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."
Somewhere
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Somewhere a place for us
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us
Somewhere
There's a time for us
Someday there'll be a time for us
Time together with time to spare
Time to care
Someday, somewhere
We'll find a new way of living
We'll find there's a way of forgiving
Somewhere
There's a place for us
A time and a place for us
Hold my hand and we're half way there
Hold my hand
And I'll take you there
Somehow
Someday, somewhere
Tom Waits's song Somewhere is a reflective piece that explores the idea of hope in the face of adversity. The opening lines, "There's a place for us/ Somewhere a place for us," suggest a longing for a better world, a place of peace and tranquility. The repeated use of the word "somewhere" throughout the song creates a sense of uncertainty and a feeling that the singer is searching for something they cannot yet grasp. The idea of time is also explored in the lyrics, with the singer expressing a desire for time to learn and care, and a hope that someday there will be enough time for everything.
The second verse of the song, "We'll find a new way of living/ We'll find there's a way of forgiving," suggests that the singer is aware that change is necessary for the world to become a better place. The repetition of "we'll find" emphasizes the singer's determination to keep searching for a better way of life, and highlights their belief that it is possible to make things better. The final chorus of the song, "Hold my hand and we're half way there/ Hold my hand/ And I'll take you there/ Somehow/ Someday, somewhere," further emphasizes the idea of hope, and suggests that by supporting and caring for one another, people can find their way to a better future.
Overall, Tom Waits's Somewhere is a song that explores the theme of hope and the human desire for a better world. The repeated use of the words "somewhere" and "somehow" highlights the idea of uncertainty and the need for perseverance in the search for a better life, while the focus on time and learning emphasizes the importance of personal growth and change. The final chorus, with its focus on holding hands and supporting one another, suggests that by coming together and supporting each other, people can create a better future.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a place for us
There exists a place, which is ideal for us
Somewhere a place for us
Somewhere out there, we will find the perfect place for us
Peace and quiet and open air
The place will offer peace, quiet, and plenty of open air
Wait for us
We only need to wait, and eventually we will find the right place
Somewhere
The exact location of this perfect place is unknown, but we will find it somewhere
There's a time for us
There will be a specific moment in time that is meant for us
Someday there'll be a time for us
At some point in the future, there will be a perfect period of time for us
Time together with time to spare
During this perfect time, we will have quality time together, as well as extra time to use as we please
Time to learn
We'll be given ample time to learn and grow
Time to care
We'll have the time and resources necessary to care for each other
Someday, somewhere
At some unspecified point in time, and at an unknown location, we will discover what we've been searching for
We'll find a new way of living
We will uncover new methods of living our lives, which will be more fulfilling and meaningful than before
We'll find there's a way of forgiving
We will learn how to forgive each other, which will provide us with much-needed peace and harmony
Somewhere
The perfect location for us is out there somewhere, waiting to be found
There's a place for us
The place we're searching for definitely exists
A time and a place for us
There is a specific time and location that will provide the ideal environment for our growth and happiness
Hold my hand and we're half way there
If we support and encourage each other by holding hands, we'll be well on our way to our ideal destination
Hold my hand
I'll be there to help and support you during this journey
And I'll take you there
I'll do what it takes to ensure that we both find our way to the perfect destination
Somehow
Even if things don't always go as planned, we'll find a way to make it work and reach our destination
Someday, somewhere
At an unspecified point in the future, at an unknown location, we will find what we've been searching for
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Carlos Matos
There's a place for us
Somewhere a place for us
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us somewhere
There's a time for us
Someday a time for us
Time together, a time to spare
Time to learn, time to care
Someday, somewhere
We'll find a new way of living
We'll find a way of forgiving
Somewhere
There's a place for us, a time and a place for us
Hold my hand and we're half way there
Hold my hand and I'll take you there
Somehow, someday, somewhere
Leonard Bernstein - Stephen Sondheim
Tom
Waits
Vandal's Garage
The arrangement of this recording is stunning. If I listen to this with headphones, and I can't help but tear up.
LeVampir
I just love his music 🎶 so much meaning captured in a few precious minutes 😢
Mario Forget
Finalement, un chanteur original avec une voix remplie d’émotions. Thank you sir. 😊😊
Ally Mc music
Love this man's music other worldly no one like him anywhere
james osterberg
Beautiful arrangement
Carlos Matos
There's a place for us
Somewhere a place for us
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us somewhere
There's a time for us
Someday a time for us
Time together, a time to spare
Time to learn, time to care
Someday, somewhere
We'll find a new way of living
We'll find a way of forgiving
Somewhere
There's a place for us, a time and a place for us
Hold my hand and we're half way there
Hold my hand and I'll take you there
Somehow, someday, somewhere
Leonard Bernstein - Stephen Sondheim
Tom
Waits
Graham Reid
Another Place to Share With You , Cheers to All To Share With You , Thinking of You Graham .
Ronnie Bishop
Afterglow brought me here, in 8/17/22. His voice is unusual and fits this pretty song.
Christopher Bacon
THE best version of this song ever
lmw_blue
This album really does sound like music from like 1933. Classic Tom Waits!