last updated 06.21.00
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Mr. Trussell,

I represent, SMEEP! Records, Inc., a non-profit music cooperative based in Detroit. I've taken a liking to your website on Tom Waits for along time now; specifically your art work. Yes, it is bookmarked! It has always been my belief that the more people, especially young bands, that get exposed to the work of Tom Waits...THE BETTER! You need only listen to Miles, Muddy, Dylan, JB, and Tom to get at the heart of what it's all about. Anyway that's why I linked your site to the SMEEP! Records' "PRESSLINK". I invite you to visit our site. The Presslink is located in the PRESS section at http://geocities.datacellar.net/SoHo/Studios/9075. By the way, my favorite album from Tom is "Bone Machine"...How can you not like the line, "She just goes clank boom and steam."....Hit's me down bellow everytime. Anyway Joe, thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Eric Wencel, Owner/Founder SMEEP! Records, Inc. ...........smeep@mailcity.com
Wow wonderful site!!!
I'm looking for two Tom Waits' lyrics: Hang down your head... and Falling down: do you have got them?
Thanks
Sincerely yours
Paolo
...........MEL_KERMIT@yahoo.com
Great SITE!!!
I've got a radio show on Radio bern - and guess what I LOVE to play... (http://www.rabe.ch/strictly)
Greetings from a 101% TW fan - the site is "sharp as a razor and soft as a prayer" Bye,
Nik
...........davor_ruzicic@bluewin.ch
Well, my into. to Tom has to be given to my brother. But a friend of his(ST. Christopher) really helped. At a quaint little bar in town, he would play the organ/keyboard in a band. When the rest were taking a break, he and the bass player would play Cold,Cold Ground as well a very intense version of Rocky Racoon. Of course no one knew why he sang in such a raspy voice and with such emotion.No one knew of Tom Waits except the band, the bartender, and me.My favorite album would be hard to say, but Fallin' Down would have to be the song for this moment.Great site, I am sure to visit as much as one can without owning a pc.......(no email address)
great, great, great...........ddominio@chasque.apc.org
hello and congratulations on a very good site. LOVE THE ARTWORK. I would say that DRINKS AT THE BAR is my favorite cd. Set in germany, It really has a great sound and is VERY live. THE PIANO HAS BEEN DRINKING is uncommonally livid............SIPPIN90@aol.com
I just wanted to compliment you on the page. It's good to know that some people still have good taste in music! take care and keep it up............
the Buttercat...........BUTTERCAT1@aol.com
I wanna pull on your coat about sumthin..... I just wanted to pass along a modicum of kudos relating to the Waits page you put together... Outstanding.... I especially like the graphics sections... What did you use to render those photographs like that..? Photoshop.? PSP4..? What ever it was I really like the results.... Also I was never aware of the infamous "Frito vs Waits" court case... Thanks fer posting it... Guess ya do learn somethin new everyday....
Well, I gotta go see a man about a dog......
Later......... TF...........TheForager@aol.com
Tom Waits is genius. Why won't he tour??.....
Later......... TF...........queenie@pomn.com
I just love the music ..............steve@compub.com
I remember watching the movie called "Basquiat" and enjoying myself. But then they got to the part where Andy Warhol died, and the Basquiat fellow was sitting on his bed watching old home movies of him and Andy Warhol together, and all the sudden I hear "Tom Traubert's Blues" and I thought, "Oh my god...They did this just for me. It's only for me." Funny how Tom Waits makes everyone feel that way............queenie@pomn.com
I just cannot find anything better, and I've subscribed the RAINDOGS mailig list and feel happy. Here in Russia he is not popular, but his pirated albums one can find almost everywhere. Oleg............rosspb@comset.spb.ru
Wow...........lbrill@tiger.lsu.edu
Almost as good as Captain Beefheart. Could you tell me what album "Mocking bird" is on. Only joking about the Beefheart thing............com20024@rtc-carlow
I first heard Tom Waits on a cassette that a friend had given me in 1988-89 and I have been enthralled ever since. I find myself to be in the category of a select few who have even heard him. I am from Alabama but just recently moved to Charleston, S. Carolina, so that may explain my dilemma. I haven't had the opportunity to find all of his recordings, but I cherish what I have found. I've also noticed that I can never find Tom's material in the used bins.Now that's true fan devotion............sheilao@cchat.com
I am not much on 'Bone Machine' and I hate 'Black Rider' without apology. I love the eloquent melancholy and completely unique synthesis of klesmer, jazz, blues, and Carribean and Latin influences. 'Rain Dogs' and 'Swordfish' and 'Small Change' all tie for my favorite. I was on the listserv mailing list for awhile but I didn't have the time to read all that. Also, 'Nighthawks' and 'Blue Valentine' also pretty much rule.............d__martin@hotmail.com
