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."
Georgia Lee
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
They found her in a small grove of trees
And lonesome was the place where Georgia was found
She's too young to be out on the street
Why wasn't God watching?
Why wasn't God listening?
Why wasn't God there
Ida said she couldn't keep Georgia from dropping out of school
I was doing the best that I could
Oh, but she just kept running away from this world
These children are so hard to raise good
Why wasn't God watching?
Why wasn't God listening?
Why wasn't God there
For Georgia Lee?
Close your eyes and count to ten
I will go and hide but then
Be sure to find me, I want you to find me
And we'll play all over
We'll play all over
We'll play all over
Again
There's a toad in the witch grass, there's a crow in the corn
Wild flowers on a cross by the road
And somewhere a baby is crying for her mom
As the hills turn from green back to gold
And why wasn't God watching?
Why wasn't God listening?
Why wasn't God there
For Georgia Lee?
Why wasn't God watching?
Why wasn't God listening?
And why wasn't God there
For Georgia Lee?
Tom Waits's Georgia Lee is a haunting, mournful ballad that tells the story of a young girl who was found dead in the woods. The lyrics evoke a deep sense of loss and despair, revealing the devastating consequences of neglect and abandonment. From the opening lines, "Cold was the night and hard was the ground / They found her in a small grove of trees," Waits paints a vivid picture of the tragic scene where Georgia Lee's lifeless body was discovered.
The verses then delve into the reasons behind Georgia Lee's untimely demise. She was too young to be out on the street, but her mother Ida couldn't keep her from dropping out of school. The singer laments, "These children are so hard to raise good." The refrain, "Why wasn't God watching? / Why wasn't God listening? / Why wasn't God there / For Georgia Lee?" is repeated throughout the song, emphasizing the hopelessness of the situation and the singer's sense of anger and despair.
Line by Line Meaning
Cold was the night and hard was the ground
The night was very cold and the ground was very hard.
They found her in a small grove of trees
Georgia was found in a small group of trees.
And lonesome was the place where Georgia was found
The place where Georgia was found was very lonely.
She's too young to be out on the street
Georgia was too young to be living on the street.
Why wasn't God watching?
The artist is questioning why God didn't intervene.
Why wasn't God listening?
The singer is questioning why God didn't hear Georgia's cries for help.
Why wasn't God there
For Georgia Lee?
The singer is questioning why God didn't protect Georgia.
Ida said she couldn't keep Georgia from dropping out of school
Ida, someone close to Georgia, couldn't stop her from dropping out of school.
I was doing the best that I could
The artist was trying their best to help Georgia.
Oh, but she just kept running away from this world
Georgia kept escaping from reality.
These children are so hard to raise good
It's difficult to raise children to be good people.
Close your eyes and count to ten
I will go and hide but then
Be sure to find me, I want you to find me
And we'll play all over
We'll play all over
We'll play all over
Again
A game of hide-and-seek is being described, and the artist wants to be found and play again.
There's a toad in the witch grass, there's a crow in the corn
Wild flowers on a cross by the road
And somewhere a baby is crying for her mom
As the hills turn from green back to gold
There are various scenes and emotions being described in the surroundings, including a baby crying for her mother.
And why wasn't God watching?
The singer is still questioning why God didn't intervene.
Why wasn't God listening?
The singer is still questioning why God didn't hear Georgia's cries for help.
And why wasn't God there
For Georgia Lee?
The artist is still questioning why God didn't protect Georgia.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, JALMA MUSIC
Written by: KATHLEEN BRENNAN, THOMAS ALAN WAITS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Dutch628
Now i m on tears.
RIP little Lady.
Danke Tom, für deine Anteilnahme ❤.
@monikazdz8033
Yesterday I discovered Tom Waits and I am delighted. Tom, your songs are amazing.❤I love You. 🙂
@francesnichols4346
I cried the first time I listened to this & I still do Tom Waits I truly appreciate you .
@David_Axelord
I work at a group home for youths with severe mental/emotional problems, typically as a result of abuse and neglect. This sort of story is so much more common than you might imagine. Needless to say this song always has tears in my eyes less than a minute in.
@MICHAELGRUBB-hs7fe
Same story as you.
I always think of one particularly kind girl who this song is about. We spent a lot of time together over the year she was in treatment. Saw her again a few years later in a different treatment facility. I will never forget how kind you were Jessica. Thank you Tom for writing this song for her and so many more young girls.
@TheBabadook616
I love this, what a heartbreakingly beautiful song
@ericsimpson1750
Gracious thanks Mr. Waits
@ejameson2191
Utterly heartbreaking
@lindarenninger5829
When you've seen so many true crime videos.... Listening to this
gives your heart a hard wrench ..
@tedmohr6353
Once again Tom Waits genius and sensitivity hits the mark. Why wasn't God watching! Many parents probably have said this over and over, Waits simply says it like it should be said