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."
Day After Tomorrow
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I miss you all so much here
I can't wait to see you all
And I'm counting the days here
I still believe that there's gold
At the end of the world
And I'll come home to Illinois
It is so hard and it's cold here
And I'm tired of taking orders
And I miss old Rockford town
Up by the Wisconsin border
What I miss, you won't believe
Shovelling snow and raking leaves
And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow
I close my eyes every night
And I dream that I can hold you
They fill us full of lies, everyone buys
'Bout what it means to be a soldier
I still don't know how I'm supposed to feel
'Bout all the blood that's been spilled
Will god on this throne
Get me back home
On the day after tomorrow
You can't deny, the other side
Don't want to die anymore then we do
What I'm trying to say is don't they pray
To the same god that we do?
And tell me how does god choose?
Whose prayers does he refuse?
Who turns the wheel?
Who throws the dice?
On the day after tomorrow
I am not fighting, for justice
I am not fighting, for freedom
I am fighting, for my life
And another day in the world here
I just do what I've been told
We're just the gravel on the road
And only the lucky ones come home
On the day after tomorrow
And the summer, it too will fade
And with it brings the winter's frost dear
And I know we too are made
Of all the things that we have lost here
I'll be 21 today
I been saving all my pay
And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow
And my plane it will touch down
On the day after tomorrow
“Day After Tomorrow” is an anti-war song by Tom Waits that tells a story about a soldier who misses his family and is counting down the days until he returns home. The lyrics express his longing to go back to Illinois and reunite with his loved ones. He believes that there's “gold at the end of the world” and he'll come home on the “day after tomorrow”. The soldier shares his disappointment with being away from home. He is tired of taking orders and being in a place that is so cold. He reminisces on the things he misses about Rockford town, such as shoveling snow and raking leaves. With every night, the soldier imagines holding his loved ones close to him.
The soldier also shares his confusion about war, and how soldiers are often fed lies about the purpose of fighting. He wonders about the god who sits on his throne, that will ultimately bring him back home on the “day after tomorrow”. The singer also questions the morality of war and how god chooses who will come back home. The line "I am not fighting for justice, I am not fighting for freedom, I am fighting for my life and another day in the world here," expresses the sad truth of what soldiers fight for - another day to be alive.
Line by Line Meaning
I got your letter today
I received your letter today
And I miss you all so much here
I miss you all very much being here
I can't wait to see you all
I am eagerly waiting to see you all
And I'm counting the days here
I am counting the days until I see you again
I still believe that there's gold
I still believe that good things exist
At the end of the world
Even in a bad situation, things might turn out to be good
And I'll come home to Illinois
I will eventually come back to Illinois
On the day after tomorrow
In a while, I will be back home
It is so hard and it's cold here
My situation is difficult and the environment is cold
And I'm tired of taking orders
I am exhausted of obeying commands
And I miss old Rockford town
I miss the town, Rockford, which is situated on the Wisconsin border
Up by the Wisconsin border
Rockford town is located next to the Wisconsin border
What I miss, you won't believe
I miss things that are difficult to explain
Shovelling snow and raking leaves
I miss performing daily routine tasks
And my plane will touch down
Soon, my plane will land
On the day after tomorrow
The next day after today
I close my eyes every night
I sleep every night with closed eyes
And I dream that I can hold you
I dream of holding you close
They fill us full of lies, everyone buys
People are fed a lot of misinformation which they believe to be true
'Bout what it means to be a soldier
About the true meaning of serving as a soldier
I still don't know how I'm supposed to feel
I am still unsure of how I should feel and react
'Bout all the blood that's been spilled
About all the blood that has been shed during war
Will god on this throne
Is God in control of our fate?
Get me back home
Will God send me back home?
On the day after tomorrow
Soon, I will be back home
You can't deny, the other side
You cannot ignore the other side
Don't want to die anymore then we do
They do not want to die just as we do not want to die
What I'm trying to say is don't they pray
What I am trying to say is that they also pray
To the same god that we do?
To the same God that we pray to?
And tell me how does god choose?
How does God choose who to save and who to let die?
Whose prayers does he refuse?
Whose prayers will go unanswered?
Who turns the wheel?
Who controls our destiny?
Who throws the dice?
Who decides what happens next?
