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."

Frank's Song
Tom Waits Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

That woman will take you, that woman will break you
That woman will make you something you've never seen
That woman's got claws, that woman's got laws
Now look out man, you're gonna loose your mind

I had a friend, his name was Frank
He walked on the water and lord he sank
We used to go stag, now he's got a hag

It looks like Frank's got a new bag

That woman will take you, that woman will break you
That woman will make you something you've never seen
That woman's got claws, that woman's got laws
Now look out Frank, you're gonna loose your mind

What happened to Frank, can happen to you
Just find you a woman and watch what she'll do

That woman will take you, that woman's gonna break you
Look out man you're gonna loose, you're gonna loose your mind

Overall Meaning

Tom Waits's song Frank's Song tells the story of a man named Frank who used to be free and independent but now has given up his freedom due to a woman. The first verse is a warning to others that women are powerful and can make you do things you've never done before. They can be both loving and dangerous. The second verse tells the story of Frank and how he used to be a carefree person who walked on water (a metaphor for being fearless) but now he has a woman who has "bagged" him (settled down with him) and taken away his freedom.

The chorus serves as a warning to others, that what happened to Frank can happen to anyone. The phrase "that woman's got claws, that woman's got laws" refers to a woman's power and control over a man. The word "laws" is used as a metaphor for a woman's rules and demands that a man must follow. The song suggests that when men get involved with women, they lose their independence and become trapped in a relationship, which can drive them crazy.

Tom Waits has a talent for storytelling and his lyrics are often open to interpretation. The song Frank's Song is no exception. Some people believe that the song is about a woman who is abusive or that the story has a feminist message. However, others believe that the song is simply about the dangers of relationships in general and the loss of freedom that can come with them.

Line by Line Meaning

That woman will take you, that woman will break you
This woman will manipulate and use you until you are broken.

That woman will make you something you've never seen
This woman will transform you into someone unrecognizable.

That woman's got claws, that woman's got laws
This woman is powerful and in control, with sharp tactics and rules.

Now look out man, you're gonna loose your mind
Be careful, she will drive you insane.

I had a friend, his name was Frank
This is a story about Tom Waits' friend named Frank.

He walked on the water and lord he sank
Frank had potential or high expectations, but ultimately failed.

We used to go stag, now he's got a hag
Frank was single and independent, but now he has a controlling woman.

It looks like Frank's got a new bag
Frank has a new situation, likely a problematic relationship.

What happened to Frank, can happen to you
Frank's story should serve as a warning for others.

Just find you a woman and watch what she'll do
Be cautious of any woman you encounter, as they may have ulterior motives.

Look out man you're gonna loose, you're gonna loose your mind
The warning remains, be careful or you will suffer the same fate as Frank.