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."
Heart of Saturday Night
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Behind the wheel
With your arm around your sweet one
In your Oldsmobile
Barrelin' down the boulevard
You're looking for the heart of Saturday night
And you got paid on Friday
And you see the lights
You get all tinglin' cause you're cruisin' with a six
And you're looking for the heart of Saturday night
Then you comb your hair
Shave your face
Tryin' to wipe out ev'ry trace
All the other days
In the week you know that this'll be the Saturday
You're reachin' your peak
Stoppin' on the red
You're goin' on the green
'Cause tonight'll be like nothin'
You've ever seen
And you're barrelin' down the boulevard
Lookin' for the heart of Saturday night
Tell me is the crack of the pool balls, neon buzzin'?
Telephone's ringin', it's your second cousin
Is it the barmaid that's smilin' from the corner of her eye?
Magic of the melancholy tear in your eye
Makes it kind of quiver down in the core
'Cause you're dreamin' of them Saturdays that came before
And now you're stumblin'
You're stumblin' onto the heart of Saturday night
Well you gassed her up
And you're behind the wheel
With your arm around your sweet one
In your Oldsmobile
Barrellin' down the boulevard
You're lookin' for the heart of Saturday night
Is this the crack of the pool balls, neon buzzin'?
Telephone's ringin', it's your second cousin
And the barmaid is smilin' from the corner of her eye
Magic of the melancholy tear in your eye
Makes it kind of special down in the core
And you're dreamin' of them Saturdays that came before
It's found you stumblin'
Stumblin' onto the heart of Saturday night
And you're stumblin'
Stumblin' onto the heart of Saturday night
Mhm, mhm
The lyrics in Tom Waits's song The Heart of Saturday Night are a nostalgic ode to the excitement and anticipation of weekend nights. The song appears to be describing the experience of young adults in the mid-twentieth century, cruising down the boulevard in their car, looking for a good time. The opening lines set the scene, as the singer and his partner are driving and searching for the "heart" of Saturday night. The lyrics capture the thrill of payday and the excitement of heading out for an evening of fun. The repetition of the phrase "heart of Saturday night" emphasizes the importance of this particular night, as if it is the one night in the week that truly matters.
The song captures the small details of the night, such as combing your hair and shaving your face, in preparation for a night out. The singer sees the lights of the town and his pockets are jingling with his paycheck. However, the lyrics also touch on a deeper sense of longing and melancholy, suggesting that the excitement of the night might be rooted in memories of past Saturdays. The crack of the pool balls and the glow of neon lights provide a sensory backdrop to the scene of the barmaid smiling at the singer. The chorus repeats with the singer stumbling onto the "heart" of the night, suggesting that this experience is not a predictable or planned one, but rather a spontaneous and magical moment.
Line by Line Meaning
Well you gassed her up
You fueled up your car
Behind the wheel
You got in the driver's seat
With your arm around your sweet one
You've got your arm around your significant other
In your Oldsmobile
You're driving your classic car
Barrelin' down the boulevard
You're driving down the boulevard recklessly
You're looking for the heart of Saturday night
You're searching for excitement and adventure on a Saturday night
And you got paid on Friday
You received your paycheck on Friday
And your pockets are jinglin'
You have money in your pockets
And you see the lights
You see the lights of the city
You get all tinglin' cause you're cruisin' with a six
You feel excited because you're driving a car with a V6 engine
Then you comb your hair
You fix your hair
Shave your face
You shave your face
Tryin' to wipe out ev'ry trace
You're attempting to forget the past week's troubles
All the other days
Every other day in the week
In the week you know that this'll be the Saturday
You know that this is the day you've been waiting for
You're reachin' your peak
You're reaching your highest point of enjoyment
Stoppin' on the red
You're stopping at the red light
You're goin' on the green
You're driving when the light turns green
'Cause tonight'll be like nothin'
Because tonight will be like nothing you've ever experienced before
You've ever seen
You've never seen anything like this before
Tell me is the crack of the pool balls, neon buzzin'?
Can you hear the sound of pool balls cracking and the neon lights buzzing?
Telephone's ringin', it's your second cousin
Your second cousin is calling you on the phone
Is it the barmaid that's smilin' from the corner of her eye?
Is the bartender smiling at you from the corner of her eye?
Magic of the melancholy tear in your eye
There's a touch of sadness in your eye
Makes it kind of quiver down in the core
You're feeling an intense emotion deep within you
'Cause you're dreamin' of them Saturdays that came before
You're yearning for past Saturdays
And now you're stumblin'
You're now feeling lost and unsure
You're stumblin' onto the heart of Saturday night
You're stumbling upon the true essence of what makes a Saturday night special
Is this the crack of the pool balls, neon buzzin'?
Again, can you hear the sound of pool balls cracking and the neon lights buzzing?
Telephone's ringin', it's your second cousin
Your second cousin is still calling you on the phone
And the barmaid is smilin' from the corner of her eye
The bartender is still smiling at you from the corner of her eye
Magic of the melancholy tear in your eye
You're still feeling a touch of sadness in your eye
Makes it kind of special down in the core
This makes the moment more meaningful and special to you
And you're dreamin' of them Saturdays that came before
You're still yearning for past Saturdays
It's found you stumblin'
You've finally reached the heart of the Saturday night
Stumblin' onto the heart of Saturday night
You've discovered what makes a Saturday night truly special
And you're stumblin'
You're still feeling lost and unsure
Stumblin' onto the heart of Saturday night
But you know now that you've found something truly special
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Thomas Alan Waits
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@TheAngus1980
I'm 25 and I just wish people of my age would listen more frequently to this kind of music, love you Tom.
@Vigilante311
Just take pride in the fact that you've got enough individuality and taste to go find great music by yourself instead of eating the chart topping shit sandwiches that are presented to you in modern times, all the best man
@willumashurst
I’m 17 and Tom is one of my favourite artists by far. only know one other person my age who has even heard his name.
@rosejanson5688
I'm 24 and I feel the exact same way that you do if that makes you feel any better lol. Just own yourself and have fun, I guarantee that people who you let into your life (if You're picky enough) will love this stuff too
@rosejanson5688
@@willumashurst sad, but good for you 💕 keep it up and you will die happy
@cheekybrewskitovarich
I'm 33 and I'm glad I've been listening since the early 90s, even more so that you're listening mate
@ericgershman9479
"Never saw my hometown till I stayed away too long..." One of those to-the-core type of lines. The album is a poetic masterpiece! One for the ages.
@christopherkimball350
its so true isn't it? The only way to see a place truly is to see other places.
@charlesdavis7461
@Christopher Kimball I agree with your interpretation, but the thing about poetry is that words mean what any person thinks. To me it was about missing the memories he had in his hometown.
@christopherkimball350
@charles davis I think you are right! I can easily see it meaning both things.