What a man! Unique. I first heard him in 1978 and saw him in 1984 and 1987. Waiting ever since with the hope of another concert.............ksvlad@yahoo.com
Every time I put on a Waits album, it changes a little. There's a crow screech that wasn't there before. I never get tired of playing his music, especially his later stuff (Black Rider, Bone Machine). There is no other musician I more eagerly await a new release from. Each album has it' own distinct personality, like a group of orphaned children growing up on the streets, independent, surviving on their cunning. It's great to see that there are incredibly talented people that resist victimization by our gross comercial culture. But then again, Tom Waits fans are probably a little smarter than madison ave execs. Thanks for the site............. baileybeen@earthlink.net
to get my youth i would do anything in the world except get up early or be respectable.............jp@islandia.is
This is a great site. I'd just like to say that it's totally unfair to make us choose one album (tho' I guess it's better than one song, or one lyric). Also, living in Australia, I suspect that we get albums that are different to the US versions for contractual reasons, or there are a lot of dodgy 'best of's thrown together by Island or whoever the parent company is. My favourite TW song is probably "16 Bullets from a .30-0-06", which I first heard on a tape that I borrowed from my local library (!), and was trying to find on an album. I found it on several CDs (oh yeah, it's really hard to get TW stuff here unless it's Blue Valentine or Bone Machine) which appeared to be contractual-obligation comps. I had heard OF Tom Waits as a kiddie - like, early teens - with quotes like "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me..." having passed into the language, but the first time I actually heard his music was when I borrowed this battered old tape from the library. I can't remember the title, but it had 16 Bullets on it. (Swordfishtrombones? Heartattack and Vine? I'm sure they had both.) I listened, and enjoyed, and forgot about it for a few years until my mum bought a copy of Blue Valentine. She had heard his version of Somewhere on Radio National and was stunned and hunted it down. I found BV horrible, really hard to take, but eventually it grew on me. Now I am in love with a guy who is gradually accumulating all of TWs work. When we break up I will have to steal it..............ms45@hotmail.com
Absolutely my favorite artist. Gotta agree with most of your comments, especially about Swordfish, it just gets better and more haunting every time I listen. First heard Tom on the radio in Boulder, doing Step Right Up. Bought Small Change immediately. I've only got 5 of the albums, so much i'm still missing. Had to hunt to get 'Early Years', so that I could play my favorite version of 'Little Trip...' for our first song at my wedding. I also have the old video of Tom on Saturday Night Live, I think it was in '73(??), singing about eggs and toast. I also found the (first?) songbook in a music store in Vienna. R.P.Duke..............jpgirard@aol.com
I am a big fan of Mr. Waits' work. I have the opportinity to listen to him often until they broke in and entered and stole: Nighthawks at the Diner, Raindogs, Swordfish Trombone, Bone Machine, Small change, and one of the favorite, the bone machine disco compacto. My freins and me almost saw him once in the San Francisco city wine we living on Post street. I am a songwrite too, but my songs can't be as fine as Tom Waits's sons. I envy that for to be able to write songs asi. My song is called "Cupid drunk" and I writed it for the girlfroend like Tom. If he play /tours Mexico, will be fine too! I writed more songs about the love and accordion, but the best is a songs about THE Devil and how he loved the two women at sametime, two rings and plastic! La Diabla it called by me. Thanks for good work web sight and squuze my engles. (I speak espanish) Eliomar Hemerra 02.ix.98..............brockett@angel.umar.mx
Tom Traubert's Blues was the first song I heard. Small Change was the first album I bought. Now have them all. I'm in love is all I can say..............stickle.6@osu.edu
Drunken bastard. Gods love 'im. :>..............Quack005@aol.com
Summer. Freshman year. Two words: Waits. and Whiskey. two great tastes that taste great together. an' I've loved 'em both ever since...............quack@med.unc.edu
I would like to wear Tom Waits every day. The sun rises and sets on him. I would kiss his bear ass over and over. He is the best song writer of our generation..............alx149@earthlink.net
The best one to scape from this world entering in it...............imycolor@df1.telmex.net.mx
