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."
King Kong
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
They shot him down
They shot him down
They thought he was a monster
But he was the King
They came to his island
They wanted to get his picture
But they were surprised by his enormous size
And when he saw the woman
He took her without question
Because after all
He was the King
And he loved the woman
He loved the way she looked
And she wouldn't stop screaming
But he loved the woman
And he fought a Tyrannosaurus Rex
And it was a bloody battle
But he fought it for his woman
And he climbed up a mountain
And he looked around
Some kind of forest
With all these dinosaurs
And he stripped his woman
He stripped her bare
But there was a pterodactyl
There!
And then a hero
Came and took his woman
And they fell off the mountain
Into some water
And then later
He came looking for his woman
But they were waiting
And they threw a bomb
And they tied him
And took him across the ocean
And they chained him
And put him in the show
And when he saw his woman
He broke loose
And everyone fled in terror
And he was looking for her
And he overtook a train
And he was looking in the street
And then he found her in her apartment
And he climbed up the Empire State building
It was like a phallic symbol
And he took his woman
To the top of that towering temple
And he climbed up and looked around
Some kind of city
With all those skyscrapers
And all the cars
Just him and his screaming woman
And they were finally alone
He loved his woman
You could see it in his eyes
His great big eyes
He loved his woman
From the moment that he saw her
He was all choked up inside
But when the airplanes came
He was soon to die
But he hung on long enough to set his woman down
And make sure that she was safe
And as the bullets pierced
He looked at her so sincere
Before he fell
Because he loved his woman
And they shot him down
They thought he was a monster
But he was the King
Who killed the monkey
'Twas beauty that killed the beast
And Willis O'Brien died
A tragic death
There wasn't much
That he had left
And Ray Harryhousen said
That when Willis died
That's when the King was really dead
They shot him down
They shot him down
They thought he was a monster
But he was the King
The lyrics of Tom Waits's song King Kong, written by Daniel Johnston, tell the tragic story of King Kong, one of the most iconic characters in film history. The lyrics open with the shooting down of Kong, the monstrous creature that was the King of an island. The second verse describes how the woman took his picture and was surprised by his enormous size, hinting at the idea that she might be a fan of the creature. When Kong sees the woman, he takes her without question, leading to a violent battle with a Tyrannosaurus Rex to protect his woman. Despite gaining the upper hand in the fight, Kong eventually loses his woman to a hero who takes her away.
The third verse sees Kong taken captive and forced into a show, where he eventually sees his woman and breaks loose, creating chaos in the city as he searches for her. The final verse describes the iconic scene where Kong climbs the Empire State building while holding his screaming woman. The planes that come to shoot him down reflect the idea that civilization and technology are inferior to nature's power, as Kong falls and dies. The final line, "who killed the monkey, 'twas beauty that killed the beast," suggests that Kong's downfall was caused by the very thing he loved the most.
Line by Line Meaning
They shot him down
The authorities killed King Kong
They thought he was a monster
The people saw Kong as a monster
But he was the King
But Kong was actually the King of his island
They came to his island
People from the outside world arrived on Kong's island
And they brought her with them
They brought a woman with them
They wanted to get his picture
They were trying to take a picture of Kong
But they were surprised by his enormous size
Kong's size was larger than expected
And when he saw the woman
Kong took a liking to the woman
He took her without question
Kong took the woman without hesitation
Because after all
This was because he was the King
He loved the woman
Kong had deep affection for the woman
He loved the way she looked
Kong appreciated the woman's appearance
And she wouldn't stop screaming
The woman, however, was still scared and screaming
And he fought a Tyrannosaurus Rex
Kong fought and defeated a T-Rex to protect the woman
And it was a bloody battle
The battle between Kong and the T-Rex was fierce
But he fought it for his woman
Kong was fighting for the woman's safety
And he climbed up a mountain
Kong climbed a mountain to find sanctuary for the woman
And he looked around
He surveyed the surroundings
Some kind of forest
He was in a jungle
With all these dinosaurs
And he saw many other dangerous creatures
And he stripped his woman
Kong undressed the woman
He stripped her bare
He removed all her clothing
But there was a pterodactyl there!
But then a pterodactyl appeared to threaten them
And then a hero
The woman was rescued by a man
Came and took his woman
The man arrived and took the woman away from Kong
And they fell off the mountain
As they attempted to escape, they fell off the mountain
Into some water
They fell into water
And then later
Later on, Kong searched for the woman again
He came looking for his woman
Kong searched for her
But they were waiting
However, the people were ready for him this time
And they threw a bomb
They threw a bomb at him
And they tied him
The people tied Kong up
And took him across the ocean
They took Kong across the ocean
And they chained him
He was chained to prevent his escape
And put him in the show
Kong was put on display as entertainment
And when he saw his woman
When Kong saw the woman once again
He broke loose
Kong broke free from his captivity
And everyone fled in terror
People were afraid and ran away
And he was looking for her
Kong was searching for the woman he loved
And he overtook a train
Kong stopped a train in pursuit of the woman
And he was looking in the street
He looked for the woman in the streets
And then he found her in her apartment
Kong discovered the woman in her apartment
And he climbed up the Empire State building
Kong climbed up the Empire State building
It was like a phallic symbol
The building was a symbol of power and masculinity
And he took his woman
Kong took the woman up the building with him
To the top of that towering temple
They made it to the top of the building
And he climbed up and looked around
He climbed up to get a better view of the city
Some kind of city
The city was a marvel to Kong
With all those skyscrapers
The towering buildings were impressive
And all the cars
Kong saw the busy street below
Just him and his screaming woman
Kong was with the woman he loved, who was still scared
And they were finally alone
They had a moment of peace alone together
He loved his woman
Kong's love for the woman was genuine
You could see it in his eyes
His emotion was evident in his eyes
His great big eyes
Kong's eyes were large and full of expression
From the moment that he saw her
Kong fell in love with the woman from the beginning
He was all choked up inside
His emotions were overwhelming
But when the airplanes came
The military attacked Kong using airplanes
He was soon to die
Kong was dying
But he hung on long enough to set his woman down
He made sure the woman was safe before he died
And make sure that she was safe
He wanted to protect the woman he loved
And as the bullets pierced
As Kong was being shot with bullets
He looked at her so sincere
He looked at the woman lovingly
Before he fell
Kong fell to his death
Who killed the monkey
The overall question being asked is, who killed Kong?
'Twas beauty that killed the beast
It was ultimately the woman's beauty that led to Kong's demise
And Willis O'Brien died
Willis O'Brien, the animator for the King Kong film, passed away
A tragic death
His death was a sad event
There wasn't much
There wasn't a lot that Willis O'Brien had left behind
That he had left
He didn't have much that survived beyond him
And Ray Harryhousen said
Another animator, Ray Harryhausen, said
That when Willis died
When Willis O'Brien passed away
That's when the King was really dead
The true death of King Kong was the passing of the animator that gave him life
They shot him down
The song repeats its opening lines to end, bookending the story of King Kong's tragic end
They thought he was a monster
They killed Kong thinking he was a savage beast
But he was the King
But, students of the King Kong story know, that he was simply the dominant force of his own world, taken too soon from it
Contributed by Josiah S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
The Moon's Evil Sister
POV: your uncle saw King Kong last night while drunk and you ask him to explain the plot the next morning
Eric Simpson
Great cover
Music is the best
******
goose bumps and tears
tom hoggart
rip daniel johnston
Brandon Matuja
Hard to improve on Daniel Johnston (who wrote this song), but Waits might've done it here.
Drew Gilbert
HE LOVED THE WOMAN
******
i have the cd........had a job