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."
Mr. Siegal
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Across the street from a catholic church,
And then I wiped off my revolver,
And I buttoned up my burgundy shirt,
I shot the morning in the back,
With my red wings on,
I told the sun he'd better go back down,
I'm goin' to burn this hotel down.
You got to tell me brave captain,
Why are the wicked so strong,
How do the angels get to sleep,
When the devil leaves the porchlight on.
Well I dropped thirty grand on the nugget slots,
I had to sell my ass on fremont street,
And the drummer said there's sanctuary,
Over at the Baghdad room,
And now it's one for the money, two for the show,
Three to get ready, and go man go,
I said tell me mr. siegel,
How do I get out of here.
Well willard's knocked out on a bottle of heat,
Drivin' dangerous curves across the dirty sheets,
He said man you ought to see her,
When her parents are gone,
Man you ought to hear her when the siren's on.
You got to tell me brave captain,
Why are the wicked so strong,
How do the angels get to sleep,
When the devil leaves the porchlight on.
Don't you know that ain't no broken bottle,
That I picked up in my headlights,
On the other side of the nevada line,
Where they live hard die young,
And have a good lookin' corpse every time,
Well the pit-boss said I should keep movin',
This is where you go when you die,
And so I shot a black beauty,
And I kissed her right between the eyes.
Well willard's knocked out on a bottle of heat,
Drivin' dangerous curves across the dirty sheets,
He said man you ought to see her,
When her parents are gone,
Man you ought to hear her when the siren's on.
You got to tell me brave captain,
Why are the wicked so strong,
How do the angels get to sleep,
When the devil leaves the porch light on.
The lyrics of Tom Wait's "Mr. Siegal" are a somewhat cryptic and fragmented story. The song appears to be about a man who has spent all his money in a Mexican whorehouse, directly across from a Catholic Church. He returns to his hotel, wipes off his revolver, and puts on his burgundy shirt. The singer then shoots the morning in the back while wearing his red wings; he tells the sun to go back down and says if he can find a book of matches, he will burn the hotel down.
The lyrics suddenly shift to the chorus, where the singer asks why the wicked are so strong and how angels can sleep when the devil leaves the porch light on. It then goes to the singer's gambling problems, where he drops thirty grand on the nugget slots and sells his ass on Fremont Street. He is advised to go to the Baghdad Room for sanctuary.
As the song progresses, the singer seems to be in trouble, unable to escape his current circumstances. The chorus is repeated, suggesting a sense of desperation and seeking for answers. He mentions Willard, who is knocked out on a bottle of heat, driving dangerous curves, and speaking about someone who he should see when her parents are gone. The song ends with the singer shooting a black beauty and kissing it right between the eyes.
The meaning of the song is ambiguous, and there could be several interpretations. One possibility is that it reflects the darkness and desperation of life on the fringes, with characters who are stuck in their circumstances and unable to escape. It could also reflect the darker side of human nature, where evil seems to be more powerful than good. The line "How do the angels get to sleep when the devil leaves the porch light on?" could be interpreted as a metaphor for the balance between good and evil in the world.
Line by Line Meaning
I spent all my money in a mexican whorehouse,
I squandered all my wealth in a brothel across from a church, and in preparation for my next act, I cleaned my gun and dressed myself stylishly.
I shot the morning in the back,
I greeted the day with violence and ill intent, while wearing my signature red boots.
I told the sun he'd better go back down,
I taunted the sun and threatened its descent, eager to continue living in darkness and sin.
And if I can find a book of matches, I'm goin' to burn this hotel down.
If I am able to locate a source of fire, I will destroy the place where I have made my temporary dwelling.
You got to tell me brave captain, Why are the wicked so strong, How do the angels get to sleep, When the devil leaves the porchlight on.
I implore you, wise captain, to explain why evil is so prevalent, and how divine beings are able to rest peacefully in a world where wickedness prevails.
Well I dropped thirty grand on the nugget slots, I had to sell my ass on fremont street, And the drummer said there's sanctuary, Over at the Baghdad room,
I recklessly gambled away a large sum of money, which led me to sell myself to survive. A fellow musician suggested I seek refuge in the Baghdad room.
And now it's one for the money, two for the show, Three to get ready, and go man go, I said tell me mr. siegel, How do I get out of here.
I make an allusion to an Elvis Presley song to express my desire to escape my current predicament, and I solicit the advice of Mr. Siegel to find a way out.
Well willard's knocked out on a bottle of heat, Drivin' dangerous curves across the dirty sheets, He said man you ought to see her, When her parents are gone, Man you ought to hear her when the siren's on.
A man named Willard is unconscious due to drug use, and brags about the pleasures of being with a girl when her parents are absent, and even more so when she engages in reckless behavior.
Don't you know that ain't no broken bottle, That I picked up in my headlights, On the other side of the nevada line, Where they live hard die young, And have a good lookin' corpse every time,
I correct a misconception that a broken bottle is a symbol of my tumultuous journey across state lines in Nevada, where people live recklessly and die young but are often seen as attractive even in death.
Well the pit-boss said I should keep movin', This is where you go when you die, And so I shot a black beauty, And I kissed her right between the eyes.
A pit boss advises me to keep moving as the place I have reached is where one goes to perish. In response, I shoot a black horse and kill it instantly.
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: TOM WAITS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@MaracujaIzSrbije
"I shot the morning in the back with my red wings on, told the sun he'd better go back down" - The most badass line you'd hear in anything, ever
@MathewDRhys
This is a goddamned fact.
@britbeee32
That and "how do the angels get to sleep when the devil leaves the porch light on"
@samlewis7878
This whole album is an epic masterpiece by the great t.Waits - who knows where a guy gets ideas like these? And then he has the stuff to put it to music and press the record button. a thousand thumbs up for this American classic...breath taking,
@Psychonautical89
The most Fallout: New Vegas jam of all time that never actually appears in a Fallout game.
@BusinessMuscles
Why does this have 4k views. This shit is peak Tom Waits.
@nelsonlugo45
Essential Waits right here
@scottmyers4453
This was my first Tom Waits album, probably back in 1984-85.....what an introduction to his music. Thanks Kelly!
@BeatdownRevival
100% Excellent!!!
@danosullivan7239
Best song ever?