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."
A Sight for Sore Eyes
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Workin' hard hardly workin', hey man, you know me
Water under the bridge, did you see my new car?
Well, it's bought and it's payed for, parked outside of the bar
And hey barkeep, what's keepin' you, keep pourin' drinks
For all these palookas, hey, you know what I thinks
That we toast to the old days and DiMaggio too
Oh, you know, the old gang ain't around, everyone has left town
'Cept for Thumm and Giardina, said they just might be down
Oh, half drunk all the time and I'm all drunk the rest
Yeah, Monk's still the champion, oh but I am the best
And hey barkeep, what's keepin' you, keep pourin' drinks
For all these palookas, hey you know what I thinks
That we toast to the old days and DiMaggio too
And old Drysdale and Mantle, Whitey Ford and to you
Guess you heard about Nash, he was killed in a crash
Oh, that must have been two or three years ago now
Yeah, he spun out and he rolled, he hit a telephone pole
And he died with the radio on
No, she's married, with a kid, finally split up with Sid
He's up North for a nickel's worth for armed robbery
And I'll play you some pinball, no you ain't got a chance
Then go on over and ask her to dance
And hey barkeep, what's keepin' you, keep pourin' drinks
For all these palookas, hey you know what I thinks
That we toast to the old days and DiMaggio too
And Drysdale and Mantle, Whitey Ford and to you
In "A Sight for Sore Eyes," Tom Waits sings about the passage of time and the fleeting nature of life. The song is about two friends who have not seen each other in a long time, catching up over drinks in a bar. They reminisce about old times, old friends, and old heroes. The lyrics are full of details that add texture and depth to the story. For example, the singer mentions his new car, which he has bought and paid for, parked outside of the bar. This detail tells us he has a little money, but also suggests that he is stuck in his ways and maybe a bit materialistic. The singer also mentions several baseball players from the 1950s and 60s, including DiMaggio, Drysdale, Mantle, and Whitey Ford. These players were heroes to the singer and his friend when they were young, but now they are old and retired, and some have even passed away. The singer also sings about their old friend Nash, who died in a car crash a few years ago, and a woman who is now married with a kid, but with whom he once had a relationship.
While the story of "A Sight for Sore Eyes" is not particularly unique, it is the way Waits tells it that makes the song so powerful. The lyrics are full of metaphor and allusion, giving the story a sense of timelessness and universality. The song is sad, but not overly sentimental, and the singer seems resigned to his lot in life. He knows he cannot change the past, and he knows he cannot change his friends, but he can still enjoy a drink and remember the good times they had together.
Line by Line Meaning
A sight for sore eyes, it's a long time no see
I am glad to see you after such a long time.
Workin' hard hardly workin', hey man, you know me
I pretend to work hard, but actually was not doing anything.
Water under the bridge, did you see my new car?
The past does not matter anymore, do you like my new car?
Well, it's bought and it's payed for, parked outside of the bar
I fully paid for my new car and parked it outside the bar.
And hey barkeep, what's keepin' you, keep pourin' drinks
Hey bartender, keep serving drinks to us.
For all these palookas, hey, you know what I thinks
I suspect these men are not very smart.
That we toast to the old days and DiMaggio too
Let's drink to the good old days and to DiMaggio.
And old Drysdale and Mantle, Whitey Ford and to you
Let's drink to the past baseball heroes and to you as well.
Oh, you know, the old gang ain't around, everyone has left town
Our old friends have gone, and nobody is around anymore.
'Cept for Thumm and Giardina, said they just might be down
Except for Thumm and Giardina, who might still be around.
Oh, half drunk all the time and I'm all drunk the rest
I am drunk most of the time, and only half-sober sometimes.
Yeah, Monk's still the champion, oh but I am the best
My friend Monk may be successful, but I think I am the best.
Guess you heard about Nash, he was killed in a crash
Do you know that Nash died in a car accident?
Oh, that must have been two or three years ago now
It happened a couple of years ago, I think.
Yeah, he spun out and he rolled, he hit a telephone pole
Nash lost control of his car, crashed into a pole and died.
And he died with the radio on
To make matters worse, the radio was still on when he died.
No, she's married, with a kid, finally split up with Sid
The woman you are asking about is married, has a child and is no longer with Sid.
He's up North for a nickel's worth for armed robbery
Sid is most likely in jail for armed robbery.
And I'll play you some pinball, no you ain't got a chance
Let's play some pinball, but you won't beat me.
Then go on over and ask her to dance
After that, go over and ask her to dance.
And hey barkeep, what's keepin' you, keep pourin' drinks
Hey bartender, keep serving us drinks.
For all these palookas, hey you know what I thinks
I think these guys around us are not very clever.
That we toast to the old days and DiMaggio too
Let's drink to the good old days and to DiMaggio as well.
And Drysdale and Mantle, Whitey Ford and to you
And to the baseball legends Drysdale, Mantle and Ford, and to you too.
Lyrics © JALMA MUSIC
Written by: TOM WAITS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@localman7017
God Tom Waits just has a never ending collection of gems you've never heard
@tedcole9936
I’d agree, except I have heard them before. I promise they’ll be just as good 50 years from now. Poetry for the ages.
@johancoetzer2165
"He died with the radio on..."
One of the most haunting lines, ever.
@zetetick395
It also reflects forward on what happens later to the couple in "Burma Shave"
@briangay6262
He makes you fall in to a picture
@alanmangan424
What a storyteller Love this song
@vickibrumby1805
So true. Love this man and this a favorite
@christiankonig6499
Masterpiece
@PhilPankiewicz
All these palookas...my god this hits hard
@stuartxr
Wonderful song. My favorite drunken song.