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."
In The Colosseum
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And the princess squeezes grape juice on a torrid bloody kiss
What will you be wearing there, the lion or the raven hair?
The flesh will all be tearing but the tail will be my own
In the colosseum, in the colosseum
In the colosseum tonight
In the colosseum, in the colosseum
In the colosseum tonight
This one's for the balcony and this one's for the floor
As the senators decapitate the presidential whore
The bald-headed senators are splashing in the blood
The dogs are having someone who is screaming in the mud
In the colosseum, in the colosseum
In the colosseum tonight
In the colosseum, in the colosseum
In the colosseum tonight
Now it's raining and it's pouring on the pillaging and goring
The constable is swinging from the chains
For the dead there is no story, no memory, no blame
Their families shout blue murder but tomorrow it's the same
In the colosseum, in the colosseum
In the colosseum tonight
In the colosseum, we call 'em as we see 'em
In the colosseum tonight
That slowly-acting poison will be given to the favorite one
The dark horse will bring glory to the jailer and his men
It's always much more sporting when there's families in the pit
And the madness of the crowd is an epileptic fit
In the colosseum, in the colosseum
In the colosseum tonight
In the colosseum, we call 'em as we see 'em
In the colosseum tonight
No justice here, no liberty, no reason, No blame
There's no cause to taint the sweetest taste of blood
And greetings from the nation as we shake the hands of time
They're taking their ovations, the vultures stay behind
In the colosseum, in the colosseum
In the colosseum tonight
In the colosseum, in the colosseum
In the colosseum tonight
In the colosseum tonight
In the colosseum tonight
The lyrics of Tom Waits’ song “In The Colosseum” use ancient Roman gladiatorial games as a metaphor for the violence and cruelty of modern society. The lines “The women all control their men with razors and with wrists” suggest a matriarchal society where violence is used to maintain power. The reference to the princess squeezing grape juice on a torrid bloody kiss also implies a taste for violence that is sexualized. The question “What will you be wearing there, the lion or the raven hair?” reinforces the idea of violence as a spectacle, where appearance and costumes are important elements.
The second verse of the song focuses on the role of power in society, with “senators decapitating the presidential whore” and bald-headed senators splashing in the blood. The imagery is brutal and visceral, suggesting a world where those with power have few limits. The chorus repeats the phrase “In the colosseum tonight,” emphasizing the idea of a society where violence is entertainment and spectacle.
The final verse of the song is a meditation on the nature of society and the human condition. The lines “No justice here, no liberty, no reason, no blame” suggest a world where these values are absent, replaced by raw power and violence. The reference to “tainting the sweetest taste of blood” suggests a taste for violence that is inherent in humanity. The final lines, “They’re taking their ovations, the vultures stay behind / In the colosseum, in the colosseum tonight,” suggest a society that is both fascinated and repulsed by violence, a society that may never move beyond it.
Line by Line Meaning
The women all control their men with razors and with wrists
The women have power over their men using brutal methods.
And the princess squeezes grape juice on a torrid bloody kiss
The princess adds a touch of sensuality to the violent scene.
What will you be wearing there, the lion or the raven hair?
What persona will you be adopting tonight, the ferocious lion or the mysterious raven?
The flesh will all be tearing but the tail will be my own
I will emerge victorious from the battle despite my injuries.
This one's for the balcony and this one's for the floor
There are different groups of people who will be watching the spectacle from different vantage points.
As the senators decapitate the presidential whore
The powerful elites brutally execute their own kind for their own amusement.
The bald-headed senators are splashing in the blood
The senators are taking pleasure in the gruesome scene.
The dogs are having someone who is screaming in the mud
The dogs are attacking a helpless victim who is begging for mercy.
Now it's raining and it's pouring on the pillaging and goring
The weather is fitting for the violent and chaotic scene that is unfolding.
The constable is swinging from the chains
Even those who are supposed to uphold the law are not immune to becoming victims in the colosseum.
For the dead there is no story, no memory, no blame
The dead are quickly forgotten and not mourned for, as if they never existed.
Their families shout blue murder but tomorrow it's the same
The families of the victims protest but their cries are futile as the violence will continue.
That slowly-acting poison will be given to the favorite one
Even the favored participant is not safe and is susceptible to brutal methods of elimination.
The dark horse will bring glory to the jailer and his men
A previously unknown participant will unexpectedly win and its victory will bring honor and glory to its captors.
It's always much more sporting when there's families in the pit
It is more entertaining when there is an emotional investment from the audience.
And the madness of the crowd is an epileptic fit
The collective excitement from the crowd is uncontrollable and frenzied.
No justice here, no liberty, no reason, no blame
There is no moral or rational compass in this environment.
There's no cause to taint the sweetest taste of blood
The experience of witnessing bloodshed is too enjoyable to be interrupted by thoughts of morality or responsibility.
And greetings from the nation as we shake the hands of time
The nation as a whole takes pleasure in the events in the colosseum and sees it as a tradition to be upheld.
They're taking their ovations, the vultures stay behind
The audience cheers as the survivors emerge, and those who died are forgotten.
In the colosseum tonight
The spectacle of violence and death will continue into the night.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: KATHLEEN BRENNAN, THOMAS ALAN WAITS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Gary Good
We call em as we see em . Love this man , live long Tom live long .
Lord Castanza
This album shaped my high school years.
01Aleph
A brilliant album from 1992. I still remember where I bought this vinyl and this album is one of my favorites, of course along with The Heart of Saturday Night, Rain Dogs etc..
Colin Silva
Fucking love tom waits. Lyrical genius
Brandon
Cool that brain played drums on this track. The percussion makes it
ismellstatic
I dunno how obvious this is to everyone else, but I’m 90% sure this song is about mass media and our consumption of it and that idea makes me love this just a bit more than I already did
HannibalOrJustRex
Yeah, people seem to love to be horrified and conflict equals ratings. At least that's what I gather. Not to say that some horrific reality is wrong to be shown, it is a good way to show that things need to be corrected, but sometimes it's "You should all be pissed off about Mr. Potato Head!" In an auditorium set up to encourage people to get enraged
Puppet Moniker
Pretty sure it's a portrait of a specific activity of Rome. If you can draw conclusions to modern life it would show we haven't progressed much in thousands of years.
ismellstatic
@Puppet Moniker What I'm saying is that Tom might be using the imagery of an ancient sport to say something about a modern phenomenon. Using figures like presidents and senators in the song instead of emperors and gladiators is what got me thinking that way. Just because something in the present sort of resembles something in the past doesn't mean we're the same as we were back then, it just means you can sometimes find the same patterns.
He can see me
@ismellstatic Rome had senators and presidents, senatus, and praesidentum in Latin. though I’m unsure of the proper grammar. So I may have used the improper participle. But in Rome I think presidents were governors. What we call president in the US is more akin to Consul, usually chosen in pairs.
Songs about Rome, but is applicable to today.