3y↑13

“And its a battered old suitcase
To a hotel someplace.
And a wound that will never heal.”
That’s about as sad a lyric as you’ll hear anywhere...

Ezra Vancil

6y↑82

oh momma.. how i love this song. I remember a mentor of mine that i really respected gave me this album. He had given me books and music and all were hard to digest but throughly satisfying once done.. this was what seemed a journey too far for me to like that crazy voice and strange humorous yet sad as hell lyrics .. But i respected the hell out of this guy, so i played this album under my pillow for a month until I "got it." And when I got it, it changed my life.

Ezra Vancil

4y↑4

and you have to imagine a kid who only read Dean Koontz books and who's favorite music was Sting, Pearl Jam etc.. anything on the radio.

Ezra Vancil

4y↑6

it's foggy all of them.. off the top of my head: books: Dead Souls - Nikolai Gogol, Various Tolstoy , 'masters and men' I remember, On the Road - Jack Kerouac, Bound for Glory - Woody Guthrie and maybe One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez. Albums: he gave me.. Jimmie Spheeris Isle of View (which I still love), High Winds, White Sky by Bruce Cockburn, Nick Drake (before he got popular again... so i felt special ha) and I think he turned me onto Jeremy Enigk

Estelle Ablett

4y↑3

It would be good to see a list of the books and music he recomended

Linda Fagan

5y↑3

brilliant

Grik NomadAsia

6y↑5

+Ezra Vancil (official) what a fantastic tribute, thank you so much!

Janice Ward

2y↑50

If Tom doesnt touch your heart..you don't have one...❤❤💘

swami fakkananda

17w↑1

U did touch mine!!😀😃😄😁😆😅🤣😂🙂🙃😉😊😇🥰🥰🥰

Kofi Babone

2y↑1

🤣😂🤣😂😭

Steve Cory

4y↑22

Saw him do this in Santa Barbara about 1978. He introduced it with: "This is a song about throwing up in a foreign country."

Ryan Blais

5y↑293

whenever I play this the dog across the street starts howling, seriously.

swami fakkananda

17w

@Robert Wright u 1 sick puppy.🥰🥰🤣🤣🤣🤣

swami fakkananda

17w

@Ryan Blais u 1 sick puppy!! 🥰🥰🥰.

Anja Sabljak

22w

My dog starts howling to when i start singing. When i shut up, he does too...

Just kidding, that is awesome 😊❤👍

briantum

Had a really really tough day, but this made me lol. Thanks.

Kofi Babone

🤣😂🤣😂😭😭😭😭💀💀💀

21 More Replies...

journeythruthepast

10y↑4

This will always be the great song he's ever written.

Jovelino Almeida

4y↑18

vonstolzing1

7y↑47

One of the five greatest songs for me. I cried the first time I heard it. And now, twenty years afters, my eyes are wet. Art in superb expression. Long live Tom. The best.

Victoria_Atmosphere

3y↑50

I stopped taking my medications because they prevented me from crying and now I can cry and I feel better.

keep the fire burning

me too. so much better.

Zizi Roberts

2y↑2

I can totally relate to that. I haven't taken an antidepressant in 11 years. Hiking and listening to music is much more effective.

Monica Collins

2y↑3

Yep screw Prozac. It did that to me.

Rez

3y↑36

the mother who raised me, who was more than a stepmother, this was her favorite waits song. To those who are no longer, you are missed and thought of. cheers

Christopher Brown

5y↑21

I'm drinking wine in a dark room during a blizzard. I miss you

Robert Cook

2y↑13

This guy helped me see its ok to be a little sad

Matthew McLaughlin

20w↑3

Perfect. I love how when he was on tour in Australia in the late 1970s he would tell the audience "I've borrowed your (unofficial) national anthem - I'll give it back some day....." or something like that. As an Australian myself, I grew up loving this song but Waits, like all great songwriters, has turned it into something even more special.

