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."
Shiny Things
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
They're always things it finds that shine.
And how he'll find a shiny dime,
Silver twine, from a valentine.
The crows all bring them shiny things.
Leave me alone you big ol' moon,
The light you cast is just a lighter.
You're dressed to go, you guessed, I know,
You'll always bring them shiny things.
Well I'm not dancing here tonight,
But things are bound to turn around.
The only thing I want that shines,
Is to be king there in your eyes.
To be your only shiny thing.
In Tom Waits's song Shiny Things, the singer explores the idea of finding beauty and value in the little things of life. The opening lines compare the way crows collect shiny objects to the human desire for material possessions that give us momentary pleasure. Even though these shiny trinkets do not have any intrinsic value or practical use, they hold our attention and provide an escape from reality. The allusion to the crow is significant because the bird, often associated with death and darkness, is now a symbol of the human folly of pursuing fleeting pleasures.
The next verse shifts the focus to the moon, which is seen as another source of false inspiration. The light it casts may appear magical and enchanting, but it is only an illusion that fades as soon as the moon sets. The singer once again draws a parallel between the moon and the crow, implying that both are deceptive and insubstantial. In the final verse, the singer expresses a more personal desire to be seen as valuable and important in the eyes of the person he loves. He no longer wants to chase after shiny things or illusory pleasures, but instead seeks a deeper human connection that will give his life true meaning.
Overall, Shiny Things is a song that reflects on the human craving for beauty, fantasy, and transcendence, but also acknowledges their limitations and futility in the long run. By using simple images and metaphors, Tom Waits manages to convey a profound message about the human condition and the challenges of finding true happiness and fulfillment in life.
Line by Line Meaning
The things a crow puts in its nest,
Crows fill their nest with shiny objects that they find.
They're always things it finds that shine.
Crows are always attracted to shiny objects.
And how he'll find a shiny dime,
A crow can find even the smallest shiny objects like a dime.
Silver twine, from a valentine.
The crow will pick up anything that shines, even a silver twine from a valentine.
The crows all bring them shiny things.
Crows collect and bring back shiny things to their nest.
Leave me alone you big ol' moon,
The singer is telling the moon to leave him alone.
The light you cast is just a lighter.
The moon's light is not significant compared to a lighter's flame.
You're like the crow, 'cause if it goes,
The moon is compared to a crow as it disappears or goes away.
You're dressed to go, you guessed, I know,
The moon is always dressed and ready to go, as the artist knows it will.
You'll always bring them shiny things.
The moon, like a crow, is always attracted to shiny things or objects.
Well I'm not dancing here tonight,
The singer is not in the mood for dancing.
But things are bound to turn around.
The artist believes that things will get better eventually.
The only thing I want that shines,
The only thing that the singer desires is something that shines.
Is to be king there in your eyes.
The singer wants to be the most important and valued in someone's eyes.
To be your only shiny thing.
The singer wants to be the only shiny thing in someone's life.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: KATHLEEN BRENNAN, THOMAS ALAN WAITS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Claymen
Dear Tom!
Thank you for making this beutiful song. I don't know why, but it can calm me down every time when i listen. I love it.
Brad Moon Rising
Sadly beautiful and moving. Your voice is impeccable.
Eric Simpson
Thanks for everything Tom
Doug Phillips
A favorite when drinking alone
Gabriel Cuba
I remember this song from a very old Youtube video showing footage of videogames through the years. Games evolution (19XX-2007) was the title I think. I found the song to be sad when I first listened to it on that video more than a decade ago even if I didn't speak English back then. Then when I turned 15 6 yeara ago and having gone to the institute, I could tell what the lyrics were about and it makes the song sadder
Spinderella 360
"Leave me alone you big old moon. The light you cast is just a liar"
Mark Evgenev
My Professor made me write an essay on this masterpiece.
-Notre Dame “Interpreting the Y-Axis” by Professor MacKenzie
ana sofia ruiz gallego
fantastique
sent vero
That loneliness will subside. Anyone listening to this in a messed up situation needs to understand you will find a star. No matter your beliefs and ideas. Life will find a way. I know some of you are suffering out there but I promise you will get out of it. What about death? Because that question lies in the road of the most lethargic and philosophically declined. Listen, you don’t know and have any idea what happens. That’s for you to decide. So stop worrying about shit you don’t know. I hope all of you reading this find what your looking for on this journey. God bless