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."
Little Drop Of Poison
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Nobody knows, they're lining up to go insane
I'm all alone, I smoke my friends down to the filter
But I feel much cleaner after it rains
And she left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall
She always had that little drop of poison
You'll never get a wish from a bone
Another wrong goodbye and a hundred sailors
That deep blue sky is my home
And she left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall
She always had that little drop of poison
A rat always knows when he's in with weasels
Here you lose a little every day
Well, I remember when a million was a million
They all have ways to make you pay
And she left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall
She always had that little drop of poison
And she left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall
She always had that little drop of poison
The lyrics to Tom Waits’s song, Little Drop of Poison, tell a story of a person who likes their town but has their own way of staying sane. The first lines explain their love for their town but it’s followed by the revelation that this person is smoking themselves down to the filter, suggesting that the place they live isn’t perfect. However, they still like it and, in spite of this unhealthy habit, they feel much cleaner after it rains, which could possibly refer to a figurative or even a literal cleansing.
The lyrics take a sudden turn when the person is reminded of someone who left in the fall, possibly a lover, and it’s her picture on the wall. The line “She always had that little drop of poison” can be interpreted in a variety of ways, but most likely means either that the person was untrustworthy or that she had a dark, mysterious side. The next line poses the age-old question of whether the devil created the world, and suggests that you can’t get what you want by hoping or wishing for it. The final lines allude to the harsh realities of the world, how people will always try to take advantage of you, and the memory of a time when a million was a million, which hints at inflation and the unreliability of money.
Overall, the lyrics paint a picture of someone who is relatively content with where they live and the world in general, but who is aware of the many problems and injustices that exist. Additionally, the reference to the little drop of poison could signify any number of destructive habits, relationships or indulgences that make life more bearable but ultimately do more harm than good.
Line by Line Meaning
I like my town with a little drop of poison
I prefer a town that has a dark side or a hint of danger
Nobody knows, they're lining up to go insane
People are attracted to things that are unhealthy or self-destructive, even if they don't realize it
I'm all alone, I smoke my friends down to the filter
I rely on cigarettes to keep me company, even to the point of smoking them down completely
But I feel much cleaner after it rains
I find comfort or cleansing after a period of darkness, like a fresh start
And she left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall
I have a memento of someone who left me, and it's a reminder of the pain of their departure
She always had that little drop of poison
The person who left me had a dark or destructive streak that was part of who they were
Did the Devil make the world while God was sleeping
Is the world we live in inherently flawed or sinful?
You'll never get a wish from a bone
You can't make something out of nothing or change something that is dead or hollow
Another wrong goodbye and a hundred sailors
I've experienced many painful farewells or endings, and it's a common experience that many others share
That deep blue sky is my home
I find solace or freedom in nature or the sky
A rat always knows when he's in with weasels
Someone who is streetwise or clever can recognize when they are in a dangerous or untrustworthy situation
Here you lose a little every day
Living in a harsh or oppressive environment can wear you down or make you feel defeated over time
Well, I remember when a million was a million
I recall a time when things were simpler or more straightforward, and wealth or success was more tangible
They all have ways to make you pay
People or systems can be exploitative or manipulative, and they find ways to extract value or profit from you
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, JALMA MUSIC
Written by: KATHLEEN BRENNAN, THOMAS ALAN WAITS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@susanabeatrizmerlo566
Este es un tango! Y me encanta!
Me gusta mi pueblo con una gotita de veneno
nadie sabe que están haciendo cola para volverse locos
Estoy solo, fumo a mis amigos hasta el filtro
pero me siento mucho mas limpio despues de que llueve
ella se fue en el otoño esa es su foto en la pared
ella siempre tuvo esa gotita de veneno
¿El diablo hizo el mundo mientras Dios dormía?
nunca obtendrás un deseo de un hueso
otro largo adiós y cien marineros
ese cielo azul profundo es mi hogar
ella se fue en el otoño esa es su foto en la pared
ella siempre tuvo esa gotita de veneno
bueno, la rata siempre sabe cuando está con comadrejas
aqui pierdes un poquito todos los dias
Bueno, recuerdo cuando un millón era un millón
todos tienen formas de hacerte pagar
ella se fue en el otoño esa es su foto en la pared
ella siempre tuvo esa gotita de veneno
ella se fue en el otoño esa es su foto en la pared
ella siempre tuvo esa gotita de veneno
@enzopires8567
I just imagine a bunch of villains drinking in some kind of pub. Thanks a lot, Shrek 2.
@t9620
Trust me, your imagination is spot on.🙏
@hypotree6132
😂😂every time I think about it
@alberts1985
They have a Shrek 2!!??
@DRSDavidSoft
That's exactly me as well!
@JenniferPoole.33272
@@alberts1985 You’re joking right? Or you didn’t really know?
@ericsimpson1750
I remember when a million was a million
Tom is worth every penny
@ericsimpson1750
Tom?
@ericsimpson1750
Anti?
@ashtonhartley2662
Nice.