Kees van der Aa

6y↑77

I am 66 and I have not heard a better song, magnificent voice, it has feeling.

TheSeren75

Thank for your feeling. Just like us, you talk for us

Stuart Watson

8y↑5

No matter how grating Tom's voice is,his melodies are about the most comforting that I have ever heard.

John Tunturo

5y↑25

"I begged you to stab me you tore my shirt open and I'm down on my knees tonight"....Gives me chills every single time. Tom has such a great voice and brings out emotions that melt the soul.

Mihovil Bartulovic

9y↑4

i'm 19 and this song kills me every time...i don't want to imagine what will it do to me in 20-30 years...

David Samuel

6y↑14

I started listening to Tom in 1974 on a PBS special on which he recorded "NightHawks at the Diner"
The day he moves on will be a day which I will not move but listen to my collected works of his,,, all 34 CDs

712rocketman Archer

3y↑48

Wow. Had to look up my forgotten password to log in because I felt it important enough to sign in to comment here on the 232 thumbs down on this. 232 sad, rudderless puppets without a god-given soul. 232 people out there wandering in a dry, colorless desert of existence who don't know what a glorious, aching lament feels like deep down in the bottommost cove of their hearts. 232 sleepwalkers missing out on what it means to be alive, really alive. 232 people who cannot feel the beauteous, arresting pang of a "battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace", or "a wound that will never heal", let alone the poetic tragedy of "the girls down by the strip-tease show" or a passing nod in the wee small hours offering "a good-night to the street sweepers, the night watchman, flame keepers." And, Jesus god, that's almost as fucking sad and tragic as Tom's song.

Blue

...Mathilda too

Doggee Likesit

Now its 333 people who exist but dont live. Guess they never lost a dog like rosie or a cat like chester a. Arthur. I dont even want to talk about women lost. Live while youre alive.

Corey de Bruin

2y↑1

232 People without hearts, nor feelings, you got to have a soul for music to appreciate it, and this is above beautiful. In fact all Tom's music is so much more than just music, it creeps deep into your soul, and there it would slumber for the rest of your life. So ,Tom here is all your 232 thumbs up back again where they belong, from my wife and i. I introduced my wife to, Tom's music, she loved it, every last song. I am 66 and she is 50. Things won't be the same if Tom's songs are not playing in the back ground. Thank you Tom, for making above beautiful music, the more tragic the better, goes with the voice👍👍👍👍 From South Africa🇿🇦

Mark Schafer

2y↑2

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
and....RIP My Sweetest Sweet Teresa.
I'm gonna love and miss you til the wheels fall off...so much i no longer want to live.
I need to live..because we promised eachother 'Life goes on'
it must.

Jake Hadlee

7y↑17

This was the moment between the early Asylum years Waits and the later experimental stuff where Tom reached perfection. Play this at my funeral.

Andrew Bluebells

4w↑1

Still listening to this im washed up, lost and teetering on the edge of the abyss

Ugly Handsome

2y↑9

Listening to Tom is always a nostalgic, transcendent, and highly emotional road. one I wish I could walk every moment.

Diane R

5y↑13

Tom Waits is the miracle of the modern age, a master of emotional travesty, a hero in the desert of life in the 2000's....

Nick Lundbech

2y↑4

"and it's a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace, and a wound that will never heal"

maybe the most perfectly desolate line I've ever heard.

louise hoff

45w↑3

This and 'ole 55' are my ultimate favorites.

Jeff Sharland

4y↑9

Tom you are one of a kind and the world needs more like you right now....

vietorkoreen

7y↑17

That violin is brilliant.

Neil Brennan

4y↑1

This is one of the greatest songs ever written. Amazing lyrics and emotions conveyed within. My favourite line is "Now I lost my Saint Christopher now that I've kissed her."

nelnontwisa

7y↑12

man this song is so unbelievably good, mr. Waits really is the man.

Martha Metrailler

3y↑4

Tom knows how to tell a story, reaching deep into the gut of humanity.

