tom waits

Tom Waits occupies a place that is truly unique in all of music. Early on in his career, Waits was known primarily as the guy who wrote all those great songs for laid back seventies "mellow-rock" artists from California like the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt. On his recent albums, even Bob Dylan has adopted the vocal "croak" made famous by Waits.

That same croak has become what people have come to know Tom Waits best by over the years, dating back at least as far as mid-seventies albums like Small Change and the classic Nighthawks At The Diner live set.

Tom Waits has taken on the role of everything from carnival barker to bohemian beat-poet, to seedy piano-bar lounge singer in his songs. There was even a period for awhile there in the nineties when he turned the Euro-noir of Bertoldt Brecht on its ear. The common thread running through most all of Waits' songs though is his embrace of the dregs of society's seedier underbelly.

With that unmistakable voice — it can best be described as the result of far too many nights of cheap, rot-gut whiskey and cigarettes — Waits has that part down to a science. From the guy eating his "Eggs And Sausage" on Nighthawks to the grifters hawking their wares on the corner of Heartattack And Vine, no one sounds quite like him. You'll find bloggers discussing and dissecting the music of Tom Waits at sites like Eyeball Kid and Tom Waits Fan.

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Latest blogosphere posts tagged “tom waits”

 

• Producer at iconic 4AD label explains the magic behind some of his favourite tracks

  
  Bowers & Wilkins blog — Authority: 128
  "For me engineering and record production are about helping people make artistic, creative and forward thinking music whilst giving that music an appropriate and exciting sonic world to live in. Real magic can occur when an artist and a producer/engineer work together to create something truly special from the ...
  5 days ago

• Dave Grohl Performs On Stage With The Rolling Stones During World Tour

  
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  Dave Grohl just turns up everywhere, doesn’t he? Yep, D. Grizzle was the latest in a long line of guests to join Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the rest of The Rolling Stones on stage for their 50 And Counting tour, taking to the stage to sing and play guitar in California last Saturday night. Dave leapt ...
  5 days ago

• Here is a 1979 Tom Waits Special from Austrian TV

  
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  [via Open Culture] This was shot on April 19, 1979 by filmmakers Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher for Austrian TV. According to Rossacher, Waits didn’t want to do an interview but did want to tell stories which turns out to be even better than an interview. The post Here is a 1979 Tom Waits Special from Austrian ...
  2 weeks ago

• Tom Waits Sings and Tells Stories in Tom Waits: A Day in Vienna, a 1979 Austrian Film

  
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  Via Open Culture , a cool old Tom Waits film. Happy Friday! Tom Waits Sings and Tells Stories inTom Waits: A Day in Vienna, a 1979 Austrian Film May 8th, 2013 The film opens at a derelict gas station. A paper sign, peeling from the wall, warns in German that open flames and smoking are dangerous and ...
  2 weeks ago

• I have to say, I really like Tom Waits new backing band

  
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  The Rolling Stones official take on Tom Waits guest appearance at their Oracle Arena show, Sunday May 5th:
  2 weeks ago

• Top 102 Albums⁺ No 9 Swordfishtrombones

  
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  Top 102 Albums⁺ No 9 Swordfishtrombones - Tom Waits " theyre alive, theyre awake while the rest of the world is asleep " I dont think Ive ever taken to any artist quite like Tom Waits. I was sixteen and all I knew of him was the live version of The Piano Has Been Drinking , which I had seen him play on The ...
  2 weeks ago

• Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 3

  
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  One of the first articles that I ever wrote for this blog was about Colin Stetson. He hasn’t been mentioned again since then, but that’s because the man has been hard at work as a seasoned multi-reedist for acts such as Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Feist, and Tom Waits. Whenever you see Stetson’s name in a headline, ...
  2 weeks ago

• Tom Waits & the Rolling Stones perform Little Red Rooster

  
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  From the opening week of the Stones tour, they invited Tom Waits to sing with them last night at the Oracle Arena in Oakland:
  2 weeks ago

• Feature :: Introducing Lance Whalen

  
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  Sometimes, when you’re not even looking for it, greatness finds you. Such is the case with how I met Lance Whalen . Why explain it, when I can just show it to you (below). Surprised by this brief conversation, I looked at Lance’s Twitter profile where I found his website. He has a few songs posted there ...
  2 weeks ago

• What’s your favourite Tom Waits song?

