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."
Nighthawk Postcards
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
As a neon swizzle stick stirrin' up the sultry night air
And a yellow biscuit of a buttery cue ball moon
Rollin' maverick across an obsidian sky
As the busses go groanin' and wheezin'
Down on the corner I'm freezin'
On a restless boulevard at a midnight road
I'm across town from easy street
With the tight knots of moviegoers and out of towners
On the stroll
And the buildings towering high above
Lit like dominoes or black dice
All the used car salesmen dressed up in
Purina Checkerboard slacks
And Foster Grant wrap-around,
Pacing in front of Earl Schlieb
$39.95 merchandise
Like barkers at a shootin' gallery
They throw out kind of a Texas Guinan routine
"Hello sucker, we like your money
Just as well as anybody else's here"
Or they give you the P.T. Barnum bit
"There's a sucker born every minute
You just happened to be comin' along at the right time"
Come over here now
You know, all the harlequin sailors are on the stroll
In a search of "Like new," "new paint,"
Decent factory air and am-fm dreams
And the piss yellow gypsy cabs
Stacked up in the taxi zones waitin' like
Pinball machines
To be ticking off a joy ride to a magical place
Waitin' in line like "truckers welcome" diners
With dirt lots full of
Peterbilts, Kenworths, Jimmy's and the like, and
They're highballing' with bankrupt brakes, over driven
Under paid, over fed, a day late and a dollar short
But Christ I got my lips around a bottle and
My foot on the throttle and I'm standin' on the corner
Standin' on the corner like a "just in town"
Jasper, on a street corner with a gasper loo
The lyrics of Tom Waits's song "Nighthawk Postcards" paint a vivid picture of a restless night in the city. The singer describes the scene outside, where a blur drizzle down the plate glass and a neon swizzle stick stir up the sultry night air. He also observes the yellow biscuit of a buttery cue ball moon rolling maverick across an obsidian sky. As busses go groaning and wheezing past the corner, the singer is freezing on a restless boulevard at a midnight road, across town from easy street.
The scene described in the song is further populated with various characters - tight knots of moviegoers and out of towners on the stroll, buildings towering high above, used car salesmen dressed up in Purina Checkerboard slacks and Foster Grant wrap-around pacing in front of their merchandise. The singer also notes the harlequin sailors on the stroll, in search of "like new," "new paint," decent factory air, and am-fm dreams. Finally, the singer himself is standing on the corner, like a "just in town" Jasper, with a gasper (cigarette) in his mouth and his foot on the throttle.
The song paints a bleak but irresistible picture of the city at night, full of temptation and danger. The bleakness is reflected not only in the cold and the dirty streets, but also in the desperate characters looking for an escape from their mundane lives.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a blur drizzle down the plate glass
The rain is splattering on the window with a blurry effect
As a neon swizzle stick stirrin' up the sultry night air
The neon lights are creating a nice atmosphere
And a yellow biscuit of a buttery cue ball moon
The moon looks like a yellow biscuit that is rolling abruptly
Rollin' maverick across an obsidian sky
The moon is rolling across a dark, black sky
As the busses go groanin' and wheezin'
The buses are making a lot of noise
Down on the corner I'm freezin'
The singer is cold while standing on the corner
On a restless boulevard at a midnight road
The singer is on a street at night that is full of energy
I'm across town from easy street
The artist is far away from a comfortable life
With the tight knots of moviegoers and out of towners
There are a lot of people gathered around the artist
On the stroll
People are walking around aimlessly
And the buildings towering high above
The buildings are very tall and stretch into the sky
Lit like dominoes or black dice
The buildings are brightly lit and look like a set of dominoes or black dice
All the used car salesmen dressed up in
People who work at a used car dealership are dressed in
Purina Checkerboard slacks
Patterned pants
And Foster Grant wrap-around,
Sunglasses
Pacing in front of Earl Schlieb
Salespeople are walking in front of a specific business
$39.95 merchandise
The products for sale are priced at $39.95
Like barkers at a shootin' gallery
The salespeople are like carnival barkers
They throw out kind of a Texas Guinan routine
People are being sold to in an entertaining manner
"Hello sucker, we like your money
The salespeople are friendly, but their ultimate goal is to take the buyer's money
Just as well as anybody else's here"
Their goal is the same as all other salespeople
Or they give you the P.T. Barnum bit
Salespeople give a spiel similar to P.T. Barnum
"There's a sucker born every minute
There is someone who will fall for a scam every minute
You just happened to be comin' along at the right time"
The buyer is in the right place at the right time
Come over here now
The salespeople want the buyer to come over to where they are
You know, all the harlequin sailors are on the stroll
People who are dressed in flashy clothing are walking around aimlessly
In a search of "Like new," "new paint,"
People are looking for things that are like new and have a fresh coat of paint
Decent factory air and am-fm dreams
People are interested in buying vehicles with good automobile factory air conditioning and AM-FM radios
And the piss yellow gypsy cabs
Yellow taxis are sitting in the taxi zone
Stacked up in the taxi zones waitin' like
The taxis are lined up and waiting like a bunch of pinball machines
Pinball machines
The taxis are lined up closely like a row of pinball machines
To be ticking off a joy ride to a magical place
The taxis are waiting to take people on a fun ride to a special destination
Waitin' in line like "truckers welcome" diners
The taxis are lined up in a fashion that is similar to how truck stops and diners say 'truckers welcome'
With dirt lots full of
The area is filled with parking lots that are full of
Peterbilts, Kenworths, Jimmy's and the like, and
There are large trucks and other similar vehicles parked everywhere
They're highballin' with bankrupt brakes, over driven
The drivers of these vehicles drive very fast and are not very good at driving
Under paid, over fed, a day late and a dollar short
The drivers are not paid enough, but they eat a lot and are behind schedule and have no money left over
But Christ I got my lips around a bottle and
The singer has a bottle and is taking a drink
My foot on the throttle and I'm standin' on the corner
The singer is standing on the corner with their foot on the gas pedal
Standin' on the corner like a "just in town"
The artist is standing on the corner like a tourist
Jasper, on a street corner with a gasper loo
The artist is on the street corner with a lit cigarrette in their mouth
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: TOM WAITS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Geezer Gonewild
One of his best poems, IMHO. A masterpiece. Pure genius!
RYAN LARSON
I'm not an enormous Tom Waits fan, but I love this album.
pnwoods
How is it this Album, in particular, this accurate tale chronicle of the human condition, receives not even a passing mention in Tom Waits Wikipedia?
Everyone has their own 'keeper' album list. This one's on mine. Indebted to your music, Mr. Waits. Thank you.
Chuck Abbate
The musicianship is just top flite....
419 Buckeye
You have to be kidding me this is his best when I first heard of him this is the album people told me to check out lol
Voklst Westie
The master at work...
J Luther
Doing funny things with the Air. Yes Mr Waits you certainly are..
Daniel Bachar
Brilliant!!!
porcupinecone
...the ghost of Gene Krupa with an overhead cam and glasspacks...
Man, oh man
Hey You
not only arcades…….arts and crafts as well