Romy Nocera

5y↑24

I named my little dog Matilda because of this song . . .

Anna

4y↑3

Romy Nocera
I named my daughter Matilda.

Stephen Martin

7y↑4

Class, Brilliant, Outstanding!

Mike Beeton

2y↑3

It was about this time that I first heard of him and then he was to be lionised by the "Sunday colour supplements "

Eddie Black

7y↑24

Another masterpiece by the master story teller a tale ,starkly beautiful , who's words almost seem like a movie !projector projecting his movie!!

Gitte Løyche

2y↑2

So beautiful!

SPOTLife Videography

34w

Listening to this song makes me feel emotional, they gritty way Tom had sung it and the fact that it had come from the depths of his own experience is a window into true greatness and brilliance. This song is a masterpiece. Tom owns it far above other singer's versions. He makes it sound very authentic because it is...

Gregor Milligan

8y↑6

Whenever I think of Waltzing Matilda, I think of this song's melody, to the point that I can't remember the original song's melody at all. This is one of the greatest songs ever written.

richard newton

40w↑1

The man breaks my heart n mends my soul at the same time...I don't know how these guys do it woow
Cohen in there too 🙏

Jacob van Dijk

37w↑1

These last 15 seconds of this video are the seconds of reflection. Well done!

PussnBoot2516

5y↑4

Tom Waits is such a mastercraftsman vocally, adore this, best version I've heard

Tom Ripsin

7y↑4

In response to the text intro: It's hard to talk when you're tearing up. Thanx for all the great shots of Tom, by the way. The one with Elvis Costello is great.

moonlitme

3y↑2

1980, my squeeze Judy Thack and I walked across Balboa Park to her sisters apartment for a visit. As we walked through the door, her sister cut a rippin' fart....looked up at me and said "you're family now." A Waits album was playing (Blue Valentine). Been a fan since. Here's to you Judy....

Avril Jack

2y↑2

"the streets aren't for dreaming now"

Lee Bryce

2y↑3

I read a biography of Tom called, "The Lowside of the Road" and thought about what an incredible life this man lived. I am now just starting to listen to his music and it's everything that the biographer described 👌

William Oconnor

5y↑8

Depth, Integrity and will be for many generations,

Stephen Dawe

3y↑4

Monday morning rattle,in tears,God,thanks Tom,there is beauty.

Mark Hammond

27w

Somebody said it, "Tom Waits for everyone" ; I'm an old soldier, listening since 197???

QiBounding

5y↑92

So very touching. Makes me cry each time I listen to it. What an expression in this voice. Thank you Tom Waits!

cbgb jb

So glad it's not just me😓😏😢☺

Anne

QiBounding me too x

Susie McG

5y↑8

+Anchovy Rancher - Nope, good story, but it's about being in Amsterdam, stoned, drunk, borrowing a few bucks and living the wandering life, and that's exactly what Waits was doing at the time.

Malcolm Stirling

😐

Louis Moreno

1y↑1

This version is great. I can feel the meaning in every word. His music is golden...

rschiel50

1y↑18

This song always finds me on a gray January day...there is no escape...

John Cater

It doesn't rain every day when music like this is in your life..

Stuart Murray

1y↑1

@Heather Lobozzo cheer up February has come to your rescue

Heather Lobozzo

1y↑1

january is slow murder

Mark Rae

5y↑24

This would find its way into my Top 20 songs by any artist of any era. It is simply perfect.

Edison Junction Band

5y↑4

Wasted and wounded, loved Tom Waits lyrics from when I was a young man, and for me, they get more poignant as a I I've got older, and older. Waltzing Matilda ;-)

Claude Ratliff

4y↑6

"I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things." -Tom Waits

Stephen Duffy

2y↑6

A beautiful expression of alienation and rejection. When I was a young man, I felt it spoke for me.

Y. R.

2y↑1

You know, the melody of this masterpiece perfectly describes the tone of the lyrics of "Waltzing Matilda".