WOW I am new to these kinds of sites, but when I heard that there are sites dedicated to Tom Waits I am truely blown away, as I am with his music anyway. I have always been a big fan of deep emotional blues, and in my opinion no one does it better than Mr. Waits. As a matter of fact I listened to Black Rider on my way home from Pittsburgh this afternoon, this must be one heck of a play - I have never seen it. When I first bought the album (CD) I thought that I could just put it on to play and I would listen to it while I did some work, but right from the get go I found myself stopping my work and reading the insert from cover to cover, something I rarely do. I would like to know if this play has ever been filmed for release to the general public. I would love to see it. The first song that I ever heard of his was Heart Attack and Vine and have bought everyone of his albums since. I really am impressed with the way he can put so much imagery in his instrumentals, and I hope that he has plans for many many more years of playing and possigly even a concert tour. What an artist!!! RWM ...............RJSCI@aol.com
I have to credit my freshman-year-at-college next door neighbor Luke for introducing me to TW. Before then I had never heard the name or the music, and might not know what I was missing out on. From that first late night that we stayed up listening to "Small Change" with a roomfull of unsuspecting people to last night when we stayed up looking for the best TW web page, it's been amazing. I have stolen every album I can get my hands on, and am busy stocking up. Some of our neighbors complain because it's horrible background music. They're right, and I'm glad. I love TW, that man speaks the truth. ...............nazhja125@aol.com
rapatu ...............Aqualung39@aol.com
I find that Tom Waits is THE singer/songwriter around. Absolutely nobody else can touch the darker parts of one's soul the way he is able to. Great tunes, weird sounds, the almost inhuman voice, the fabulous lyrics combined with a wonderful sense of humour (check "Nighthawks at the Diner"!) makes him my favourite singer of all time.
Jakob, Denmark...............zaphod@egmont-kol.dk
I first heard "The Heart of Saturday Night" while living in an infested hole with a bunch of fish-burning alcoholics. It was perfect music for sitting back and sipping whiskey. Then I heard "Bone Machine" and was hooked by the surrealism. "Earth Died Screaming" is probably my favorite song of his. Trent, a friend of mine, once said he was sitting in a bar in New Orleans, and a shaggy, stumbling man walked in, sat down at the piano, and started banging out "New Coat of Paint." At first, no one paid any attention, but Trent looked long and hard at the man and eventually recognized him from album covers... yes, the piano player was Tom himself! There were about 4 people in the bar the whole time. Trent got an autograph, lucky bastard. "There is no Devil it's God when He's drunk."...............mcwgraha@erols.com
A friend introduced me to Tom Waits's music in 1988. We were driving to Vermont, and at about Newburgh, NY, he hesitantly brought out a casette tape (I'm a "classical" musician) and said, "I'm going to play this tape. It's not what you're used to hearing--if after 5 minutes you can't stand it, I'll turn it off." "Okay", I said. The first minute I was kind of in shock--I'd never heard anything like this, of course. By the time the 5 minutes were up, I was totally hooked. I'd never heard such visual imagery before. It was like a really great music video without the video. This is why Raindogs remains to this day my favorite Tom Waits album, although The Black Rider comes in a close second................eva.heater@yale.edu
Dear Sir(s), I think it would be perfect if Mr. Tom Waits his next album will contain all kind of classical Circus ( cover) songs, preferably with Zappaesk rhythms, and that specific Waits flavour. Both, songs with lyrics and instrumentals & both acoustic ( cello, bass & piano) and electric. I think his music really can reflects this atmosphere ! But, as you will understand this wish is only a dream, so I will keep on dreaming ! Kind regards Rein van den Berg the Netherlands................bergrl@xs4all.nl
I first saw TW on SNL, I believe in ’76 (Juliann Bond was the host) and was completely intrigued. (I have a tape of that appearance!) I immediately ran and purchased the Nighthawks LP and since then have been the most devout fan. In all honesty he’s simply a genius! That’s it! A poet of our times. Rain Dogs is his best work, if one could possibly try to narrow it down. I saw him at the Eugene O’Neil Theater after he released Frank’s Wild Years Marc Ribot was a brilliant compliment. Several of my favorites are the songs that I don’t overplay because I can’t get my hands on them, (Mr. Henry, Sea of Love.) It’s beyond me how any living being can not be utterly moved by lyrics such as: It’s tattooed broken promise, I got to hide beneath my sleeve… He also deserves great recognition for his portrayal of Rudy in the movie “Ironweed” w/Jack Nickolous. I wish I never heard of him only to be able to re-experience his entire collection again. Thanks Tom.................drdale@eclipse.net
