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."
Dog Door
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I want a little dog
I saw a little dog
His name is happy
Well this is me
Don't get close to me now
I could be a shopkeeper
She 'bout six foot four
Now she's a wrecking-ball
Back over here together
She brought the bad weather with her
She got me coming through the dog door
She got me coming through the dog door
Got me a pitchfork
Oh step-ladders
You oughta walk away
Well you can't, but you oughta
Climb the brick up to the stairs
She got long black hair
But don't sit there
He let me keep the... chair
She got me coming through the dog door
She got me coming through the dog door
Pitchfork (pitchfork)
Crowbar (crowbar)
Clawhammer (clawhammer)
Hot tar (hot tar)
She got me through her middle name
But she can make it rain
She's a small town jail
And she's starving in the belly of the whale
She got me coming through the dog door
She got me coming through the dog door
Pitchfork (pitchfork)
Crowbar (crowbar)
Clawhammer (clawhammer)
Hot tar (hot tar)
The lyrics to Tom Waits's song Dog Door depict a chaotic and tumultuous relationship between two people. The song begins with the singer's desire for a little dog, perhaps as a source of comfort or companionship. However, the tone quickly shifts as the singer warns the listener not to get too close to them because they are unpredictable and could be a "shopkeeper." The introduction of this character hints at the idea that there is something shady or illicit about the singer or their situation.
The lyrics then describe a woman who is incredibly tall and fierce, akin to a "wrecking-ball." She brings "bad weather" with her, further suggesting that she is a force to be reckoned with. The singer then mentions a dog door, a small entrance typically used for pets, and describes how the woman has "got me coming through the dog door." This line could be interpreted literally, with the singer crawling through a literal dog door to enter a space, or it could be a metaphor for the singer's submission or surrender to this woman, as if they are reduced to crawling or sneaking around like a dog.
The song ends with a list of tools, including a pitchfork, a crowbar, a clawhammer, and hot tar. These items could be used to build or destroy, further underscoring the chaotic and unpredictable nature of this relationship. The line "She got me through her middle name" is a bit cryptic, but could suggest that the woman has power over the singer by virtue of her name, or perhaps that the singer is completely consumed or defined by their relationship with her. The final lines, "She's a small town jail / And she's starving in the belly of the whale," offer a bleak and dismal image of this woman's life, trapped and hungry, yet also suggest that the singer may also be trapped in this situation.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh mother I want a dog
The singer expresses a desire for a pet dog to his mother.
I want a little dog
The singer specifies that he wants a small-sized dog.
I saw a little dog
The singer has seen a dog somewhere.
His name is happy
The dog that the artist saw is named Happy.
Well this is me
The artist introduces himself.
Don't get close to me now
The singer warns someone not to approach him.
I could be a shopkeeper
The singer mentions his occupation, which is a shopkeeper.
We'll call 'em
The artist abruptly stops speaking, leaving it unclear what he is referring to.
She 'bout six foot four
The artist describes a woman's height.
Now she's a wrecking-ball
The artist metaphorically compares the woman to a wrecking ball, suggesting she is destructive.
Back over here together
The singer describes that he and the woman are together in the same location.
She brought the bad weather with her
The artist metaphorically compares the woman's presence to bad weather, suggesting she brings negativity.
She got me coming through the dog door
The singer expresses that the woman has made him enter her house in an unorthodox manner, as through a dog door.
Got me a pitchfork
The singer mentions having a pitchfork.
Oh step-ladders
The singer suggests he may require a step-ladder for something.
You oughta walk away
The artist advises someone to walk away from the situation.
Well you can't, but you oughta
The artist reiterates his advice, acknowledging that it may not be possible to follow it.
Climb the brick up to the stairs
The singer instructs someone to climb up the brick structure to reach the stairs.
She got long black hair
The singer describes the woman's appearance.
But don't sit there
The artist advises someone not to sit somewhere.
He let me keep the... chair
The artist's sentence is cut off, leaving the meaning unclear.
Pitchfork (pitchfork)
The artist repeats the mention of his pitchfork.
Crowbar (crowbar)
The singer mentions having a crowbar now.
Clawhammer (clawhammer)
The artist mentions having a clawhammer now.
Hot tar (hot tar)
The singer mentions something else that he has now, which is hot tar.
She got me through her middle name
The singer expresses that the woman has a strong hold over him.
But she can make it rain
The singer metaphorically suggests that the woman has the power to cause things to happen.
She's a small town jail
The artist metaphorically compares the woman to a small town jail, suggesting she is oppressive.
And she's starving in the belly of the whale
The artist uses a metaphor to suggest that the woman is also suffering in some way.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: KATHLEEN BRENNAN, THOMAS ALAN WAITS, FREDDY MARK LINKOUS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Barstool1979
As a Tom Waits and Sparklehorse mega-fan, I noticed Tom rarely writes songs like this.
He must have listened to Mark Linkous's relationship problems to write lyrics like this? Good advice for a bad relationship.
And knowing Mark Linkous, his relationship problems are probably very big problems, so this song goes extra hard for either artist. One of the hardest that Waits and/or Sparklehorse has ever done.
The only other Tom Waits songs that goes nearly this hard: one is about partying ("Filipino Box Spring Hog") and the other is about war ("Hell Broke Luce").
My 3 favorite songs. From any artist. (But I listen to most all their songs.)
Keep listening until the wheels come off!
Tucker Giberson
This has gotta be the strangest song that hes ever released, I really dig it, seems way ahead of its time and so far off from anything else hes made
Prismo
Because he isn't the only genius on the track... search the band "Sparklehorse" who he collaborated with on this song. Mark Linkous is a whole other force to be reckoned with musically just like Waits.
Prismo
Then again I could say you don't know Tom Waits at all if this surprises you.
Barstool1979
As a Tom Waits and Sparklehorse mega-fan, I noticed Tom rarely writes songs like this.
He must have listened to Mark Linkous's relationship problems to write lyrics like this? Good advice for a bad relationship.
And knowing Mark Linkous, his relationship problems are probably very big problems, so this song goes extra hard for either artist. One of the hardest that Waits and/or Sparklehorse has ever done.
The only other Tom Waits songs that goes nearly this hard: one is about partying ("Filipino Box Spring Hog") and the other is about war ("Hell Broke Luce").
My 3 favorite songs. From any artist. (But I listen to most all their songs.)
Keep listening until the wheels come off!
Tucker Giberson
Also the song, Earth Died Screaming gives me a similar feeling but not nearly as obscure as this one
Barstool1979
@Tucker Giberson That's on the same album as "Goin Out West". Another screamer!
dmlevitt
thanks for the lyrics. I love this song. tom and sparkelhorse. this should've been the single.
eli locktree
Sofa king good 👍!
Manman3872
What is this doing in my sparklehorse playlist
LNLonelyness
it's also one of the songs in Sparklehorse's album It's A Wonderful Life