Steffan Goodall

21w↑2

This is one of my funeral songs. Makes me cry, every time I hear it, even after all these years!

Mihovil Bartulovic

So for me, "waltzing Mathilda" is rather an expression for extreme loneliness and longing for holding somebody this can't be more true than it is

Fat Cactus

11y↑1

The first song I ever heard by Tom was Filipino Box Spring Hog, so then I was in it for the lolz. After having heard this song as the second song I had ever heard from him, I was floored at how he pumped so much meaning and emotion into his music. This song has hooked me onto Tom Waits and i can honestly say that he is my favorite artist, and will continue to be, until somebody shows him up, which I think I can say with certainty will never happen.

clymela box

1y↑3

Met him in 1974 when he was playing the Border House in San Francisco- his gift words and music left me spinning and I continue to love him in my 70’s.

Pilar C.

2y↑6

Thank you Tom Waits for your great music and talent. Greetings from Spain.
And thank you very much for sharing this, Ben Wright.

Bronwyn Joy Elliott

20w

As an Aussie, I can forgive butchering Waltzing Matilda when it's Tom!

Proud PICT

2y↑2

Glass of whiskey in hand and a lump in my throat!
🥃

Guyshachar1

one of my favorites . goes well with alcohol. life in the sewer couldn't be sweeter

Daham Rathnayake

2y↑4

The harshest jazzy musician ever...bless you sir... love

sonetlumiere12345678

As much as I love this I can't help but think of those sentimental songs on south park lol

Jazzinthecountry

3y↑1

Looking back at it, i first remember crying to music to Tom.

Alessandro Landi

201 without heart and soul, it is impossible to dislike this masterpiece

Mark Hammond

23w

I remember when this was new. I am not, now, and it still moves me. On VINYL !

Justin Haskins

I’m still discovering Waits Classics after 10 years.

Mori Stefano

3y↑3

I wish to have this song at my funeral.. Even waltzing Matilda in Denmark is the song in the wedding party.. But we could make a funeral as party..

Cordelia Palmer

5y↑73

I asked my sister if she could play "Waltzing Matilda" on the ukulele and she said "Sort of." She played this and it made me cry, and now I make her play it every time she pulls out her ukulele. Her version of it is my favourite, but Christ, this is beautiful. What a voice. Such emotion and such power.

Steve Walmsley

38w

@James Robbie Seeing this three years after the comment and I laughed out loud :)

CreateSpace

is this your sister by any chance? Love this cover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeujMwjeQ-U

P. K. Wyatt

3y↑1

James Robbie, Thank you. This made me laugh.

wolf

4y↑3

post a video

Cordelia Palmer

4y↑16

That is possibly my favourite ever response to a comment. I confused a class full of seven year olds with my random laugh.

1 More Replies...

American Zero

3y↑3

Goodnight to the street sweepers, the night watchman flame keepers, and goodnight to Mathilda too...

James McCluskey

3y↑1

and goodnight to the street sweepers, the night watchmen flame keepers and goodnight..Matilda too

Victor1930

5y↑16

The strings!! The strings!! Heartbreaking.

ol

3y↑1

This just might be the best song ever written and recorded

Sammy Lucas

10y

you can really hear the pain in his voice, it brings tears to my eyes. This is truly an amazing man, thank you Tom for the beautiful piece.

mojo1436

"no matter what brung you low" What a great description for this song! Love it!

ani senn

Qué belleza de tema y cómo lo canta!!! Me emociona...

Sid Weightman

7y↑4

Always moves me to tears...

Lee Bryce

"The streets aren't for dreaming now" I listen to this after yet another relapse and know that it's very true. Tom is someone that makes you want to try again

Sylvie Rousseau

4y↑4

Gary Coleman

8y↑1

I was told a number of years that "Waltzing Matilda" was a phrase used in Australia for doing heroin. It gives this song an entirley new meaning. Tom Waits is both prolific and very strange. God bless him. I'm glad he exists.