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 Waitsโs 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 Freischรผtz" 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 Bรผchner. 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 โ 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 โ ideally naked and purring on the hood of a new car. I have adamantly and repeatedly refused this dubious honor."
The Black Rider
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We'll have a gay old time
Lay down in the web of the black spider
I'll drink your blood like wine
So come on in
It ain't no sin
Take off your skin
So come along with the Black Rider
We'll have a gay old time
Anchors away with the Black Rider
I'll drink your blood like wine
I'll drop you off in Harlem with the Black Rider
Out where the bullets shine
And when you're done
You cock your gun
The blood will run
Like ribbons in your hair
So come along with the Black Rider
We'll have a gay old time
Come on along with the Black Rider
I've got just the thing for thee
Come on along with the Black Rider
I want your company
I'll have the veal
A lovely meal
That's how I feel
May I use your skull for a bowl
Come on along with the Black Rider
We'll have a gay old time
The lyrics to Tom Waits's song "The Black Rider" suggest an ominous and sinister invitation to join the Black Rider on a journey. The Black Rider appears to be a symbol for death or a Grim Reaper-like figure that offers a "gay old time" for those who follow. The second line of the song suggests that joining the Black Rider means being caught in a dangerous and inescapable web that will ultimately lead to one's demise. The reference to wine in the song is another symbol for blood, which emphasizes the Black Rider's predatory and dangerous nature.
The chorus of the song invites the listener to join the Black Rider and dance around their bones. The lyrics suggest that this invitation is not only accepted, but also encouraged, as any actions taken with the Black Rider are not considered a sin. The second verse of the song introduces further danger, as the Black Rider drops the listener off in Harlem where bullets shine. The lyrics also suggest that the listener has become an accomplice to the Black Rider, as they "cock your gun" and "the blood will run like ribbons in your hair." The final verse looks like an arrangement with the Black Rider about having a meal of veal while using a human skull as a bowl.
Line by Line Meaning
Come on a long with the Black Rider
Join me, the Black Rider, on a journey.
We'll have a gay old time
We'll have a fun and enjoyable experience.
Lay down in the web of the black spider
Get caught in the trap of the Black Rider.
I'll drink your blood like wine
I will harm you and take what I want from you without any regard for your wellbeing.
So come on in
Enter into my world.
It ain't no sin
There is nothing wrong with the immoral actions I will take.
Take off your skin
Be vulnerable to me.
And dance around your bones
Let me see the core of your being and exploit it.
Anchors away with the Black Rider
Let's set sail on our journey with the Black Rider.
Out where the bullets shine
In dangerous places where violence is present and apparent.
And when you're done
After you've completed the task I have assigned you.
You cock your gun
You prepare to use lethal force.
The blood will run
There will be violence and bloodshed.
Like ribbons in your hair
The effects of violence will be visible in a striking way.
Come on along with the Black Rider
Follow me, the Black Rider, on our journey.
I've got just the thing for thee
I have something in store for you.
I'll have the veal
I will indulge in luxurious and expensive things at your expense.
A lovely meal
A meal that is both pleasurable and indulgent.
That's how I feel
This is my desire.
May I use your skull for a bowl
I will use anything at my disposal for my own benefit and pleasure.
Lyrics ยฉ O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: THOMAS A. WAITS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Mr.SmithGNR Smith
Youโre a legend sir
ThePostApocalypticTrio
I used to have an air organ. It makes this sound perfectly. I miss it!
ThePostApocalypticTrio
Yep
gristlelick
otherwise known as a reed organ, yes?
Absolute Degenerate
@Dave Hackett I don't think so.
Dave Hackett
Is that anything like a skin flute??!
Christopher Bell
The first time I heard this song I felt completely at home.๐๐
Alexander Supertramp
True art
Madam Vaudelune
Why do i always think of Max Schreck in Nosferatu make-up, smiling and singing engagingly..as the passegers mount a rickwty bus in the dead of night
HouseLyrander
Judging by the theatrical productions, you aren't far from what was intended