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."
Rosie
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Nobody's up except the moon and me,
And a lazy old tomcat on a midnight spree
All that you left me was a melody.
Rosie, why do you evade? Rosie,
How can I persuade? Rosie
And the moon's all up, full and big,
And I've been loving you, Rosie,
Since the day I was born
And I'll love you, Rosie 'til the day I die.
Rosie, why do you evade? Rosie,
How can I persuade? Rosie
Rosie, why do you evade? Rosie,
How can I persuade? Rosie
And I'm sitting on a windowsill, blowing my horn
Nobody's up except the moon and me,
And a lazy old tomcat on a midnight spree
All that you left me was a melody.
Rosie, why do you evade?
Rosie, how can I persuade? Rosie
The lyrics of Tom Waits's song Rosie appear to be a lonely lover's lament for an unattainable woman, Rosie. The singer is sitting on a windowsill playing his horn in the middle of the night while the moon shines above him, and the only other living creature in sight is a lazy old tomcat out and about on a midnight adventure. The song speaks to the memories that the singer associates with his unrequited love for Rosie. All he has left of her is a melody, and the singer can't help but ruminate over why Rosie is evading him and how he can persuade her to come back into his life.
The mood evoked by the lyrics is one of soft melancholy interwoven with an underlying sense of resignation. The bluesy atmosphere is brought to life by Waits's gravelly tones, and the tender melody imbues the song with a sense of sentimental but rueful nostalgia. The lyrics also contain a reference to the moon and its fullness, which often signifies the passage of time and the cyclical nature of life. Ultimately, the song can be interpreted as a reflection on the fragility of human connections, the feeling of longing and loss, and the acceptance that not all loves are meant to be.
Line by Line Meaning
Well I'm sitting on a windowsill, blowing my horn
I am playing music from my windowsill.
Nobody's up except the moon and me,
It's a quiet night, and I am the only one out.
And a lazy old tomcat on a midnight spree
A cat is also out and wandering around.
All that you left me was a melody.
All that remains from my past relationship is a song.
Rosie, why do you evade? Rosie, How can I persuade? Rosie
The singer is addressing a person named Rosie and asking why she is avoiding him and how he can convince her otherwise.
And the moon's all up, full and big, Apricot tips in an indigo sky,
The moon is bright and the sky is a mixture of purples and oranges.
And I've been loving you, Rosie, since the day I was born
The singer has had feelings for Rosie his whole life.
And I'll love you, Rosie 'til the day I die.
The singer will always love Rosie.
Rosie, why do you evade? Rosie, How can I persuade? Rosie
The singer repeats his plea to Rosie.
And I'm sitting on a windowsill, blowing my horn,
The singer is still playing music from the windowsill.
Nobody's up except the moon and me,
The night is still quiet.
And a lazy old tomcat on a midnight spree
The cat is still around, exploring the night.
All that you left me was a melody.
The singer repeats that all that remains from his past relationship is a song.
Rosie, why do you evade? Rosie, how can I persuade? Rosie
The singer asks again why Rosie is avoiding him and how he can convince her otherwise.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, JALMA MUSIC
Written by: TOM WAITS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@HangNguyen-ds1ts
Well I'm sitting on a windowsill, blowing my horn
Nobody's up except the moon and me,
And a lazy old tomcat on a midnight spree
All that you left me was a melody.
Rosie, why do you evade? Rosie,
How can I persuade? Rosie
And the moon's all up, full and big,
Apricot tips in an indigo sky,
And I've been loving you, Rosie,
Since the day I was born
And I'll love you, Rosie 'til the day I die.
Rosie, why do you evade? Rosie,
How can I persuade? Rosie
Rosie, why do you evade? Rosie,
How can I persuade? Rosie
And I'm sitting on a windowsill, blowing my horn
Nobody's up except the moon and me,
And a lazy old tomcat on a midnight spree
All that you left me was a melody.
Rosie, why do you evade?
Rosie, how can I persuade? Rosie
@jondavid968
My wife and I would play this entire album over and over when we were first dating in 1977. (She has already taken her little trip to
heaven without me). But I’m sure she’s waiting for me with it spinning on an old record player. The song “Martha” made me sure I had to marry this girl. And I did.
@maryhardy2918
<3
@TheADKZN
This album was my walking home at the end of the day music when I lived in Boston.
@ObscenePlanet
I would've taken the long way home
@saulgoodman2278
Another wonderful song from one of the finest debut albums ever recorded.
@rosemaryrobledo9417
I have been a fan for many years. Love his songs
❤👌
@C.E.K.
This "Closing Time" album is the best. Thank-you Jeff and Rita!!
@misophoneofficial5283
Has grown to be more than it was somehow. Beautiful
@mikereid4707
1 of my faves... and a lazy old tomcat
...
@upsidedahead
I find it so strange that this utter musical genius has so few views and comments. Oh well , it doesn’t really matter. But I’d like to say this anyway...
Thank you Tom Waits, for making my life a much sweeter place, with your inexplicably beautiful music