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."
Foreign Affair
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It's my belief one must attempt to be discreet,
And subsequently bear in mind your transient position
Allows you a perspective that's unique
And though you'll find your itinerary a blessing and a curse,
Your wanderlust won't let you settle down
And you'll wonder how you ever fathomed that you'd be content
Most vagabonds I knowed don't ever want to find the culprit
That remains the object of their long relentless quest
The obsession's in the chasing and not the apprehending
The pursuit, you see, and never the arrest
Without fear of contradiction, bon voyage is always hollered
In conjunction with a handkerchief from shore,
By a girl who drives a Rambler and furthermore is overly concerned
That she won't see him anymore
Planes and trains and boats and buses characteristically
Evoke a common attitude of blue
Unless you have a suitcase and a ticket and a passport
And the cargo that they're carrying is you
A foreign affair, juxtaposed with a stateside
And domestically approved romantic fancy,
Is mysteriously attractive due to circumstances,
Knowing it will only be parlayed into a memory
In Tom Waits's song Foreign Affair, the singer talks about the experience of traveling abroad and the unique perspective it offers. He advises being discreet and remembering the transient nature of one's position while on the move. The song beautifully captures the delight of travel, the curiosity that never lets one settle down, and the wonder at how they ever thought they could be content with a small-town existence.
The singer also touches on the nature of wanderlust, and how most vagabonds they know don't seek to find the culprit behind their relentless quest. Instead, the obsession lies in the pursuit and never the arrest, the chasing and not the apprehending. The song juxtaposes a foreign affair with a stateside and domestically approved romantic fancy, which is mysteriously attractive due to circumstances, knowing that it will only be parlayed into a memory.
Waits's expertly weaves his words into a beautiful narrative that captures the spirit of travel, filled with a sense of freedom, wanderlust, and an appreciation for the world's beauty. All of these elements are what make Foreign Affair a timeless masterpiece still revered by many and enjoyed for generations to come.
Line by Line Meaning
When traveling abroad in the continental style,
When journeying outside your homeland in an elegant fashion,
It's my belief one must attempt to be discreet,
I think one should aim to be unobtrusive,
And subsequently bear in mind your transient position
And then remember your temporary status
Allows you a perspective that's unique
Permitting you a distinct viewpoint
And though you'll find your itinerary a blessing and a curse,
Even though your schedule is both beneficial and problematic,
Your wanderlust won't let you settle down
Your strong desire to travel will prevent you from being content in one place
And you'll wonder how you ever fathomed that you'd be content
And you'll ponder about how you once thought you would be satisfied
To stay within the city limits of a small midwestern town
Limiting yourself to the city bounds of a small town in the Midwest
Most vagabonds I knowed don't ever want to find the culprit
I have observed that most wanderers don't desire to discover the cause
That remains the object of their long relentless quest
That is the subject of their prolonged pursuit
The obsession's in the chasing and not the apprehending
The fixation lies in the pursuit and not in the capture
The pursuit, you see, and never the arrest
The pursuit itself and not the capture, you understand
Without fear of contradiction, bon voyage is always hollered
Without a doubt, bon voyage is frequently shouted
In conjunction with a handkerchief from shore,
Together with a handkerchief waved from land,
By a girl who drives a Rambler and furthermore is overly concerned
By a girl who operates a Rambler and is excessively anxious
That she won't see him anymore
That she won't have the opportunity to see him again
Planes and trains and boats and buses characteristically
Aircraft, locomotives, ships and coaches are known to
Evoke a common attitude of blue
Elicit a usual feeling of sadness
Unless you have a suitcase and a ticket and a passport
Except when you own a baggage, a pass, and an authorization
And the cargo that they're carrying is you
And you happen to be the load being transported
A foreign affair, juxtaposed with a stateside
A romance in another locale, contrasted with a domestic one
And domestically approved romantic fancy,
And a romantic notion that is approved in the country,
Is mysteriously attractive due to circumstances
Becomes strangely alluring because of circumstances
Knowing it will only be parlayed into a memory
Being aware that it will only become a recollection
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, JALMA MUSIC
Written by: TOM WAITS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
sclogse1
When traveling abroad in the continental style
It's my belief one must attempt to be discreet
And subsequently bear in mind your transient position
Allows you a perspective that's unique
And though you'll find your itinerary a blessing and a curse
Your wanderlust won't let you settle down
And you'll wonder how you ever fathomed that you'd be content
To stay within the city limits of a small mid western town
Most vagabonds I knowed don't ever want to find the culprit
That remains the object of their long relentless quest
The obsession's in the chasing and not the apprehending
The pursuit you see and never the arrest
Without fear of contradiction bon voyage is always hollered
In conjunction with a handkerchief from shore
By a girl who drives a Rambler and furthermore is overly concerned
That she won't see him anymore
Planes and trains and boats and buses characteristically
Evoke a common attitude of blue
Unless you have a suitcase and a ticket and a passport
And the cargo that they're carrying is you
A foreign affair juxtaposed with a stateside
And domestically approved romantic fancy
Is mysteriously attractive due to circumstances
Knowing it will only be parlayed into a memory
Ray Falkenberg
One of the finest songs written . . . ever . . .
duster71
Like this one, Postcard from A Hooker in Minnesota are the height of story telling. Poems sung to music. Can't forget On The Nickel.
Michael Eger
@duster71 This entire album is pure gold and Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis is pure poetry.
Kirke182
The best sounding album of the 70s. They skipped the 24-track tape and went straight to the 2-track stereo master tape which eliminates a lot of tape hiss. So everything is clear and up close. But everything has to be recorded and performed perfectly. No mistakes because you can't fix it. You'd have to record it all over again. Also no overdubbing. Everything must be recorded in real time. The orchestra was right there playing. Everything was perfect. Top notch productoon values thanks to Bones Howe.
sclogse1
Small Change was direct to two track. Stunning.
Peter Gerstenzang
You know your stuff. Thank you professor.
Mathias Uriel
i guess I am kinda off topic but do anybody know a good site to watch new movies online ?
Aiden Matthias
@Mathias Uriel meh I watch on flixportal. just google for it=) -aiden
Mathias Uriel
@Aiden Matthias thanks, I went there and it seems like a nice service :D Appreciate it!!
Mia Amalia
He's such a great story teller!