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."
Helium Reprise
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And erases the embraces of all other lovers
With this kiss
Your ruby lips speak for themselves, they tell nothing but lies
I dissolve into the wax of a flickering candle
With this kiss
I'm shipwrecked on the coast of your shoulders
And this kiss
And this kiss
And this kiss
And this kiss
And this kiss
And this kiss
This kiss
With this kiss
The song Helium Reprise by Tom Waits is one that speaks of a love that lifts one into a state of euphoria. The opening lines of "This blinding kiss breathes helium into my heart" suggest that the singer's heart is lightened and elevated by the kiss. The lines go further to say that this kiss erases the memories of all other lovers. This tells the listener that the love being sung about is intense and has the power to erase past pains.
The stanza that follows speaks of the singer dissolving into the wax of a candle. This could possibly mean that the singer is so consumed by this love that they become weak and helpless. The line "Your ruby lips speak for themselves, they tell nothing but lies" suggests that the singer knows that their lover is not sincere, yet they still keep falling for them. This is because the love is so powerful that it clouds their judgment.
The final stanza speaks of being shipwrecked on the coast of the lover's shoulders. This could mean that the lover is the only source of stability in the singer's life. Overall, the song speaks of the euphoria and intensity of love, and how it has the power to overshadow everything else in one's life.
Line by Line Meaning
This blinding kiss breathes helium into my heart
Your passionate kiss is so intense that it's like it's filled with helium, lifting me up and making me feel weightless inside.
And erases the embraces of all other lovers
Your kiss is so powerful that it makes me forget about any other lovers I've had before you. All I can think about is you in this moment.
Your ruby lips speak for themselves, they tell nothing but lies
You have beautiful lips, but they don't always say what's true. I'm not sure if I can trust you, even though I'm drawn to you.
I dissolve into the wax of a flickering candle
Being around you is like being in the presence of something magical and mesmerizing. I'm completely captivated by you, losing myself in the moment.
This isn't real, in Chinatown everything's cheap
Sometimes I feel like our love isn't real or authentic. It's as if we're just going through the motions, existing in a dream-like state. I can't help but wonder if it's all just an illusion.
I'm shipwrecked on the coast of your shoulders
Being near you is like being on a deserted island, surrounded by the vastness of your beautiful body. I feel like I'm stranded, unable to escape your allure.
And this kiss
This passionate kiss is the only thing that matters in this moment. It's what I've been waiting for, and it's everything to me.
This kiss
This kiss is the symbol of our love and attraction. It's what brought us together, and it's the thing that will always connect us.
Contributed by Zachary H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@user-is2zv4sc6y
Tom Waits and Tin Hat Trio is truly among the greatest of combinations to be made on this mortal planet.
@tomeugomila3250
thanks to this song i found out about Tin Hat...and it was a great honour to have them playing twice at the Waiting for Waits festival in Mallorca (2005 and 2010). Never mind Waits never turned up!
@33monaka
Widziałam właśnie film.... Muzyka jest niesamowicie ważna i robi powalające wrażenie.
@Kitokia00
Amazing orchestra!!!! Voice too, off course ;)
@MacMic333
Seriously amazingly electric combination.Beautiful arrangeing.More.
@ShadeGirl123
His voice sounds like a sneaky snake X3..The voice is just so creative and artistic that it makes you think of odd things like that. Also, I am happy to hear that there are REAL instruments being played in the background instead of the fake ass drum beats of this generation.
@_kasia
Goodbye - Anthony Hopkins Little Waltz - Juliano Abramovay Silly POP - Juliano Abramovay Small Song by - Ihasa de Sela Change Partners - Rodrigo Rodrigues Instrumental - Leningrad Forecast Podogy - Leningrad Alain Bashung - Madame Rêve Flowering Jasmine - Gidon Kremer Morsya Mucca Pazza Mente ao meu coracao - Paulinha de Viola Melody Gardot - Les Etoiles Tortoise - Ten-Day Interval Nine Inch Nails - Ripe (With Decay) that's the playlist :)
@sclogse1
We have very similar taste. Lhasa de Sela was extraordinary. Not everyone knows about Hopkins' music.
@MariaGAvila68
me ha encantado
@RonWinter335
So good!!