Tom Waits (born Thomas Alan Waits, in Pomona, California, on December 7, 19… Read Full Bio ↴Tom Waits (born Thomas Alan Waits, in Pomona, California, on December 7, 1949) is a prolific American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor.

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."

First Kiss
Tom Waits Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

She drove a big ol' Lincoln
With suicide doors and a sewing machine
in the back
And a light bulb that looked like
An alligator egg was mounted up front
In the hood
And she had an Easter bonnet that
Had been signed by Tennessee Ernie Ford

And she always had sawdust in her hair
And she cut two holes in the back of her dress
and she had these scapula wings
That were covered in feathers and
Electrical tape
And when she got good and drunk she
Would sing about Elkheart Indiana
Where the wind is strong and folks
Mind their own business
And she had at least a hundred old baseballs
that she'd taken from kids and she
Collected bones of all kinds and she
Lived in a trailer under a bridge and
She made her own whiskey and gave
Cigarettes to kids and she'd been
Struck by lightning seven or eight times
And she hated the mention of rain
And she made up her own language and
She wore rubber boots and she could
Fix anything with string and her lips were
Like cherries and she was stronger than
Any man and she smelled like gasoline
And root beer fizz and she put
Mud on a bee sting I got at the
Creek and she gave me my very
First kiss
And she gave me my very first kiss
Talking 'bout my little Kathleen
She's just a fine young thing

Someday she'll wear my ring
My little Kathleen

Overall Meaning

The lyrics in Tom Waits's song "First Kiss" describe a very unique and eccentric woman named Kathleen. The first verse describes her car, which is a large Lincoln with suicide doors and a sewing machine in the back. The front of the car has a light bulb that looks like an alligator egg and there is an Easter bonnet in the car that was signed by Tennessee Ernie Ford. Kathleen always has sawdust in her hair, likely indicating that she works with wood or carpentry, and she wears a dress with two holes cut in the back, possibly for her scapula wings that are covered in feathers and electrical tape. When she gets drunk, she sings about her hometown of Elkheart, Indiana, where the wind is strong and people mind their own business. She appears to have a penchant for collecting items, such as baseballs and bones of all kinds, and she lives in a trailer under a bridge where she makes her own whiskey and gives cigarettes to kids. Kathleen seems to have had a difficult past, having been struck by lightning seven or eight times, which would undoubtedly cause some physical and emotional trauma, and she puts mud on a bee sting that the singer got at the creek. Despite her eccentricities and unusual behaviors, Kathleen is described as having "lips like cherries" and being "stronger than any man," indicating that she has a certain allure and strength that draws the singer to her.

In many ways, Kathleen represents an outsider in society. She lives in a trailer under a bridge, has her own language and makes her own whiskey. She is also a collector of odd items which many people would find strange or unsettling. Despite her outsider status, Kathleen has a certain charm and strength that intrigues the singer. The lyrics suggest that Kathleen is not well understood by most people and her unique personality and behaviors are not considered socially acceptable.

Overall, "First Kiss" is a song about an unusual woman named Kathleen and the singer's experience of receiving his first kiss from her. The song describes her eccentricities and outsider status in society, while also highlighting her strength and allure.

Line by Line Meaning

She drove a big ol' Lincoln
She had a luxurious big Lincoln car

With suicide doors and a sewing machine in the back
Her big Lincoln car had suicide doors on both sides and a sewing machine in the back

And a light bulb that looked like An alligator egg was mounted up front In the hood
There was a light bulb in the front of her car's hood which looked like an alligator egg

And she had an Easter bonnet that Had been signed by Tennessee Ernie Ford
She had an Easter hat which was signed by the famous singer Tennessee Ernie Ford

And she always had sawdust in her hair
She often had sawdust on her hair

And she cut two holes in the back of her dress and she had these scapula wings That were covered in feathers and Electrical tape
She had wings on her back made of scapula bones which were covered in feathers and electrical tape; her dress had two holes at the back for the wings to stick out

And when she got good and drunk she Would sing about Elkheart Indiana Where the wind is strong and folks Mind their own business
When she got drunk, she would sing about Elkheart, Indiana where the wind was strong and the people kept to themselves

And she had at least a hundred old baseballs that she'd taken from kids and she Collected bones of all kinds and she Lived in a trailer under a bridge and She made her own whiskey and gave Cigarettes to kids and she'd been Struck by lightning seven or eight times
She had a collection of at least a hundred old baseballs that she took from kids; she collected various kinds of bones; she lived in a trailer under a bridge; she made her own whiskey and gave cigarettes to kids; and she had been struck by lightning seven or eight times in her life

And she hated the mention of rain
She had a strong dislike for the mere mention of rain

And she made up her own language and She wore rubber boots and she could Fix anything with string and her lips were Like cherries and she was stronger than Any man and she smelled like gasoline And root beer fizz
She invented her own language; she often wore rubber boots; she was great at fixing things with string; her lips were soft and inviting; she was physically strong; she smelled like gasoline mixed with root beer fizz

And she put Mud on a bee sting I got at the Creek and she gave me my very First kiss
She applied mud onto a bee sting the singer got at the creek; and she gave the singer his first ever kiss

And she gave me my very first kiss Talking 'bout my little Kathleen She's just a fine young thing Someday she'll wear my ring My little Kathleen
She gave the artist his first kiss while talking about his beloved Kathleen; he thinks Kathleen is a beautiful and lovely girl who he will someday marry

Contributed by Brooklyn D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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