  
  Furious Purpose — Authority: 135
  I was just browsing the net looking for lists of the Best Tom Waits Songs, like this one here, there’s a few out there. And while I really like “Christmas Card From A Hooker in Minneapolis” or “God’s Away On … Continue reading →
  2 weeks ago

• Each Image is a Still from a Western Tom Waits Anton Corbijn Photography

  
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  WAITS/CORBIJN ‘77-‘11 is the celebration of an artistic collaboration that reaches back more than 35 years, to those first black-and-white photographs of Tom Waits taken by a young and virtually unknown Anton Corbijn in Holland in 1977. Corbijn would go on to acclaim for his iconic, enigmatic portraits of ...
  3 weeks ago

• House of Cards Star Corey Stoll Doesnt Bother With Cable

  
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  Specs Who  Corey Stoll  Age 37 Accomplishments Starred as Rep. Peter Russo (D-Pa.) on Netflix’s House of Cards ; played Ernest Hemingway in Midnight in Paris ; appearing in the films Glass Chin and Non-Stop, out this fall Base New York What’s the first information you consume in the morning? It’s ...
  3 weeks ago

• House of Cards Star Corey Stoll Doesnt Bother With Cable

  
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  Specs Who  Corey Stoll  Age 37 Accomplishments Starred as Rep. Peter Russo (D-Pa.) on Netflix’s House of Cards ; played Ernest Hemingway in Midnight in Paris ; appearing in the films Glass Chin and Non-Stop, out this fall Base New York What’s the first information you consume in the morning? It’s ...
  3 weeks ago

• House of Cards Star Corey Stoll Doesnt Bother With Cable

  
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  Specs Who  Corey Stoll  Age 37 Accomplishments Starred as Rep. Peter Russo (D-Pa.) on Netflix’s House of Cards ; played Ernest Hemingway in Midnight in Paris ; appearing in the films Glass Chin and Non-Stop, out this fall Base New York What’s the first information you consume in the morning? It’s ...
  3 weeks ago

• House of Cards Star Corey Stoll Doesnt Bother With Cable

  
  — Authority:
  Specs Who  Corey Stoll  Age 37 Accomplishments Starred as Rep. Peter Russo (D-Pa.) on Netflix’s House of Cards ; played Ernest Hemingway in Midnight in Paris ; appearing in the films Glass Chin and Non-Stop, out this fall Base New York What’s the first information you consume in the morning? It’s ...
  3 weeks ago

• House of Cards Star Corey Stoll Doesnt Bother With Cable

  
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  Specs Who  Corey Stoll  Age 37 Accomplishments Starred as Rep. Peter Russo (D-Pa.) on Netflix’s House of Cards ; played Ernest Hemingway in Midnight in Paris ; appearing in the films Glass Chin and Non-Stop, out this fall Base New York What’s the first information you consume in the morning? It’s ...
  3 weeks ago

• House of Cards Star Corey Stoll Doesnt Bother With Cable

  
  — Authority:
  Specs Who  Corey Stoll  Age 37 Accomplishments Starred as Rep. Peter Russo (D-Pa.) on Netflix’s House of Cards ; played Ernest Hemingway in Midnight in Paris ; appearing in the films Glass Chin and Non-Stop, out this fall Base New York What’s the first information you consume in the morning? It’s ...
  3 weeks ago

• House of Cards Star Corey Stoll Doesnt Bother With Cable

  
  — Authority:
  Specs Who  Corey Stoll  Age 37 Accomplishments Starred as Rep. Peter Russo (D-Pa.) on Netflix’s House of Cards ; played Ernest Hemingway in Midnight in Paris ; appearing in the films Glass Chin and Non-Stop, out this fall Base New York What’s the first information you consume in the morning? It’s ...
  3 weeks ago

• Tom Waits :: Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour (Spoken Word)

  
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  For fellow Tom Waits freaks, the pairing of Waits guesting on Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour is something like manna. The following five tracks find Waits calling in to Dylan’s show, commenting on various subjects, reveling in the everyday bizarre. Fantastic. Listen/stream, HERE.
  3 weeks ago

• TOP FIVE — SONGS ABOUT FOOD

  
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  Or at least tangentially about food. And like all good lists this one goes, in alphabetical order, to 11. The Band – “Home Cookin’” from  A Musical History. A 1976 outtake, this is Rick Danko near his vulnerable best. Carolyn Mark & the New Best Friends – “Yanksgiving” from  The Pros and ...
  3 weeks ago

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