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."
Flash Pan Hunter
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
His rifle is the sound of the morning
Each sulfurous bullet way have it's own wit
Each cartridge comes with a warning
Beware of elaborate telescopic meats
They will find their way back to the forest
[Chorus]
To be Peg Leg's crown
As the briar is strangling
The rose back down
His back shall be my slender new branch
It will sway and bend in the breeze
As the devil does his polka
Wit ha hatchet in his hand
As a sniper in the branches of the trees
As the vulture flutters down
As the snake sheds his dove
Wilhelm's cutting off his fingers
So they'll fit into his glove
[Chorus]
In "Flash Pan Hunter," Tom Waits tells a story about a dangerous and elusive character named Wilhelm, who is hunting prey in the forest. The first stanza describes the character's weapon of choice, a rifle that creates a sulfurous explosion with each shot. The chorus references Peg Leg, who is probably another character in the story, and the struggles for power among those who inhabit this world.
In the second stanza, Waits continues to paint a picture of Wilhelm's actions in the forest. He seems to be preparing his weapon by using the branches of the trees as a kind of weapon storage. The references to the devil and the hatchet suggest that Wilhelm is not a benign presence. The final lines of the stanza are particularly chilling as they describe Wilhelm cutting off his own fingers to fit into his glove.
Taken together, the lyrics of "Flash Pan Hunter" suggest a world that is violent and dangerous, populated by cruel and determined people. It is unclear who these characters are or what they want, but the story is haunting and memorable.
Line by Line Meaning
The flash pan hunter sways with the wind
The man who hunts by quickly flashing his gunpowder may be fickle and unpredictable
His rifle is the sound of the morning
The hunter's rifle echoes and reverberates in the morning air, perhaps announcing his presence to his prey
Each sulfurous bullet way have it's own wit
Each bullet shot by the hunter may have its own personality or mind of its own
Each cartridge comes with a warning
The cartridges for the hunter's rifle may contain dangerous warnings of their deadly contents
Beware of elaborate telescopic meats
Be wary of deceitful or overly-complicated plans, as they may lead to failure
They will find their way back to the forest
In the end, nature will reclaim and absorb everything, no matter how carefully crafted or planned
For Wilhelm can't wait
Wilhelm is eagerly and impatiently anticipating
To be Peg Leg's crown
To gain the power or authority of Peg Leg, possibly by taking it from him
As the briar is strangling
As a thorny and oppressive plant is slowly killing off or overpowering something weaker, such as a rose
The rose back down
The rose is submitting or surrendering to the briar's dominance
His back shall be my slender new branch
Wilhelm plans to use the defeated Peg Leg's body or resources as his own support and means of growth
It will sway and bend in the breeze
Wilhelm's power and influence may be flexible and change with the circumstances
As the devil does his polka
The devil is seen as a playful and musical figure, perhaps indicating that evil can be beguiling and seductive
With a hatchet in his hand
The devil is also portrayed as weaponized, dangerous and violent
As a sniper in the branches of the trees
The devil or other hostile forces may lie in wait and strike unexpectedly, like a hidden sniper
As the vulture flutters down
Like a carrion bird, the powerful and ruthless may swoop in to take advantage of the weak or defeated
As the snake sheds his dove
As a predator consumes its prey, often in a brutal and violent manner
Wilhelm's cutting off his fingers
Wilhelm may be willing to harm himself in order to achieve his goals
So they'll fit into his glove
So that he can fit into or control the situation more easily
Chorus
Repeating refrain about Wilhelm's desire to obtain power and control
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, JALMA MUSIC
Written by: THOMAS ALAN WAITS, WILLIAM S BURROUGHS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@weaponxx9467
This track is so, so, so very good. I love it every time.
@copediff
Wilhelm's cutting off his fingers so they'll fit into his glove.
yes.
@warlockofwordsreturnsrb4358
Waits & Burroughs with singing saws.... little slice of genius.
@tc2520
It's like Tom Waits looked inside my brain and wrote a song about it. STAY OUT OF MY MIND TOM!
@Theo-gg6kn
if Tom will stay out of your mind then your mind will not exist anymore