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”

 

• Tom Waits - Make It Rain

  
  themode music blog — Authority:
  
  1 day ago

• STARTING 2012 WITH A FEW “KEY AUTOGRAPHS”

  
  Hollywood Autograph News — Authority: 79
  I’ve been going a bit crazy since returning from my holiday vacation. Sorry, I haven’t had the opportunity to update my blog or list many new items for sale since the beginning of the year. Between my full-time job and running around town for signatures during my off-hours - I’ve been completely exhausted. ...
  4 days ago

• BetteBack – Thursday, November 3, 1988: Where Goes Midler, There Goes Waits…

  
  BootLeg Betty — Authority: 125
  The Daily Herald No Doritos for Tom Waits Thursday, November 3, 1988 Tom Waits doesn’t like Frito Lay selling Doritos by using a singer who sounds just like him. Waits filed a $2 million-plus suit in Los Angeles claiming commercials … Continue reading →
  1 week ago

• Tom Waits “Bad As Me” In Village Voice’s Pazz+Jop Poll

  
  Anti Blog — Authority: 114
  Tom Waits’ Bad As Me is #5 on the Village Voice’s 39th annual “Pazz & Jop Albums” for 2011. (The voters are comprised of top critics from coast to coast.) To see the entire poll go here.
  1 week ago

• Craig Finn lets Full Eyes stream

  
  .: chromewaves v7.5 — Authority: 412
  Jeremy Balderson At first, it’s hard to imagine what need there is for a Craig Finn solo album. After all, he gets to run roughshod over The Hold Steady records with as many words as he can manage to pair with their classic rock attack – has he really got a backlog of ideas that don’t fit that broad and ...
  1 week ago

• ‘Shore Leave’

  
  Suburban Guerrilla — Authority: 576
  …and so I slopped at the corner on cold chow mein and shot billards with a midget until the rain stopped and I bought a long sleeved shirt with horses on the front and some gum and a lighter and a knife and a new deck of cards (with girls on the back) and I sat down and wrote a letter to my wife… Bookmark It
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• The Real Congregation :: Our Favorite Records Of 2011 (Part Two) 01/17/12

  
  Nerdy Show — Authority: 110
  Part 2 of Marcs top 25 favorite records of 2011! Read More »
  1 week ago

• The Real Congregation :: Our Favorite Records Of 2011 (Part Two) 01/17/12

  
  Nerdy Show — Authority: 110
  Part 2 of Marcs top 25 favorite records of 2011! Read More »
  1 week ago

• What Stays on MetalMattLongo’s iPod

  
  MindOverMetal.org — Authority: 103
  As Metal Director/DJ at WRUV, plus owner of this website, I get sent a metric shit ton of new music every year. I was once able to house my entire MP3 collection on a 160 GB iPod Classic, but as the inevitable digital shift progressed, my virtual library grew exponentially.
  1 week ago

• One From the Heart

  
  The Guardian - guardian.co.uk — Authority: 962
  (Francis Ford Coppola, 1982, Studio Canal, 12) The most ambitious film-maker of the 1970s, Francis Ford Coppola had a string of critical and box-office successes before his triumph with Apocalypse Now . But he actually achieved disaster with One From the Heart , a grand folly comparable with Spielbergs 1941 and ...
  2 weeks ago

• Bootleg Bonanza: Tom Waits - Christchurch, New Zealand - (09/24/81)

  
  The Midnight Cafe — Authority: 117
  Download MP3@320kps: Part I , Part II Tom Waits 09/24/81 Town Hall Christchurch, New Zealand Step Right Up $29 Jitterbug Boy Annie’s Back In Town I Wish I Was In New Orleans / When The Saints Heartattack & Vine The Piano Has Been Drinking New Coat Of Paint Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis Romeo ...
  2 weeks ago

• on my way

  
  a chronology of stupidity — Authority: 98
  yesterdays morning every morning on my way to work Washington Street in the morning and the feeling reminds me of this old Tom Waits song, Old 55
  2 weeks ago

• ROY ORBISON AND FRIENDS

  
  Pop Music As Pornography — Authority: 109
  Every time we play Roy Orbison on the show (like this morning) we end up discussing the amazing 1988 Cinemax special "Roy Orbison and Friends:  Black and White Night".  Its a full hour of amazing performances by Roy playing all his classics hits, filmed in black and white at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub.  What ...
  2 weeks ago

• Bottom Of The World by Tom Waits

  
  Minty Olive — Authority: 108
  Tonight I decided to post a music video of the awesome Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Tom Waits performing the song, ‘Bottom Of The World,’ I found on the Anti Records Youtube channel.
  2 weeks ago

• 10 More Memorable Fictional Characters in Music

  
  Flavorwire — Authority: 737
  A couple of months back, our erudite music editor Judy Berman put together a list of her most memorable fictional characters from songs . The feature inspired plenty of talk, both among commenters and at Flavorpill HQ, and we’ve been meaning to do a follow-up ever since. Now, with all our end-of-year list making ...
  2 weeks ago

• Foreign Slippers – Avalanche

  
  iheardin — Authority: 423
  Foreign Slippers is the musical identity of Sweden’s Gabi Frödén . Singing in flawless English, she rips through a song that is simultaneously Tom Waits , Feist , and PJ Harvey on Avalanche . I love an artists that can break the mold of singer-songwriter. Enough of a pop mentality to keep the song ...
  2 weeks ago

• Greatest Un-Hits: Porcelain Black’s “This Is What Rock n’ Roll Looks Like” (2011)

  
  Popdose — Authority: 515
  Being influenced by and being extremely similar to are two different things, separated by a thin line. The biggest musical success of the last few years has been Lady Gaga. While her music is mostly well-made albeit familiar dance pop, what made her enormously successful was her persona and look. She made being really ...
  2 weeks ago

• New years eve

  
  ... Stupefaction ... — Authority: 420
  Looks like new years eve to me. Shot by Junku Nishimura ( via ) Tom Waits "New Years Eve" from Bad As Me :
  2 weeks ago

• Wilco drummer talks shop

  
  Listening Room Blog — Authority: 92
  While this blog tends to focus on the guitar-related aspects of the music scene (for good reason: the founder plays guitar as does this contributor), here’s a treat for the drum geeks out there. The L.A. Times has a really interesting Q&A with Glenn Kotche, the drummer for Wilco. Here’s my favorite excerpt: ...
  2 weeks ago

• Bad liver and a broken heart

  
  Cameravagrant — Authority: 101
  Well I got a bad liver and a broken heart yea I drunk me a river since you tore me apart and I don’t have a drinking problem cept when I can’t get a drink I been chippied I been chumped on my stool so buy this fool, some spirits and libations in these railroad station bars - Tom Waits
  3 weeks ago

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