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."
Filipino Box Spring Hog
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I danced with a soldier's glee
With a rum-soaked crook and a big fat laugh
I spent my last dollar on thee
I saw Bill Bones, gave him a yell
Kehoe spiked the nog
With a chain-link fence and a scrap-iron jaw
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Spider rolled in from Hollister Burn
On a one-eyed stolen mare
Donned himself with chicken fat
Sawin' on a jawbone violin there
Kathleen was sittin' down in Little Red Recovery Room
In her criminal underwear bra
I was naked to the waist with my fierce black hound
And I'm cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Dig a big pit in a dirt alley road
Fill it with madrone and bay
Stinks like hell and the neighbors complain
Don't give a hoot what they say
Gotta slap that hog
Roll em over twice
Gotta baste him with a sweeping broom
You gotta swat them flies and chain up the dogs
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Rattlesnake piccata with grapes and figs
Old brown Betty with a yellow wig
Tain't the mince meat filagree
And it ain't the turkey-neck stew
And it ain't them bruleed okra seeds
Though she made them especially for you
Worse won a prize for her bottom black pie
The beans got thrown to the dogs
Jaheseus Christ, I can always make room
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
(Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog, cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog)
The song “Filipino Box Spring Hog” by Tom Waits tells a story of a group of people who gather to cook and enjoy a hog, which is being roasted in a big pit in a dirt alley road. The lyrics describe the scene with vivid imagery, capturing the atmosphere of revelry and chaos around the event. The singer seems to be present at the gathering, singing about his experience hanging on Mary's stump and dancing with a soldier's glee. He mentions different characters such as Kehoe, Bill Bones, and Spider, who contribute to the merry chaos of the event.
The Filipino box spring hog is a recurring theme in the song. The “Filipino” part refers to the method of cooking and preparing the hog, which is done in the same way as in the Philippines. The “box spring” part refers to the fact that the hog is prepared on a bed of old box springs. This method is known for producing juicy and tender meat, as the box springs create a steaming and moist environment. The chorus repeats the line “Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog” several times, emphasizing the centrality of this activity to the overall scene.
Line by Line Meaning
I hung on to Mary's stump
I held on tightly to a tree stump named Mary
I danced with a soldier's glee
I celebrated with joy like a victorious soldier
With a rum-soaked crook and a big fat laugh
Alongside a drunk thief who had a loud, hearty laugh
I spent my last dollar on thee
I used all my money on you
I saw Bill Bones, gave him a yell
I spotted Bill Bones and shouted a greeting in his direction
Kehoe spiked the nog
Kehoe added alcohol to the eggnog
With a chain-link fence and a scrap-iron jaw
Possessing a tough, resilient character
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Preparing a dish made of a pig cooked in a hole filled with burning wood
Spider rolled in from Hollister Burn
Spider arrived from the town of Hollister Burn
On a one-eyed stolen mare
While riding on a horse with one eye that was stolen
Donned himself with chicken fat
Covered himself with chicken fat as a form of clothing
Sawin' on a jawbone violin there
Playing a homemade violin made out of a jawbone
Kathleen was sittin' down in Little Red Recovery Room
Kathleen was relaxing in a room named Little Red Recovery Room
In her criminal underwear bra
Wearing an undergarment meant for a crime
I was naked to the waist with my fierce black hound
I was shirtless and standing next to my tough black dog
Dig a big pit in a dirt alley road
Make a large hole on a street made of dirt
Fill it with madrone and bay
Put madrone and bay leaves into the hole
Stinks like hell and the neighbors complain
The smell is really bad and the neighbors are unhappy about it
Don't give a hoot what they say
I don't care at all about their complaints
Gotta slap that hog
Must hit the pig with force
Roll em over twice
Turn the pig around 360 degrees twice
Gotta baste him with a sweeping broom
Coat the pig in liquid using a broom
You gotta swat them flies and chain up the dogs
Must kill the flies and secure the dogs
Rattlesnake piccata with grapes and figs
A dish made of rattlesnake meat, grapes, and figs
Old brown Betty with a yellow wig
A type of dessert made with fruit and topped with custard and a yellow wig-like decoration
Tain't the mince meat filagree
It's not a dish of finely detailed meat
And it ain't the turkey-neck stew
And it's not a soup made of turkey necks
And it ain't them bruleed okra seeds
And it's not caramelized okra seeds
Though she made them especially for you
Even though they were made especially for you
Worse won a prize for her bottom black pie
Someone won an award for their blackberry pie with a black crust
The beans got thrown to the dogs
The beans were given to the dogs to eat
Jaheseus Christ, I can always make room
A phrase expressing that he always has room for more food
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Preparing a dish made of a pig cooked in a hole filled with burning wood
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Preparing a dish made of a pig cooked in a hole filled with burning wood
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
Preparing a dish made of a pig cooked in a hole filled with burning wood
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: THOMAS ALAN WAITS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@susanaalmeida593
All of Tom Waits songs sound like a drunk, undiagnosed schizophrenic wrote and performed them and I mean that only in the most sincere form of praise possible.
@daddyzhoam
If you had told me a year ago that my favorite song of 2021 was going to be about cooking pork on a mattress...
@oevr37
On a boxspring, not a mattress. A mattress would not lend itself very well for cooking on top of, with all the toxic fumes and stuff. Now that is not to say there would not be a big cloud of stench otherwise. You can handily burn off the hair from your fellow mammal and by which create a big cloud of stench all the same, but then at the same time render your meal more edible instead of decreasing the edibility thereof.
@Soft_Machine
Definitely one of my favorite vocal performances of his
@SenatorNyxen
It's among the most unhinged, but so so good. Not a good song to introduce people to him with though 😅
@nilssonakerlund2852
Whenever I'm smoking a pork roast in the yard, this song pops in my head.
@user-eb4ty4dc8h
인생 최애곡
@jasonsphinx8461
Got the peppers. Got the wire. Got the smoke. Got the fire.
Got the mail. Got the candy. Got the nail & got the brandy.
Might be late for the sow.
Might be too late to Lu'au.
@ClassicKrusty
Brilliant
@RockandrollNegro
If you play it at 1.25x speed, it sounds like a Primus song.