Tom Waits (born Thomas Alan Waits, in Pomona, California, on December 7, 19… Read Full Bio ↴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

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."

All Stripped Down
Tom Waits Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Yeah, yeah, yeah, hoo, ye-ye-ye-yeah
Well, the time will come when the wind will shout
All stripped down, all stripped down
And all the sinners know what I'm talking about
All stripped down, all stripped down
When all the creatures of the worlda are gonna line up at the gate
All stripped down, all stripped down
And you better be on time and you better not be late

All stripped, all stripped, all stripped, all stripped down

Well, you know in your heart what you gotta bring
All stripped down, all stripped down
No big mink coat, no diamond ring
All stripped down, all stripped down
Well, take off your paint, take off your rouge
All stripped down, all stripped down
Let your backbone flip and let your spirit shine through
All stripped down, all stripped down
I want you all stripped, all stripped, all stripped down

Hoo, alll the men we got, well they're goin' down the drain
All stripped down, all stripped down
And when I see your sadness on a river of shame
All stripped down, all stripped down
You got to raise up both the quick and the dead
All stripped down, all stripped down
With no shoes on your feet, no hat on your head
All stripped down, all stripped down
I want you all stripped, all stripped, all stripped, all stripped
All stripped, all stripped down

Ain't nothin' in my heart but fire for you
All stripped down, all stripped down
With my rainy hammer and a heat that's true
All stripped down, all stripped down
All stripped, all stripped, all stripped, all stripped
All stripped down, oh, all strip-ped down, all stripped down

Ah, all strip-ped down, yeah
Oh, all stripped, all stripped

Overall Meaning

In Tom Waits's song All Stripped Down, the lyrics suggest that there will come a day when all the sinners will have to face judgment stripped of all their material possessions and facades. The opening lines "Well, the time will come when the wind will shout" set the tone for the rest of the song, which talks about a final reckoning. Throughout the song, Waits urges listeners to shed their superficial qualities and be true to themselves, stripped down to their very essence. He encourages them to let their inner spirit shine through, by taking off their makeup and expensive clothing.

The song is heavy with metaphorical language and powerful imagery. The line "raise up both the quick and the dead" suggests a final judgment day where all souls are brought before a higher power. The song is ultimately a call to action, urging listeners to live their lives with honesty and authenticity, so that they can face whatever fate awaits them stripped of all pretenses. The song is characterized by its raw, minimalist sound, reflecting the stripped-down, authentic lifestyle that Waits promotes in his lyrics.

Line by Line Meaning

Yeah, yeah, yeah, hoo, ye-ye-ye-yeah
Introductory sounds

Well, the time will come when the wind will shout
The future is inevitable when nature is going to signal a call to action

And all the sinners know what I'm talking about
People who indulge in sinful activities know the consequences I am referring to

When all the creatures of the worlda are gonna line up at the gate
There will be a day when all of God's creations will stand for judgment

And you better be on time and you better not be late
One should be prepared for the day of reckoning

Well, you know in your heart what you gotta bring
You know what you need to do to be ready

No big mink coat, no diamond ring
Material things cannot save you

Well, take off your paint, take off your rouge
Remove all the superficial things that hide who you truly are

Let your backbone flip and let your spirit shine through
Be true to yourself and let your soul shine

Hoo, alll the men we got, well they're goin' down the drain
All men are sinners and need to repent

And when I see your sadness on a river of shame
When one is regretful, it shows in their demeanor

You got to raise up both the quick and the dead
Everyone, whether alive or dead, needs to be raised up

With no shoes on your feet, no hat on your head
The external doesn't matter; it's what's on the inside that counts

Ain't nothin' in my heart but fire for you
There is a passionate desire to help bring people to righteousness

With my rainy hammer and a heat that's true
I will use whatever means necessary to help people see the truth

All stripped down, oh, all strip-ped down, all stripped down
Everybody needs to be ready and stripped down to their core for the end times

Ah, all strip-ped down, yeah
Reinforcement of the message

Oh, all stripped, all stripped
Final statement of the message

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Thomas Alan Waits

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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Most interesting comments from YouTube:

@madelinewise8692

3y↑15

Well yeah, yeah, yeah, ye-ye-ye-yeah
Well, there's a time gonna come when the wind will shout
All stripped down
All the sinners know what I'm talking about
All stripped down
When all the creatures of the world gonna line up at the gates
All stripped down
And you better be on time and you better not be late
All stripped down
Well, you know in your heart what you gotta bring
All stripped down
No squeeze-mink coat, no diamond ring (possibly a reference to the squeeze-mop by Minky)
All stripped down
Well, take off your paint, take off your rouge
All stripped down
Let your backbone slip and let your spirit shine through
All stripped down
I want you all stripped down
Hoo, All you meant to garden will go down the drain
All stripped down
Oh, in a sea of sadness, a river of shame
All stripped down
You got to raise up both the quick and the dead
All stripped down
With no shoes on your feet, no hat on your head
All stripped down
I want you all stripped, all stripped, all stripped, all stripped
All stripped down
There ain't nothin' in my eyes but fire for you
All stripped down
You know the beating hammer of this heart that's true
All stripped down

@tyrondardizian6711

3y↑3

Well the time will come
When the wind will shout
All stripped down
All stripped down
And all the sinners know
What I'm talking about
All stripped down
All stripped down
When all the creatures of the world
Are gonna line up at the gate
All stripped down All stripped down

And you better be on time
And you better not be late
All stripped
All stripped down

Well, you know in your heart
What you gotta bring
All stripped down
All stripped down
No big mink coat
No diamond ring
All stripped down
All stripped down
Well take off your paint
And take off your rouge
All stripped down
All stripped down
Let your backbone flip
And let your spirit shine thru
I want you all stripped
All stripped
All stripped down

All the men we got
Well they're goin' down the drain
All stripped down
All stripped down
And when I see your sadness
On a river of shame
All stripped down
All stripped down
You got to raise up
Both the quick and the dead
All stripped down
All stripped down
With no shoes on your feet
No hat on your head

I want you all stripped
All stripped
All stripped down

Ain't nothin' in my heart
But fire for you
All stripped down
All stripped down
With my rainy hammer
And a heart that's true
All stripped
All stripped down

All comments from YouTube:

@madelinewise8692

3y↑15

@drewgilbert3967

4y↑12

crazy amount of emotions in this track feel it in my soul

@freakingjames1820

3y↑19

Kind of sounds like the perfect marriage of Trout Mask Replica and Duck Stab (especially on the vocal tone), I know Waits is obviously aware and influenced by Beefheart and his band himself but I'm not so sure if he's aware of The Residents (Les Claypool is apparently on this album so that might explain a bit given that he is almost admidettly a disciple of them)

@RockandrollNegro

3y↑2

Les Claypool played bass on one track, Earth Dies Screaming. It was recorded at the same 1990 session as 'Tommy the Cat.' Les Claypool was never in the studio with Waits for any of these recordings, so please don't assign any influence on Bone Machine to Les Claypool.

@FlamingGuitar123

3y↑9

Kudos to my roommate for introducing me to this banger

@Ireland831

15w

Wow....I haven't played this in almost 25 years. Swordfishtrombones..Frank's and Rain Dogs were in regular rotation in my musical play lists. I love Bone Machine. I even played a tune at my wedding...LOL. I love Tom and his music. This was a great soul cleansing to hear Tom tonight. I am going to play Big Black Mariah, Clap Hands, Singapore, Going Out West, Get Behind the Mule and as many other songs as I can play before I pass out. Thanks Tom...you are the best, (eye...a screama...U....a screama...we...all-a-screama for a-ice-a-creama).