Wikipedia
(contains a pretty thorough biography)
"Here is a beautiful song performed by the great Tom Waits.
Thomas Alan Waits (born in 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice (a gravelly sound reminiscent of Howlin' Wolf, a booming, feral bark, or a strained, nearly shrieking falsetto), described by one critic 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." With this trademark growl, his incorporation of pre-rock styles such as blues, jazz, and Vaudeville (he embraces a number of styles largely ignored in pop music, including primal blues, cabaret stylings, rumbas, theatrical approaches in the style of Kurt Weill, tango music, early country music and European folk music), and experimental tendencies verging on industrial music, Waits has built up a distinctive musical persona. Waits has also worked as a composer for movies and musical plays and as a supporting actor in films, including "The Fisher King", Bram Stoker's "Dracula", and "Short Cuts". He has been nominated for an Academy Award for his soundtrack work.
Lyrically, Waits' songs are known for atmospheric portrayals of bizarre, seedy characters and places, although he has also shown a penchant for more conventional ballads. He has a cult following and has influenced subsequent songwriters, despite having little radio or music video support. His songs are best known to the general public in the form of cover versions by more visible artists — for example "Jersey Girl" performed by Bruce Springsteen, "Downtown Train" performed by Rod Stewart, and "Ol' '55" performed by the Eagles. Although Waits' albums have met with mixed commercial success in his native United States, they have occasionally achieved gold album sales status in other countries. He has been nominated for a number of major music awards, and has won Grammy Awards for two albums.
Enjoy Tom Waits' unique style!"
All the Italicised stuff is out of the sidebar of this video on Youtube. i didn't write it, but I agree with it.
And I like the images used as background to the music.
The background, I like it, the voice is unique but not the type og voice that I want to listen in the morning or when I am driving it make me sleepy.
ReplyDeletei have to admit, i've not been much of a Tom Waits fan, per se .....
ReplyDeletebut i like this song, especially with his smoke and whiskey voice...
i can see myself holed up in the dark corner of some lonely bar - Tom sitting on a stool - just letting the song pour out of him: poetry really.
I'd be nursing a good whiskey, neat, all night - letting the rhythm of his words soak me while i nurse my own heartache.
i knew there was an american painter whose images i kept seeing as i listened to tom ... but the name eluded me.
ReplyDeletethank you, google: Edward Hopper ...
yeah, that's the one. Tom and Edward go together really well: Night Windows or New York Movie or Automat....