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."
Ain't Going Down to the Well
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ain't goin' down
Momma to the well
Momma to the well
Momma to the well
Momma to the well
No more
Ain't goin' down
Momma to the well
Momma to the well
Momma to the well
Momma to the well
No more
Ain't goin' down.
I'm a true believer
I'm a true believer, believer
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Momma to the well
Momma to the well
Momma to the well
Momma to the well
No more
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
If I ever get able,
If I ever get able, able
To pay this debt I owe
Ain't goin' down
I ain't goin' down
Momma to the well
Momma to the well
Momma to the well
No more
Ain't goin' down
Momma to the well
Momma to the well
Momma to the well
Momma to the well
Momma to the well
No more
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
Ain't goin' down
The lyrics to Tom Waits's song "Ain't Going Down to the Well" are repetitive in nature, with the same phrases being repeated throughout the song. The repetitive nature of the lyrics emphasizes the singer's determination to avoid going to the well. The well in this context can be interpreted metaphorically as a symbol of hardship or emotional pain.
The first verse repeats the phrase "Momma to the well" several times. This could be interpreted as the singer's mother going through hardship and trying to cope with it alone. The singer, however, is not willing to endure this hardship and "ain't going down" to the well.
The second verse introduces a new lyric that says, "I'm a true believer." This line could be interpreted as the singer's faith in themselves and their ability to avoid the hardship that the well represents. Through their determination and faith, the singer will not be going down to the well.
The third and final verse adds the phrase "If I ever get able, to pay this debt I owe." This line could be interpreted as the singer wanting to be able to pay back a debt or make amends, and through this, avoid the hardship or pain represented by the well. The repetition of the phrase "Momma to the well" throughout the song emphasizes the importance of avoiding hardship or pain, and the singer's determination to do so.
Line by Line Meaning
Ain't goin' down
I refuse to descend
Ain't goin' down
I will not go down
Momma to the well
I will not follow the path of those before me
Momma to the well
I will not be a victim of tradition
Momma to the well
I will not repeat the mistakes of the past
Momma to the well
I will not drink from the same well as everyone else
No more
I have reached my limit
Ain't goin' down
I will not surrender
Ain't goin' down
I will not be defeated
Momma to the well
I will not succumb to peer pressure
Momma to the well
I will not lose my individuality
Momma to the well
I will not be part of the crowd
Momma to the well
I will not compromise my values
No more
I will not tolerate it any longer
Ain't goin' down
I will not relinquish my independence
Ain't goin' down
I will not be held down
I'm a true believer
I have faith in myself
I'm a true believer, believer
I am completely committed to my beliefs
If I ever get able,
If I ever have the means,
If I ever get able, able
If I ever have the ability,
To pay this debt I owe
To make amends for my mistakes
Ain't goin' down
I will not be defeated
I ain't goin' down
I am not going to give up
Momma to the well
I will not be influenced by the past
Momma to the well
I will not be controlled by tradition
Momma to the well
I will not let history repeat itself
No more
I am making a stand
Ain't goin' down
I am not giving up my beliefs
Ain't goin' down
I will rise above adversity
Writer(s): Huddie Ledbetter, Alan Lomax, John A. Lomax
Contributed by Carson P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
chris coan
Great album and a great song
Big Orange Bellywash
This is the voice of waking up 10:30 AM hungover needing to pee, needing to drink but having to answer a phone call haha
Wind Chimes
Didn’t know Waits pretending to have asthma would sound so good
Evan Potyraj
How in god's name does this only have one other comment?? Makes my heart hurt