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."
Big Joe And Phantom 309
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A few years back tryin' to make me a buck
Like everybody else, well you know
Times get hard and well I got down on my luck
And I got tired of just roamin' and bummin'
Around, so I started thumbin' my way
Back to my old hometown
You know I made quite a few miles
Figured I'd be home in a week if my
Luck held out this way
But you know it was the third night
I got stranded, it was out at a cold lonely
Crossroads, and as the rain came
Pouring down, I was hungry, tired
Freezin', caught myself a chill, but
It was just about that time that
The lights of an old semi topped the hill
You should of seen me smile when I
Heard them air brakes come on, and
I climbed up in that cab where I
Knew it'd be warm at the wheel
Well at the wheel sat a big man
I'd have to say he must of weighed 210
The way he stuck out a big hand and
Said with a grin "Big Joe's the name
And this here rig's called Phantom 309"
Well I asked him why he called his
Rig such a name, but he just turned to me
And said "Why son don't you know this here
Rig'll be puttin' 'em all to shame, why
There ain't a driver on this
Or any other line for that matter
That's seen nothin' but the taillights of Big Joe
And Phantom 309"
So we rode and talked the better part of the night
And I told my stories and Joe told his and
I smoked up all his Viceroys as we rolled along
He pushed her ahead with 10 forward gears
Man that dashboard was lit like the old
Madam La Rue pinball, a serious semi truck
Until almost mysteriously, well it was the
Lights of a truck stop that rolled into sight
Joe turned to me and said "I'm sorry son
But I'm afraid this is just as far as you go
You see I kinda gotta be makin' a turn
Just up the road a piece," but I'll be
Damned if he didn't throw me a dime as he
Threw her in low and said "Go on in there
Son, and get yourself a hot cup of coffee
On Big Joe"
And when Joe and his rig pulled off into
The night, man in nothing flat they was
Clean outta sight
So I walked into the old stop and
Ordered me up a cup of mud sayin'
"Big Joe's settin' this dude up" but
It got so deathly quiet in that
Place, you could of heard a pin drop
As the waiter's face turned kinda
Pale, I said "What's the matter did
I say somethin' wrong?" I kinda
Said with 8a half way grin. He said
"No son, you see It'll happen every
Now and then. You see every driver in
Here knows Big Joe, but let me
Tell you what happened just ten years
Ago, yea it was ten years ago
Out there at that cold lonely crossroads
Where you flagged Joe down, and
There was a whole bus load of kids
And they were just comin' from school
And they were right in the middle when
Joe topped the hill, and could
Have been slaughtered except
Joe turned his wheels, and
He jackknifed, and went
Into a skid, and folks around here
Say he gave his life to save that bunch
Of kids, and out there at that cold
Lonely crossroads, well they say it
Was the end of the line for
Big Joe and Phantom 309, but it's
Funny you know, cause every now and then
Yea every now and then, when the
Moon's holdin' water, they say old Joe
Will stop and give you a ride, and
Just like you, some hitchhiker will be
Comin' by"
"So here son," he said to me, "get
Yourself another cup of coffee, it's on the
House, you see I want you to hang on
To that dime, yea you hang on to that
Dime as a kind of souvenir, a
Souvenir of Big Joe and Phantom 309"
In "Big Joe and Phantom 309", Tom Waits tells the story of a hitchhiker who, while stranded on the side of the road, is picked up by a big man named Big Joe in his semi-truck named Phantom 309. As they ride together throughout the night, Big Joe tells the hitchhiker stories and bought him coffee before leaving him at a truck stop, and once the hitchhiker enters the diner, he finds out about Big Joe's legendary reputation, where he may have given his life to save a busload of children from a terrible accident. The song is a tale of human decency and sacrifice, and how small acts of generosity can leave a lasting impression on those they touch.
The track was recorded as a nod to the country/rockabilly music of the '50s, relying on its signature rhythms and rhyming lyrics to tell the story of a hitchhiker who gets a ride from a truck driver. Despite its vintage structure, it's still a classic to many fans of Tom Waits, and one of the most popular country songs in his catalog.
