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."
Underground
Tom Waits Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There's a rumblin' groan down below
There's a big dark town, it's a place I've found
There's a world going on underground
They're alive, they're awake
While the rest of the world is asleep
Below the mineshaft roads it will all unfold
All the roots hang down
Swing from town to town
They are marching around down under your boots
All the trucks unload
Beyond the gopher holes
There's a world going on underground
Tom Waits's song Underground is a poetic representation of the world that exists beneath our feet. The lyrics depict a vivid picture of a world that is alive and awake, while the rest of the world is asleep. The singer describes a big dark town that he has found, which lies in the danger zone. The town is a representation of the underground world that is bustling with life.
The lyrics portray the activity that happens in the underground world. The roots of trees hang down and swing from town to town, while trucks unload their cargo beyond the gopher holes. The world beneath our feet is in constant motion, with life thriving in every corner. The singer urges the listeners to pay attention to the world that is going on underground, reminding us that it is an essential part of our existence.
Overall, the song is a reminder to appreciate the beauty that is hidden beneath the surface and to acknowledge the significance of the underground world. The song encourages us to take notice of the world we often ignore and highlights the importance of the interconnectedness of all things in our environment.
Line by Line Meaning
Rattle big black bones in the danger zone
Something ominous and unsettling is moving with force in a hazardous area
There's a rumblin' groan down below
A deep, unsettling noise is coming from beneath
There's a big dark town, it's a place I've found
Somewhere hidden and unspoken of is a large and foreboding settlement
There's a world going on underground
An entire life and society exists below the surface, unknown to most
They're alive, they're awake
The hidden community is active and energetic, in contrast to the sleeping world above
While the rest of the world is asleep
The outside world is unaware and uninterested in what's happening beneath them
Below the mineshaft roads it will all unfold
The secrets and happenings will reveal themselves in the network of subterranean passages
All the roots hang down
The roots of plants above ground dangle as if connected to something below
Swing from town to town
These roots seem to be moving from place to place underground
They are marching around down under your boots
The society is active and moving right beneath the feet of those above
All the trucks unload
Goods and supplies are brought into the underground city
Beyond the gopher holes
Even beyond small openings in the ground, there's a larger world being hidden
There's a world going on underground
The song reiterates the fact that something complex and intricate exists beneath the earth's surface.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, JALMA MUSIC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Thomas Alan Waits
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@piskow4229
Rattle big black bones
In the danger zone
There's a rumblin' groan
Down below
There's a big dark town
It's a place i've found
There's a world going on
Underground
They're alive, they're awake
While the rest of the world is asleep
Below the mine shaft roads
It will all unfold
There's a world going on
Underground
All the roots hang down
Swing from town to town
They are marching around
Down under your boots
All the trucks unload
Beyond the gopher holes
There's a world going on
Underground
@Doodle52
Lyrics:
Rattle big black bones
In the danger zone
There's a rumblin' groan
Down below
There's a big dark town
It's a place i've found
There's a world going on
Underground
They're alive, they're awake
While the rest of the world is asleep
Below the mine shaft roads
It will all unfold
There's a world going on
Underground
All the roots hang down
Swing from town to town
They are marching around
Down under your boots
All the trucks unload
Beyond the gopher holes
There's a world going on
Underground
@untitledjunk03
Madame Gasket: ”Alright! Break Time...”
Every Single Worker: “Huh?!”
Madame Gasket: “Alright, Break Time is over! Chop, Chop! (Laughs) Oh, look who’s here!”
Ratchet: “Hi, Mom.”
Madame Gasket: “Hi, Sweetie! How’s my boy?”
Ratchet: ”Great! I did just what you told me; “no more spare parts”. In a couple of weeks, all of those broken down losers out there are gonna be nothing, but scrap metal! You will be up to your bloomers in broken outmode junk!
Madame Gasket: “Such a good boy! And after you finish off Bigweld, there will be nobody out there to fix them.”
Ratchet: ”Exactly! …Y-You want to swing that one by me again?”
Madame Gasket: ”Idiot! Those outmodes look up to him. Suppose he decides to come back!”
Ratchet: “Oh come on, Mom! He’s not gonna be in any trouble, where he is.”
Madame Gasket: “What are you afraid of?! Grow some bolts! Or do you want to end up like your father?”
Mr. Gasket: ”Hey, Son! Good to see you.”
Madame Gasket: “Think what it would mean. Not Bigweld Industries- Ratchet Industries!”
Ratchet: “Keep talking.”
Madame Gasket: ”Ratchet City!”
Ratchet: Yes. Everything... shiny.”
Madame Gasket: “No more Bigweld… No more outmodes!”
Ratchet: ”LEEEEEEEEEETTT’S do it!”
Madame Gasket: “That’s my boy!”
(“Underground” continues to play, as they both dance for a brief moment)
Madame Gasket: “Are you hungry? Can I get you something? You look thin...”
Ratchet: “No, no, no, Mom. I gotta go, bye! Oh, bye Pop.”
Mr. Gasket: ”So long, son. Good luck with your dastardly plans.”
(“Underground” plays once again, as the scene transitions to Rodney in a trash can)
@emmanueldearcos4701
I never thought it was an actual song, from an actual artist. I thought they were at the studio like “okay how would robots sing a song of slavery?”
@TheImpracticalGuy
This is a hilariously underrated comment. I had the same exact experience 😂
@justicedunham4088
Not just slavery, but also genocide and organ harvesting
@yume5338
i have a feeling they designed that entire scene inspired from the song alone
@boneytony5041
Black markets are necessary
@blindly444
How robots sing of slavery? 🧐
We all lift together
@docrussian1806
He sounds like a living cigarette but its pretty good.
@isetta4083
Exactly
@isaacman112
He pretty much was.
@Drockaggie25
RIP Soldier