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."
Adios Lounge
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Just a nickel-and-dimer
At the bar down the Adios Lounge
And for whiskey and smokes
Recites poems and jokes
But he's not just your average clown
And he's entertaining nightly
Down the Adios Lounge
But he does lay it down
Now I lie here alone in my bed
With these words running wild in my head
He said...
Don't let nobody go there for you
Don't be satisfied with a second-hand life
Don't let nobody stifle or bore you
Handle your troubles or take on your strife
Don't let nobody live your life for you
Not your friends, not your kids, no not even your wife
If you want to know where the rainbow ends
It's you who´ve got to go there and find it my friend
So I'm going back down
To the Adios Lounge
Where there's no one to wait up for me
I hope he's still around
Oh, that crazy old scrounge
To tell us how things ought to be
He said...
Don't let nobody go there for you
Don't be satisfied with a second-hand life
Don't let nobody stifle or bore you
Handle your troubles or take on your strife
Don't let nobody live your life for you
Not your friends, not your kids, no not even your wife
If you want to know where the rainbow ends
It's you who've got to go there and find it my friend
So I buy him more drinks
Just to hear what he thinks
Oh, it's worth it to see him almost smile
It's worth feeling free for a while
At the bar down the Adios Lounge
At the bar down the Adios Lounge
At the bar down the Adios Lounge
The song Adios Lounge by Tom Waits is a tribute to an oldtimer nickel-and-dimer who spends his time at the Adios Lounge bar. The man recites poems and jokes with a touch of wisdom that the singer finds captivating. The old man advises the singer to take control of his life and not let anyone else live it for him. He emphasizes the importance of self-discovery and not settling for a second-hand life.
The singer lies in bed with his thoughts racing after hearing the old man's words. He decides to go back to the Adios Lounge, hoping the old man is still there. The chorus repeats the old man's advice not to let anyone else live your life for you, including friends, family, and spouses. The singer buys the old man more drinks just to hear his thoughts and to revel in the feeling of being free for a little while.
The lyrics are a reflection on the significance of insightful conversations and the importance of being true to oneself. The Adios Lounge represents a place of refuge for the singer, where he can hear the old man's words of wisdom and escape from the pressures of everyday life.
Line by Line Meaning
I know an oldtimer
I am acquainted with an elderly man
Just a nickel-and-dimer
A man without much money
At the bar down the Adios Lounge
A bar named the Adios Lounge where this man frequents
And for whiskey and smokes
He drinks and smokes when he's there
Recites poems and jokes
He entertains the patrons with poems and jokes
But he's not just your average clown
He is more than just an ordinary performer
And he's entertaining nightly
He performs every night
Down the Adios Lounge
At the Adios Lounge
And he puts it politely
He speaks respectfully
But he does lay it down
He tells it like it is
Now I lie here alone in my bed
The singer is alone in their bed
With these words running wild in my head
The elder man's words are still on the artist's mind
He said...
The old man spoke these wise words
Don't let nobody go there for you
Don't rely on anyone to do things for you
Don't be satisfied with a second-hand life
Don't settle for a life others have lived for you
Don't let nobody stifle or bore you
Don't let anyone limit or bore you
Handle your troubles or take on your strife
Face your own problems and challenges
Don't let nobody live your life for you
Don't let anyone else dictate how you should live your life
Not your friends, not your kids, no not even your wife
Not even the people closest to you should control your life
If you want to know where the rainbow ends
If you want to find the meaning of life
It's you who've got to go there and find it my friend
You have to find the meaning of life on your own
So I'm going back down
The artist goes back to the Adios Lounge
To the Adios Lounge
To the bar
Where there's no one to wait up for me
There's no one waiting for the artist at home
I hope he's still around
I hope the wise old man is still there
Oh, that crazy old scrounge
The singer affectionately refers to the old man as a 'crazy old scrounge'
To tell us how things ought to be
The old man shares his wisdom on how things should be
So I buy him more drinks
The artist buys the old man more drinks
Just to hear what he thinks
To hear the wise old man's thoughts
Oh, it's worth it to see him almost smile
It's rewarding to see the old man almost smile
It's worth feeling free for a while
It feels liberating to be at the bar
At the bar down the Adios Lounge
At the Adios Lounge
At the bar down the Adios Lounge
At the Adios Lounge
At the bar down the Adios Lounge
At the Adios Lounge
Contributed by Elizabeth S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.