Line by Line Meaning
Well you see I happened to be back on the east coast
The singer is recounting the story of when they were on the east coast
A few years back tryin' to make me a buck
At that time the singer was trying to make money
Like everybody else, well you know
This is a common experience for people
Times get hard and well I got down on my luck
The artist's financial situation became difficult
And I got tired of just roamin' and bummin' Around, so I started thumbin' my way
The artist didn't want to keep moving around aimlessly, so they started hitchhiking
Back to my old hometown
The singer was trying to return to their hometown
You know I made quite a few miles In the first couple of days, and I Figured I'd be home in a week if my Luck held out this way
The singer made good progress in the beginning of their journey and thought they would make it home in a week if their luck remained good
But you know it was the third night I got stranded, it was out at a cold lonely Crossroads, and as the rain came Pouring down, I was hungry, tired Freezin', caught myself a chill, but It was just about that time that The lights of an old semi topped the hill
On the third night, the artist got stranded at a cold, lonely crossroads in the rain. They were cold, hungry, and tired. But then, they saw the lights of an old semi truck coming over the hill
You should of seen me smile when I Heard them air brakes come on, and I climbed up in that cab where I Knew it'd be warm at the wheel
The artist was excited when they saw the truck's air brakes and climbed into the warm cab where the driver sat
Well at the wheel sat a big man I'd have to say he must of weighed 210 The way he stuck out a big hand and Said with a grin "Big Joe's the name And this here rig's called Phantom 309"
The driver of the truck was a big man named Big Joe who introduced himself and the truck as Phantom 309
Well I asked him why he called his Rig such a name, but he just turned to me And said "Why son don't you know this here Rig'll be puttin' 'em all to shame, why There ain't a driver on this Or any other line for that matter That's seen nothin' but the taillights of Big Joe And Phantom 309"
When the singer asked why the truck was named Phantom 309, Big Joe explained that it was because no other driver had ever caught up to him, as he was the fastest on the road
So we rode and talked the better part of the night And I told my stories and Joe told his and I smoked up all his Viceroys as we rolled along
The artist and Big Joe spent most of the night riding and talking, sharing stories, and smoking cigarettes
He pushed her ahead with 10 forward gears Man that dashboard was lit like the old Madam La Rue pinball, a serious semi truck
Big Joe was skilled at driving the semi truck with its 10 gears, and the dashboard was illuminated like an old pinball machine
Until almost mysteriously, well it was the Lights of a truck stop that rolled into sight Joe turned to me and said "I'm sorry son But I'm afraid this is just as far as you go You see I kinda gotta be makin' a turn Just up the road a piece," but I'll be Damned if he didn't throw me a dime as he Threw her in low and said "Go on in there Son, and get yourself a hot cup of coffee On Big Joe"
Almost magically, the singer saw the lights of a truck stop and Big Joe explained that he needed to take a turn up the road, so the singer couldn't travel with him anymore. But he gave the singer a dime and told him to get a cup of coffee on him
And when Joe and his rig pulled off into The night, man in nothing flat they was Clean outta sight
After Big Joe left, he and the truck quickly disappeared into the night
So I walked into the old stop and Ordered me up a cup of mud sayin' "Big Joe's settin' this dude up" but It got so deathly quiet in that Place, you could of heard a pin drop As the waiter's face turned kinda Pale, I said "What's the matter did I say somethin' wrong?" I kinda Said with 8a half way grin.
The artist went into the truck stop and ordered some coffee while joking that Big Joe set him up. However, everyone became quiet and the waiter looked pale, making the artist wonder if he said something inappropriate.
He said "No son, you see It'll happen every Now and then. You see every driver in Here knows Big Joe, but let me Tell you what happened just ten years Ago, yea it was ten years ago Out there at that cold lonely crossroads Where you flagged Joe down, and There was a whole bus load of kids And they were just comin' from school And they were right in the middle when Joe topped the hill, and could Have been slaughtered except Joe turned his wheels, and He jackknifed, and went Into a skid, and folks around here Say he gave his life to save that bunch Of kids, and out there at that cold Lonely crossroads, well they say it Was the end of the line for Big Joe and Phantom 309, but it's Funny you know, cause every now and then Yea every now and then, when the Moon's holdin' water, they say old Joe Will stop and give you a ride, and Just like you, some hitchhiker will be Comin' by"
The waiter explained that what happened to the artist, getting a ride from Big Joe, happened every now and then, as Big Joe had died 10 years ago when he jackknifed his truck to avoid hitting a school bus. People say that every now and then, Big Joe's ghost will appear and give a ride to a random hitchhiker, just like he did with the artist
"So here son," he said to me, "get Yourself another cup of coffee, it's on the House, you see I want you to hang on To that dime, yea you hang on to that Dime as a kind of souvenir, a Souvenir of Big Joe and Phantom 309"
The waiter told the singer to get another cup of coffee, which he would give for free, and told the singer to keep the dime that Big Joe gave to him as a memento of his encounter with Big Joe and Phantom 309
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: TOMMY (+1998) FAILE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@alfredrivera5162
This song ALL heart and PURE soul about a trucker who lays down his life for a busload of school kids...and becomes a gaurdian angel for lonely hitchhikers in need of a lift at night. You can't listen to this song without getting a lump in your throat and your eyes tearing up. Especially if you're a driver. Thanks, Tom.
@Sulashua
This whole album is a category of its own. And the only one in its category.
@poopinfruz9771
Not his songs
@michaelcole8999
He's like Beck or Captain Beefheart in that way, in a box for people so far out of the box.
@JohnnyNowhere
You nailed it to the cross.
@JohnnyNowhere
@Poopin Fruz No shit, bumblefuck. But Red simply sang it. Tom made it come to life.
@cheekybrewskitovarich
@@poopinfruz9771boooooooooooo
@michaelcole8999
I wasn’t played Tom Waits when I was raised, but I hear it now when I want to grow. Anything that can make you feel like a child when you feel too jaded and old, well that’s just like sunshine to the flower.
Thank you Tom.
@matthewbrown2269
This one reminds me of my Dad cause he's a trucker and he'd help a stranger if they needed it
@tomski787
I don't know what it is about this particular Tom Waits song. Out of all the music I've heard, this is the only one that tears me up from the first chord. I'm a big boy, all grown-up. But I'm helpless to stop those tears. I've seen my fair share, and more, of pain and suffering and death, and so should be fairly immune to such sentimentality. Many songs are supposedly more tear-jerking, ("Honey" springs immediately to mind), but NOT ONE moves me like this. Maybe because I used to hitch-hike a lot? Maybe because I've seen, and been involved in, several car accidents? Maybe because a trucker friend was drowned when the ferry he was travelling on sunk? I don't know. I've always appreciated, and liked a lot, Tom Waits' compositions and performances, and yet this one song captures me completely, emotionally. Perhaps I'm turning into a softy. More likely, I'm just getting too old for this life. Answers on a postcard, please...