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."
Downtown Train
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Has punched a hole in the nighttime, yes
I climb through the window and down the street
I'm shining like a new dime
The downtown trains are full
With all those Brooklyn girls
They try so hard to break out of their little worlds
They have nothing that will ever capture your heart
They're just thorns without the rose
Be careful of them in the dark
Oh if I was the one
You chose to be your only one
Oh baby can't you hear me now, can't you hear me now?
Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
Every night it's just the same
You leave me lonely, now
I know your window and I know it's late
I know your stairs and your doorway
I walk down your street and past your gate
I stand by the light at the four-way
You watch them as the fall
Oh baby, they all have heart attacks
They stay at the carnival
But they'll never win you back
Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
Every night it's just the same
Oh, baby
Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
All of my dreams just fall like rain
Oh, baby, on a downtown train
Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
Every night, every night it's just the same
Oh, baby
Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
All of my dreams just fall like rain
Well, on a downtown train
Well, on a downtown train
Well, on a downtown train
Well, on a downtown train
On a downtown train
The lyrics of Tom Waits's song Downtown Train speak about the singer's yearning to be with someone he loves who is seemingly out of his reach. The first stanza sets the scene with a yellow moon shining bright and the singer walking the streets on the lookout for the elusive girl he loves. The next stanza paints a picture of Brooklyn girls trying to escape their mundane lives while the singer pines for the one true love of his life. He tries to warn her about the people she meets, saying that they’re all thorns without the rose. The chorus reflects the singer's hope of meeting her on a "downtown train," feeling all alone despite his knowledge of the places she's likely to be.
The third stanza shows the singer’s knowledge of her movements and his passion for her. He knows her street, her gate, and he stands by the light where their paths could cross. He also shows his protective side, warning her about the danger of the people she meets. However, the song concludes on a wry note with the lines, "All of my dreams just fall like rain / On a downtown train." The singer is left alone again, his dreams of being with his love unfulfilled.
Line by Line Meaning
Outside another yellow moon
The artist describes the presence of a yellow moon
Has punched a hole in the nighttime, yes
The yellow moon has created a hole in the sky at night
I climb through the window and down the street
The artist is sneaking out of a window and walking down the street
I'm shining like a new dime
The artist feels new and vibrant
The downtown trains are full
The trains in the city are crowded
With all those Brooklyn girls
The trains are full of girls from Brooklyn
They try so hard to break out of their little worlds
The girls are attempting to escape their current situations
Well, you wave your hand and they scatter like crows
The artist observes how these girls react to someone they admire
They have nothing that will ever capture your heart
The artist suggests that the girls lack the qualities required to win the heart of his love
They're just thorns without the rose
The artist suggests that, while the girls may be interesting, they lack the attraction of his love interest
Be careful of them in the dark
The artist warns that these girls may be dangerous or deceptive in the dark
Oh if I was the one
The artist wonders what would happen if he were the one his love interest chose
You chose to be your only one
The artist wonders what it would be like if his love interest chose him over the others
Oh baby can't you hear me now, can't you hear me now?
The artist expresses his desire for his love interest to hear him and his love for her
Will I see you tonight
The artist questions whether he will see his love interest tonight
On a downtown train?
The artist references the possibility of seeing his love interest on a train in the city
Every night it's just the same
The artist suggests that every night is a repetition of the same routine
You leave me lonely, now
The artist expresses the loneliness he feels without his love interest
I know your window and I know it's late
The artist knows where his love interest lives and is aware of the time
I know your stairs and your doorway
The artist is familiar with his love interest's home, including the stairs and doorway
I walk down your street and past your gate
The artist walks down his love interest's street and passes by the gate to her home
I stand by the light at the four-way
The artist stands by a streetlight at an intersection
You watch them as the fall
The artist suggests that his love interest watches other men fail to win her over
Oh baby, they all have heart attacks
The artist suggests that these other men become overwhelmed with emotion upon seeing his love interest
They stay at the carnival
The artist suggests that these other men remain captivated by his love interest and never leave
But they'll never win you back
The artist suggests that his love interest will never return to these men once she has moved on
All of my dreams just fall like rain
The artist's dreams about his love interest are unfulfilled and futile
Well, on a downtown train
The artist repeats the title of the song in its final verses, perhaps referencing a final, desperate attempt to see his love interest on a train in the city
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, JALMA MUSIC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Tom Waits
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@hawksnacks-2419
Outside another yellow moon
Punched a hole in the nighttime, yes
I climb through the window and down the street
I'm shining like a new dime
The downtown trains are full
With all those Brooklyn girls
They try so hard to break out of their little worlds
You wave your hand and they scatter like crows
They have nothing that will ever capture your heart
They're just thorns without the rose
Be careful of them in the dark
Oh if I was the one
You chose to be your only one
Oh baby can't you hear me now
Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
Every night its just the same
You leave me lonely, now
I know your window and I know it's late
I know your stairs and your doorway
I walk down your street and past your gate
I stand by the light at the four way
You watch them as they fall
They all have heart attacks
They stay at the carnival
But they'll never win you back
Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train
Where every night is just the same
Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train
All of my dreams just fall like rain
All on a downtown train
@MrSirDrew
Lyrics
Outside another yellow moon
Has punched a hole in the nighttime, yes
I climb through the window and down the street
I'm shining like a new dime
The downtown trains are full
With all those Brooklyn girls
They try so hard to break out of their little worlds
Well, you wave your hand and they scatter like crows
They have nothing that will ever capture your heart
They're just thorns without the rose
Be careful of them in the dark
Oh if I was the one
You chose to be your only one
Oh baby can't you hear me now, can't you hear me now?
Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
Every night it's just the same
You leave me lonely, now
I know your window and I know it's late
I know your stairs and your doorway
I walk down your street and past your gate
I stand by the light at the four-way
You watch them as the fall
Oh baby, they all have heart attacks
They stay at the carnival
But they'll never win you back
Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
Every night it's just the same
Oh, baby
Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
All of my dreams just fall like rain
Oh, baby, on a downtown train
Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
Every night, every night it's just the same
Oh, baby
Will I see you tonight
On a downtown train?
All of my dreams just fall like rain
Well, on a downtown train
Well, on a downtown train
Well, on a downtown train
Well, on a downtown train
On a downtown train
@jackcarraway4707
You wave your hand and they scatter like crows
They have nothing that will ever capture your heart
They're just thorns without the rose
Be careful of them in the dark
Oh if I was the one
You chose to be your only one
Oh baby can't you hear me now
People say Waits is "too weird", but the man has some of the most heartbreaking songs about weirdos and misfits that society just tosses to the side because they aren't conventional.
@astral2151
I wouldn't mind Tom Waits singing outside my window every time there's a full moon
@dreampastures
🖤🖤🖤
@mikjanbubble
It’s a fool moon
@CubanSpartan
I'd set out a six pack for him
@Dana-be1bm
Yesss!
@C.E.K.
If he could still sing
@vleiratfilms2020
My son introduced me to him 23 years ago with “ The piano has been drinking” .. I’ve loved his music and his great humour ever since .. I’m 79 this year. ❤️Tom Waits
@danielosullivan3110
I like your son👍
@dzarna
Well that's nice. My father intruduced me to the music of Tom Waits around 27 years ago when we watched the film Smoke together.
@lisamcmullan6484
Me too!