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."
Strange Weather
Tom Waits Lyrics
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London Bridge is falling down
Strange a woman tries to save
What a man will try to drown
And it's the rain that they predicted
Its the forecast every time
The rose has died because you picked it
I believe that brandy's mine
And all over the world strangers
Talk only about the weather
All over the world
It's the same, it's the same
And the world is getting flatter
And the sky is falling all around
Oh and nothing is the matter
For I never cry in town
And a love like ours, my dear
Is best measured when its down
And I never buy umbrellas
Cause there's always one around
And all over the world strangers
Talk only about the weather
All over the world
It's the same, it's the same
And you know that its beginning
And you know that its the end
Once again we are strangers
As the fog comes rolling in
And all over the world strangers
Talk only about the weather
All over the world
It's the same, it's the same
It's the same
In Tom Waits's song, Strange Weather, the lyrics are contemplative and poetic, exploring the themes of the unpredictability of weather and the transience of love. The opening lines refer to the Channel, as Waits sets the scene with the impending sense of danger, and the fragility of London Bridge. As the song progresses, we hear references to drowning and saving, which are suggestive of two people trying to navigate their way through an uncertain love. The lyrics convey a sense of loneliness and alienation, with the recurring lines "all over the world strangers, talk only about the weather" highlighting the fact that despite our differences, we all share a natural connection to the world around us.
The lyrics to Strange Weather are both metaphoric and enigmatic, with Waits using the shifting and unpredictable nature of the weather to explore the impermanence of human relationships. The song's mood is melancholic and has a vintage feel with mournful piano riffs that add to its haunting appeal. Overall, Strange Weather is a haunting musing on the transience of happiness and the inevitable changes that we experience in life.
Line by Line Meaning
Will you take me across the Channel
Will you accompany me on a journey across the Channel?
London Bridge is falling down
The iconic London Bridge is deteriorating and may soon collapse.
Strange a woman tries to save
It is surprising that a woman is attempting to rescue someone or something.
What a man will try to drown
It is not uncommon for a man to intentionally submerge or suffocate something or someone.
And it's the rain that they predicted
The precipitation is as anticipated and forecast by meteorologists.
Its the forecast every time
The weather predictions are consistently accurate.
The rose has died because you picked it
You caused the demise of the rose by plucking it from its natural environment.
I believe that brandy's mine
I am confident that the brandy belongs to me.
And all over the world strangers
People who are unfamiliar with each other
Talk only about the weather
Engage in conversation solely about meteorological conditions
It's the same, it's the same
This is a universal phenomenon that is consistent across geographic locations
And the world is getting flatter
The world is becoming increasingly interconnected in a globalized society
And the sky is falling all around
The state of the world may be in chaos or disarray
Oh and nothing is the matter
Despite external appearances, there is no reason for concern.
For I never cry in town
I refuse to display emotional vulnerability in public.
And a love like ours, my dear
The intensity and depth of our relationship can only be accurately assessed during difficult times.
Is best measured when its down
The most accurate gauge of our feelings toward each other is when we are faced with challenges or adversity.
And I never buy umbrellas
I never need to purchase an umbrella because someone else always has one available for me to borrow.
Cause there's always one around
There is consistently a surplus of umbrellas in my vicinity.
And you know that its beginning
You are aware that a new chapter or phase is commencing.
And you know that its the end
You are aware that something is coming to a conclusion or termination.
Once again we are strangers
We are becoming unfamiliar with each other once more.
As the fog comes rolling in
The fog, a metaphor for confusion or obfuscation, is obscuring the clarity of the situation.
It's the same, it's the same
This is an unchanging, consistent phenomenon.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Kathleen Brennan, Thomas Alan Waits
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
RLee Roberts
IM HERE COS I KNOW WHAT GOOD FUKKIN MUSIC SOUNDS LIKE .
Başar Bilgin
sağlam
RLee Roberts
ARMIDA THE ROSE HAS DIED COS YOU PICKED IT.
Dani Kap
Big