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."
Metropolitan Glide
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Are you ready!?
Are you ready!?
Knocky Parker told Bowlegged Sal
They all know how to kick it in Cal
They're playing this dope and this-a money tune
Dancing baby with a 7 mile broom
Down there at the Hush Hotel
They're jumping right out of their seats,
dancing to the bran' new beat
Do the Metropolitan Glide
Do the Metropolitan Glide
The floor is polished and your momma's gone
You can quake and roll and moan
29 gypsies in a Cadillac stoned
Turn off the ringer on your cellular phone
Whip the air like a Rainbow Trout
Drag your tail pipe till you bottom out
Do the Metropolitan Glide
Do the Metropolitan Glide
Hey! Hey!
Do the Metropolitan Glide
The low bottom of the China moon
The black swan and the way too soon
Ace pocket and the dog bone gone
The peacock and the mean black swan
The rain shower and high heeled shoe
Bombay money and I know I can do it
The sink hole and the victory dance
It's in the pocket in the real tight pants
Do the Metropolitan Glide
Do the Metropolitan Glide
Hey!
The Metropolitan!
The Metropolitan!
Show your teeth, bray like a calf
You kill me with your machine gun laugh
You make me trouble with the floor that's creaking
I've been ready to ka-boom for a week
Put on your stockings and your powder and blush
Keep it all on the hush, hush, hush
Do the Metropolitan Glide
Do the Metropolitan Glide
Do the Metropolitan Glide
Do the Metropolitan Glide
The Metropolitan!
Do the Metropolitan Glide
Do the Metropolitan Glide
"Metropolitan Glide" is a song by Tom Waits from his album "Glitter and Doom Live". The song starts with a repeated phrase "Are you ready?" before launching into a story about a nightclub where everyone knows how to have a good time. The verses describe the atmosphere at the club - the music is pumping, people are dancing and having a great time. The chorus urges the listener to join in with the fun, and do the "Metropolitan Glide". The song features a range of vivid imagery, including references to 29 gypsies in a Cadillac, a Rainbow Trout, a dog bone, a mean black swan and high heeled shoes.
Line by Line Meaning
Are you ready!?
The singer is hyping up the listeners and asking if they are ready to dance.
Knocky Parker told Bowlegged Sal
Two people who may have some sway in the dance community are mentioned.
They all know how to kick it in Cal
Cal represents California where people are known to party and dance.
They're playing this dope and this-a money tune
The song being played is new and trendy and the people are enjoying it.
Dancing baby with a 7 mile broom
Someone is dancing with a broom that is so long it is as if it is 7 miles in length.
Things are bulging out the rafters like hell
The place is packed to the point where the walls are bulging outwards.
Down there at the Hush Hotel
The party is taking place at a secret location - the Hush Hotel.
They're jumping right out of their seats,
The people are so excited that they are jumping up and down.
dancing to the bran' new beat
The people are loving the new music and are dancing to it.
Do the Metropolitan Glide
The song is telling the listeners to dance the Metropolitan Glide.
The floor is polished and your momma's gone
The dance floor is spotless and clear - no one's mother is there to tell them to behave.
You can quake and roll and moan
The dancers can move in any way they choose.
29 gypsies in a Cadillac stoned
A group of people, possibly hippies, are riding in a Cadillac and are high on drugs.
Turn off the ringer on your cellular phone
The song is advocating for people to disconnect from the outside world and just dance.
Whip the air like a Rainbow Trout
The dancers are moving their arms and having fun.
Drag your tail pipe till you bottom out
People are dancing so hard their clothes are getting ruined and torn.
The low bottom of the China moon
A nonsensical phrase that echoes the song's offbeat nature.
The black swan and the way too soon
More meaningless points, creating a mood rather than a message.
Ace pocket and the dog bone gone
The slang used in this line is nonsensical, but carries that carefree vibe.
The peacock and the mean black swan
Imagery is being used to create the mood of the song.
The rain shower and high heeled shoe
This line does not carry a deeper meaning and is more for the mood of the song.
Bombay money and I know I can do it
More nonsensical lyrics to set the tone of the song.
The sinkhole and the victory dance
The song creates an absurd mood through these nonsensical phrases.
It's in the pocket in the real tight pants
A quirky way to describe being in the zone with your dance moves.
Show your teeth, bray like a calf
Instructions on how to dance the Metropolitan Glide.
You kill me with your machine gun laugh
A playful compliment to one of the dancers.
You make me trouble with the floor that's creaking
The dancers are having so much fun they are making the floor creak in the Hush Hotel.
I've been ready to ka-boom for a week
The singer has been so excited to dance that he has been ready for a week straight.
Put on your stockings and your powder and blush
Instructions on how to dress up and get ready to party.
Keep it all on the hush, hush, hush
Dance party needs to be kept a secret.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, JALMA MUSIC
Written by: KATHLEEN BRENNAN, THOMAS ALAN WAITS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
punkpoetry
Dumb critics wrote Real Gone off as "too long" and unruly, which truly only goes to show the kind of shallow unimaginative dullards get to be music critics. it's arguably his greatest album, jam packed with astonishingly original songs
uhproovved
I agree that some did write this album off. (It's almost as if they were saving it for orphans. I still don't know what the 180° on that was for.) In the grander scheme of things I don't think it's to the extent in which you speak. Looking at the reviews for this thing, while they aren't 5/5 or "THIS IS FUCKING MASTERPIECE" It was pretty genrally well liked by the critcs. Hell the lowest review was 2/5 and that was just one publication.
FreakingJames
I doubt this is his greatest but I'll agree it's really great record and a really underrated one all around.
TingleLovesYou
@Jonathan Bennetts Not strange. I wish this album was even longer!
Jonathan Bennetts
This and Mule variations are my favorite Waits albums, does that make me strange? Fuck the critics.
Philip Blues
Tom is a man who's music you must appreciate to love it to the bone. actually is he a genius.
Zero
im imagining being at an old fashion club where ppl r joining in playing with thier own instruments as tom is singing for an underground building and making the place shake to the beat, love it
Alonda Thomas
Hell yeah---this was the song that made me get this CD, and I still love it to this day. It's weird as hell, but then, of course it's weird---it's a Tom Waits song,lol. If it wasn't weird, it wouldn't be a Waits song,either,lol.
Ryan Hale
Tom Waits' music is to be experienced LIVE! In my humble opinion it is far superior. Take in the energy of this and compare it to the live version from Glitter & Doom and you'll see what I mean. I feel like The Stones are another band I feel the same way about.
Aun Collective
I've been to quite a few great shows, but haven't seen Waits live. I need to start keeping track of any one-off shows that get announced.