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."
Chained Together for Life
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
On the back of his head he had another face
Was it a woman's face or a young girl?
They said to remove it would kill him
So poor Edward was doomed
The face could laugh and cry
It was his devil twin
Things heard only in hell
But they were impossible to separate
Chained together for life
Finally the bell tolled his doom
He took a suite of rooms
And hung himself and her from the balcony irons
Some still believe he was freed from her
But I knew her too well
I say she drove him to suicide
And took poor Edward to hell
In Tom Waits's song, "Chained Together for Life," he tells a story about a man named Edward who had another face on the back of his head that, if removed, would kill him. It is unclear whether the face belonged to a woman or young girl. This eerie and grotesque feature is Edward's devil twin, and it comes with heartbreaking emotional anchors. At night, the twin whispers to Edward in a voice that can only be heard in hell, which Edward cannot ignore. Although the twin is impossible to separate from Edward, they are doomed to be "chained together for life."
The song follows these two's journey through life, with the twin becoming increasingly more harmful and dangerous to Edward. It is only a matter of time until the bell tolls Edward's doom, and he is left with no choice but to take his own life. However, the evil twin is not done with him just yet. Some people still believe that Edward is free from her, but Tom Waits presents a more sinister ending to the story. The twin, who had driven Edward to death, took him down with her to Hell.
Line by Line Meaning
Did you hear the news about Edward?
Have you heard the recent information about Edward?
On the back of his head he had another face
Edward had a second face on the back of his head.
Was it a woman's face or a young girl?
Did the face belong to a grown woman or a young girl?
They said to remove it would kill him
It was said that attempting to remove the face would result in Edward's death.
So poor Edward was doomed
As a result, Edward was fated for a tragic end.
The face could laugh and cry
The second face on Edward's head was capable of expressing emotions through laughter and tears.
It was his devil twin
The face was viewed as a representation of a demonic doppelganger.
And at night she spoke to him
During the night, the face would share words with Edward.
Things heard only in hell
The things spoken by the face could only exist in the underworld.
But they were impossible to separate
Despite this, it was impossible to detach or remove the second face.
Chained together for life
The two faces were bound as one, existing together for all of Edward's life.
Finally the bell tolled his doom
Afterward, Edward was met with a tragic destiny.
He took a suite of rooms
He retreated to a rented suite of rooms.
And hung himself and her from the balcony irons
From the balcony irons, Edward proceeded to hang himself alongside the mysterious face.
Some still believe he was freed from her
In the end, certain people assumed that Edward and the face were separated from one another.
But I knew her too well
However, the one narrating the story knew better than to believe that.
I say she drove him to suicide
The storyteller believes that the face is responsible for sending Edward to his demise.
And took poor Edward to hell
The act resulted in Edward being brought into damnation.
Contributed by Mason B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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