I am not fighting, for justice
I am not fighting for justice as such
I am not fighting, for freedom
I am not fighting for freedom either
I am fighting, for my life
I am fighting to stay alive
And another day in the world here
I just want to live another day
I just do what I've been told
I follow the commands given to me
We're just the gravel on the road
We are just the expendable manpower
And only the lucky ones come home
Only a few lucky ones get to return home
And the summer, it too will fade
The summer season will end soon
And with it brings the winter's frost dear
Winter comes soon after summer's end
And I know we too are made
I know that we also are made of
Of all the things that we have lost here
All the things we have lost here make us what we are
I'll be 21 today
I turn 21 today
I been saving all my pay
I have saved all the money I earned
And my plane will touch down
My plane will land soon
On the day after tomorrow
The very next day after today
And my plane it will touch down
My plane will eventually land
On the day after tomorrow
One day soon, I will be back home.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: KATHLEEN BRENNAN, THOMAS ALAN WAITS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
David Martinez copado
I got your letter today
And I miss you all so much, here
I can't wait to see you all
And I'm counting the days, here
I still believe that there's gold
At the end of the world
And I'll come home to Illinois
On the day after tomorrow
And it's so hard and it's cold here
And I'm tired of taking orders
And I miss old Rockford town
Up by the Wisconsin border
What I'll miss, you won't believe
Shoveling snow and raking leaves
And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow
I close my eyes every night
And I dream that I can hold you
They fill us full of lies, everyone buys
About what it means to be a soldier
I still don't know how I'm supposed to feel
About all the blood that's been spilled
Will God, on His throne, get me back home
On the day after tomorrow?
You can't deny the other side
Don't want to die any more than we do
What I'm trying to say is, don't they pray
To the same God that we do?
Tell me, how does God choose?
Whose prayers does He refuse?
Who turns the wheel? Who throws the dice
On the day after tomorrow?
I'm not fighting for justice
I am not fighting for freedom
I am fighting for my life
And another day in the world here
I just do what I've been told
You're just the gravel on the road
And only the lucky ones come home
On the day after tomorrow
And the summer, it too will fade
And with it brings the winter's frost, dear
And I know we, too, are made
Of all the things that we have lost here
I'll be twenty-one today
I've been saving all my pay
And my plane will touch down (ooh, ooh)
On the day after tomorrow
And my plane, it will touch down (ooh, ooh)
On the day after tomorrow
ghost on the shore
TOMORROW
A beat soulful old jester
Who s songs cut deep
So the people can see
What it's all really like
To be
alive
And how today to forget about tomorrow
Lost faith
Another Locked gate
A twisted Fate
For tomorrows sorrows
But he hints at a way
To stay above the water line
Just Like the line in the sand
I drew in my mind
For my dream to come true for tomorrow
But I now see I can be free
Just one more tomorrow to get there
I can still fight my way back into the light
Of tomorrows second sight
He showed me the way
Forward
No more pain or horrors on the road
Just the hum of the news
And
forgotten old blues
Perfect for tomorrow
So throw the dice
To collect on the lies
That everyone buys
For a perfect tomorrow
Faryaal Banday
"Day After Tomorrow"
I got your letter today
And I miss you all so much, here
I can't wait to see you all
And I'm counting the days, dear
I still believe that there's gold
At the end of the world
And I'll come home
To Illinois
On the day after tomorrow
It is so hard
And it's cold here
And I'm tired of taking orders
And I miss old Rockford town
Up by the Wisconsin border
But I miss you won't believe
Shoveling snow and raking leaves
And my plane will touch tomorrow
On the day after tomorrow
I close my eyes
Every night
And I dream that I can hold you
They fill us full of lies
Everyone buys
About what it means to be a soldier
I still don't know how I'm supposed to feel
About all the blood that's been spilled
Look out on the street
Get me back home
On the day after tomorrow
You can't deny
The other side
Don't want to die
Any more than we do
What I'm trying to say,
Is don't they pray
To the same God that we do?
Tell me, how does God choose?
Whose prayers does he refuse?
Who turns the wheel?
And who throws the dice
On the day after tomorrow?
Mmmmmmm...
I'm not fighting
For justice
I am not fighting
For freedom
I am fighting
For my life
And another day
In the world here
I just do what I've been told
You're just the gravel on the road
And the one's that are lucky
One's come home
On the day after tomorrow
And the summer
It too will fade
And with it comes the winter's frost, dear
And I know we too are made
Of all the things that we have lost here
I'll be twenty-one today
I've been saving all my pay
And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow
And my plane it will touch down
On the day after tomorrow
lee32476
“I just do what I’ve been told, you’re just the gravel on the road” might be the best anti-war lyric ever written, thanks Phoebe Bridgers for pointing me to this masterpiece. This could have been written during Vietnam or now, it’s so poignant.
Mr. Blonde
As the most uf usm someone showed you the way to Tom Waits. Now do what we all did: Listen to him, appreciate him, learn from him. Such a legend and a huge inspiration. Have fun with his music.
Christopher Chamberlain
@Mr. Blonde In the city I live in, He's the most listened artist with heroin addicts.
Boney Tony
@Christopher Chamberlain Style and grace, even under shitty policy.
Christopher Chamberlain
@Boney Tony I love that comment. Sounds like Tom himself.
Kaity Andersen
This song hits different when you’re a soldier waiting to go see their family after a year away
Lukas
Why do you go to war?
Veritas2020
@Lukas the fact she's listening to this song is proof she's thinking that herself
Tim Vine Televisual
The first time I heard this song I was driving at night and after about 20 seconds I pulled into a garage and just stared at the radio while it played. I can’t really explain why but to this day I love this song and it’s always sort of transfixed me.
tehuti44
That was my reaction to "Downtown Train".