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."
I'll Shoot The Moon
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Right out of the sky
For you baby
I'll be the pennies
On your eyes
For you baby
I want to take you
Here's a red rose
Ribbon for your hair
I'll shoot the moon
Right out of the sky
For you baby
I'll shoot the moon
For you
A vulture circles
Over your head
For you baby
I'll be the flowers
After you're dead
For you baby
I want to build
A nest in your hair
I want to kiss you
And never be there
I'll shoot the moon
Right out of the sky
For you baby
I'll shoot the moon
For you
"I'll Shoot The Moon" by Tom Waits is a love song in which the singer tries to express his utter devotion to his loved one, stating that he is willing to go to any extreme to demonstrate his commitment. The repeated lines in the song, "I'll shoot the moon right out of the sky for you baby", highlights the sheer intensity of the singer's affection for his partner. He wants to be the one who changes the world, even if it means shooting the moon, which is a metaphorical reference to doing the impossible.
The lyrics convey an air of desperation and passion as the singer lists the grand gestures he is willing to make for his beloved. He talks about being the "pennies on your eyes" which is a reference to the old tradition of laying coins on the eyes of the dead, to signify that the person is not alone on their journey in the afterlife. He also mentions a "vulture circling over your head" and offering flowers when they're gone, which suggests the song is inspired by a sense of impending doom, as though the singer is trying to win his lover over before it's too late. The last verse is perhaps the most poignant part of the song, as he yearns to "build a nest in your hair" and "kiss you and never be there," a heart-wrenching admission of how much he loves his partner, but also the pain that comes with being unable to possess them completely.
Overall, "I'll Shoot The Moon" is a heartfelt love song that uses poignant language and grand imagery to express the depth of the singer's passion. Tom Waits's unique voice, coupled with the heartbreaking lyrics, makes for a stirring listening experience that's sure to resonate with anyone who's ever been in love.
Line by Line Meaning
I'll shoot the moon
I'll do everything possible to make you happy
Right out of the sky
I'll go to the extent of even doing something that is impossible, just for you
For you baby
This is all for you, my love
I'll be the pennies
I'll be there even to do the last thing that is traditionally done in one's life - placing pennies on their eyes after death
On your eyes
Just to show you that I'll be around for you all your life
I want to take you
I really want to be with you
Out to the fair
Out in public, and be proud of my relationship with you
Here's a red rose
To show you how much I love you
Ribbon for your hair
Just to compliment how beautiful you are
I'll shoot the moon
I'll do whatever it takes to satisfy you
I'll shoot the moon
I'll go to the ends of the earth to make you happy
A vulture circles
Whatever danger or negativity comes your way, I'll always protect you
Over your head
I'll do my best to shield you from harm, and I promise to always be there for you
For you baby
Because you're my everything
I'll be the flowers
Even after you're gone, I promise to always honor your memory
After you're dead
I'll always cherish you, and the memories of us together
I want to build
I want to be an integral part of your life, and I vow to always be there for you
A nest in your hair
I want to be as close as possible to you
I want to kiss you
I want to express my love and admiration for you
And never be there
I'll be there, but more importantly, I want you to know how much I love you
For you baby
All of these promises, my love, are for you
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: THOMAS ALAN WAITS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@guanciomarini8651
tender like a foggy autumn
@jufernetti
A living legend
@bre2643
I like this
@mykeymay
One of his greatest...
@matthewbrown4564
Happy Birthday Tom ! Keeping being a badass
@tatianaabramovskaya8765
How I wished that number was real!
@fabulouscatpapers5552
I'll shoot the moon
Right out of the sky
For you baby
I'll be the pennies
On your eyes
For you baby
I want to take you
Out to the fair
Here's a red rose
Ribbon for your hair
I'll shoot the moon
Right out of the sky
For you baby
I'll shoot the moon
For you
A vulture circles
Over your head
For you baby
I'll be the flowers
After you're dead
For you baby
I want to build
A nest in your hair
I want to kiss you
And never be there
I'll shoot the moon
Right out of the sky
For you baby
I'll shoot the moon
For you
@dedhippi
"I'll shoot the moon for you..."
@georgsteiner4510
Tja, manchmal muss man eben den Mond anheulen! Sonst platzt man!