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."
Coattails of a Dead Man
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Well, he wasn't looking for fanfare or fame
But it all came around just the same
He then met a girl with desire in her eye
He gave her love, she took his name
The times they were good, the times they were bad
The hard pill he swallowed was the times that they had
She put on display for all to be seen
Some find their solace in work or the Lord
She was quite content in her dream
When his eyes they burned from the bright lime light
He found comfort in the bottle of the old Jimmy Beam
One day from the depths of his deep darkened hole
He reached out for something to feel
She offered back nothin' but lack of respect
So he let himself out with two barrels of steel
She cried in the day, she cried in the night
She cried loudest when someone was near
Whether crying for him or she cried for herself
The bigger the camera the bigger the tear
Most folks agree she was living a hell
And publicly she showed her pain
And never once was there a thought for herself
And the ever growing slices of fortune and fame
Now on the coattails of a dead man she'll ride (she'll ride)
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride, she'll ride
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride, she'll ride high
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride (she'll ride)
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride, she'll ride
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride, she'll ride high
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride (she'll ride)
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride, she'll ride
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride, she'll ride high
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride (she'll ride)
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride, she'll ride
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride, she'll ride high
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride (she'll ride)
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride, she'll ride
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride, she'll ride high
The song "Coattails of a Dead Man" by Tom Waits explores the darker side of fame and how it can destroy relationships. The song tells the story of a man who fell in love with a girl and gave her everything he had, including his name. The relationship was good sometimes and bad other times, but she always had a desire for fame and fortune. He found solace in drinking whiskey, but it wasn't enough to ease the pain caused by his girl's lack of respect towards him. In the end, he took his own life, leaving her to mourn his death, but also to ride on the "coattails of a dead man." She uses his name and fame to her advantage, in search of her own success.
The lyrics show the contrast between two people who have different priorities. The man just wants to be loved and have a simple life while the girl craves attention and fame. It's a story of how fame can corrupt and change people, leaving behind those who truly loved them. The last chorus suggests that the girl will continue to use the man's fame to propel herself forward, even though he is no longer alive, signifying how fame can outlive an individual.
Line by Line Meaning
Well, he wasn't looking for fanfare or fame
He wasn't seeking public attention or adulation
But it all came around just the same
Despite his lack of interest, fame eventually found him
He then met a girl with desire in her eye
He met a woman who was attracted to him
He gave her love, she took his name
He married her and she took his surname
The times they were good, the times they were bad
Their relationship had its ups and downs
Most times it was just in-between
Mostly, things were just mediocre
The hard pill he swallowed was the times that they had
The difficult truth he had to accept was the times they shared together, good or bad
She put on display for all to be seen
She made their relationship public, showing it off to others
Some find their solace in work or the Lord
Some people find comfort in religion or their job
She was quite content in her dream
However, she found her happiness in fame and fortune
When his eyes they burned from the bright lime light
When he was overwhelmed by the spotlight and public attention
He found comfort in the bottle of the old Jimmy Beam
He turned to alcohol to help him cope
One day from the depths of his deep darkened hole
At one point, in his lowest moment
He reached out for something to feel
He attempted to find some sort of emotional support
She offered back nothin' but lack of respect
However, she didn't give him any respect or support in return
So he let himself out with two barrels of steel
As a result, he committed suicide by gunshot
She cried in the day, she cried in the night
After his death, she was inconsolable, crying frequently
She cried loudest when someone was near
She made a show of her grief, particularly when there were others around
Whether crying for him or she cried for herself
It's unclear whether she was mourning him or just upset over her own situation
The bigger the camera the bigger the tear
Regardless, her emotions seemed to be exaggerated when in front of the media
Most folks agree she was living a hell
Most people believe she was unhappy or struggling after his death
And publicly she showed her pain
She made her grief known to the public
And never once was there a thought for herself
However, she seemed to be more concerned with her public image than her wellbeing
And the ever growing slices of fortune and fame
During this time, she continued to become more famous and wealthy
Now on the coattails of a dead man she'll ride (she'll ride)
Now that he has passed away, she will benefit from his fame and success
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride
She will continue to ride his fame and success to further her own career
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride, she'll ride
She will use his legacy for her own gain
On the coattails of a dead man she'll ride, she'll ride high
She will achieve great success by exploiting his reputation
Contributed by Colin B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@MemesAndStuff
my dad wanted me to listen to this, and i've been unable to stop since, this is just so good, it sounds like something out of a kids halloween movie, i'm basically a 90's kid in a 2010's kids body lol
@jodyfinley9122
Just imagine if you added a bit of Bjork style back up vocals to this song and how it would enhance the whole impact of this song..
@danielmiller9925
Martina Topley-Bird is singing backup vocals. Good enough for me! She sounds like a musical saw!
@DebnDeb
I thought it was about Anna Nicole Smith.
@GordonComstock602
Claypool is an amazing bassist, and Tom Waits is one of the greatest artists ever, but this is God awful
@romans52345-cy3tq
This one's for you Court
@IronheadOfScroteus
This would make a great pirate song.
@matthewellis6516
Well duh its a sea shanty
@FunkyFyreMunky
@matthew ellis Actually, it's more of a carnival song. Puts me in mind of some twisted fucker in a top hat telling me to roll right up to see the freaks.
@HannibalOrJustRex
And it's about someone who dishonestly benefits from someone else's talent and fortune! I never put it together, but maybe there's something intentional to the pirate sound.