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."
Innocent When You Dream
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The dew is on the moor
Where are the arms that held me
And pledged her love before?
And pledged her love before
And it's such a sad old feeling
All the fields are soft and green
But you're innocent when you dream
When you dream
You're innocent when you dream, when you dream
You're innocent when you dream
I made a golden promise
That we would never part
I gave my love a locket
And then I broke her heart
And then I broke her heart
And it's such a sad old feeling
All of the fields are soft and green
And it's memories that I'm stealing
But you're innocent when you dream
When you dream
You're innocent when you dream, when you dream
You're innocent when you dream
We're running through the graveyard
And we laughed, my friends and I
We swore we'd be together
Until the day we died
Until the day we died
And it's such a sad old feeling
All of the fields are soft and green
And it's memories that I'm stealing
But you're innocent when you dream
When you dream
You're innocent when you dream, when you dream
You're innocent when you dream
And it's such a sad old feeling
The fields are soft and green
And it's memories that I'm stealing
But you're innocent when you dream
When you dream
You're innocent when you dream, when you dream
You're innocent when you dream
The lyrics to Tom Waits's song "Innocent When You Dream" can be interpreted in a variety of ways. The singer seems to be haunted by past memories of a love that is gone or a relationship that did not work out. He is seeking the arms that once held him and vowed love to him. The mood is mournful, with the bats in the belfry and the dew on the moor lending a spooky ambiance. The reference to a locket and a broken heart suggests that the singer was at fault for the relationship crumbling.
The chorus repeats that "you're innocent when you dream", perhaps suggesting that in dreams one can revisit a time before hurt or betrayal. Dreams serve as a means of escape, as the singer seeks refuge in memories of the past. The final set of lyrics introduce the singer's friends, and how they laughed and promised to stay together until the end. The mood remains melancholic and the memories remain bittersweet.
Interestingly, the lyrics of this song seem to contradict the title. While the title suggests a sense of purity or goodness, the lyrics describe feelings of sadness and regret. However, it could also be interpreted that despite the negative emotions in the lyrics, the singer still retains a sense of innocence or purity when they dream.
Line by Line Meaning
The bats are in the belfry
There is chaos and unbalance everywhere. Things are out of order and not as they should be.
The dew is on the moor
It is early morning and everything is still fresh and new. The day has not started yet.
Where are the arms that held me
The singer is missing someone who used to embrace him and make him feel safe and loved.
And pledged her love before?
This person promised to love the singer before, but something has changed, and their love is no longer present.
And it's such a sad old feeling
The singer is feeling nostalgic and sorrowful. He is reminiscing over the past and feeling regretful.
All the fields are soft and green
Everything is peaceful and tranquil in nature, adding to the nostalgic feel of the song.
It's memories that I'm stealing
The singer is reminiscing over past moments and events, almost clinging to them and never wanting to forget them.
But you're innocent when you dream
In dreaming, we are free to be whoever we want to be and pursue whatever we desire. We are in a pure and innocent state where anything is possible.
I made a golden promise
The singer made a promise to someone that he would never leave them, but he broke that promise.
That we would never part
The person that the singer made the promise to was someone he was committed to and wanted to be with always.
I gave my love a locket
The singer gave someone he loved a locket, a symbol of his love and devotion to that person.
And then I broke her heart
Despite his promises and love, the singer hurt the person he cared for and left them feeling heartbroken.
We're running through the graveyard
The singer and his friends are indulging in reckless behavior, running through a graveyard and tossing all barriers aside.
And we laughed, my friends and I
Despite the surroundings and circumstances, the singer and his friends are still finding joy and happiness in each other's company.
We swore we'd be together
The singer and his friends made a commitment to one another that they would stay together no matter what happened.
Until the day we died
This commitment was so strong that even death would not separate them.
The fields are soft and green
The peaceful and tranquil nature of the fields is being reiterated, perhaps to emphasize the fleeting nature of life and how quickly it can change.
You're innocent when you dream
Once again, the idea of dreams being a place of innocence and freedom from the constraints of reality is being reinforced. Dreams are a safe haven for our most hopeful and pure thoughts.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, JALMA MUSIC
Written by: THOMAS A. WAITS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@samludgin5363
first head this when i was 15. ever since, its haunted me. its one of the most memorable songs ive ever heard. it literally haunts me at least once or twice a week. who else can write such a tune.
@maramarxx2431
And it's the ending song of the wonderful movie 'Smoke' . If not seen, you must. You'll cry.
@MrFaello
Dad, that's for you. Wherever you are ! ❤
@himagine.
Merry Xmas.
and
Have a great new year.
@christopherpesqueira1439
I remember that a bottle of whiskey went well with this gem. Salud!
@nramdeen1
I've been looking for this song for years. Finally found it in May 2022. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
@Leo-qe3gl
Song is 10/10 😌
@antoniolagioia5882
Artista unico e generoso.
Sa dare tutto ai suoi ascoltatori.
Lo dico io che non conosco l’inglese.
Per cui se fa vibrare sentimenti di commozione lo si deve ad un’arte arcana e immanente.
@stephendonnelly327
Make a golden promise and keep it. Love this song. Auggie's story in Smoke. Perfect cast, perfect film.
@elifebasics6405
Totally never gets old for me...so real..amazing Tom Waits