The first time I've heard Tom was about 2 years ago (now I'm 18). I was quite unhappy then, because I was extremely affraid of life, death, being adult and old. So Tom's great song 'I don't wanna grow up' from 'Bone Machine' was just written for me. Now, 'although' I'm happy, I still listen to his albums and I'm looking forward to the next one. I live in Poland, here Tom Waits isn't very popular, especially among my peers (only two of my friends listen to him). I wonder how does it look in other countries. Thanks for the great site- it is one of my favorites..................zuzias@polbox.com
Tom Waits is the most a smokey joe musician could be, in my eyes. He embodies everything about homegrown, born in a taxi needing a shave telling the driver to step on it cause he got to be at the other end of harlem in less than five... i love the man. i wish i knew the man. his music inspires every cell within me because he hits all the highs and lows (literally, metaphorically, emotionally...) tom waits is the moon. his wit and words tell it like it is with a beat(generation twist) to boot. Tom Waits is my musical god. he has been since i was 14--5 years ago--i've missed a lot of tom. i now own all but two of his albums, so i'm catching up. my biggest goal now--far beyond landing a career, being a descent citizen:)--is meeting the man. i can only imagine the stories i would get to hear and the amazement to see him, much less talk to him. perhaps i'll get lucky one day. until then, words aren't enough to express how i feel about tom waits. thank! s for letting me share...................purplecat3@aol.com
the only true"quasi" mainstream alternative artist. (no email address)
Simply, the best all around artist this country has ever produced. (no email address)
I think it would be an insult to the man if I would try to put Tom Wait's greatness into words. His music is unique worldwide, whether you like it or not...................mspero@inter.net.il
only bad thing about ol' tom was, he let too much time go by. there were a lot of folk waitin on him, but he said he'd rather be with his rugrats. it got so years passed, and all the folks got out of it was a lousy sountrack to some obscure show. it wasn't losut really, it had bill burroughs on it, and the songs were great, but it just wasn't the same. and time kept on ticking by, and the nobodies and chuckies and lost children had to put on rain dogs for the thousandth time and keep on staring at the paint peel and wish now could be like back then, and that back then was as good as they remembered it now...................leggattn@ucs.orst.edu
When the thunderstorms start increasing over the southeastern southcentral portions of my ability to deal rationally with a disconcerted precarious emotional situation ... I get upset! Emotional weather Forecast from a concert I recorded off radio in the 80's. Saw Tom on Public TV in the mid 70's (Soundstage) and have been a big fan ever since. Tom ... come back to Chicago and give your fans a treat, we miss you....................pvdubsky@ameritech.net
He bleeds out America. Cans of cold soup and tubes of toothpaste bust out of his pores bloody and reeking of alcohol. His heart is like a suspended lute touch it and it resounds.(no email address)
Tom Waits is not all that well known or appreciated in Australia. I was first exposed to him in 1989 at a party that Tom himself might well have enjoyed. Since then Tom Waits has been a constant source of inspiration and admiration. In a world were mindless and banal music is encouraged and rewarded it is a privilege and a treasure to find an artist like Tom. Like the man himself says, "stay out of circulation till the dogs get tired."....................JTHoward@bigpond.com.au
Tom Waits isn't a person, he's a place.
poleakida ....................bjbsmith@sentex.net
Only Tom and Elvis Costello can stir me in such a profound way. The instruments, lurics, cynicism, artistry, and dirt that they both fold into their music amazes me. Swordfishtrombones was my intro to Tom. It was recorded on the "other" side of a tape I'd borrowed from a relative John Coltrane was on the other side. This is my second favourite album. After that, I heard Bone Machine from a boyfriend of mine and we were so impressed (and frightened!) by this album that we both started snatching up other albums like mad. Franks Wild Years is my still my favourite, and I find it difficult to pinpoint why. The variety of song style, instruments and moods, perhaps. Anyway, when people ask who my favourite music artisits are, I say Tom's been up there for about 2 years now. Brilliant and what a character!....................eskell@vortex.uwaterloo.ca
Not much music can effect me or any other human like Tom Waits, I don't just listen, I feel, churn, twist I must say that is the ultimate feeling. I must ask if anybody has heard that Mr. Waits has throat cancer, a rumor I hope. Not a happy thought....................Nancydog@yahoo.com
First caught Tom on a PBS show entitled....shit cant recall what it was called. It was kind of like Austin City Limits. Was abot ¹75-the same time Nighthawks At The Diner came out. In fact sounded a lot like Night Hawks. Soundstage! that was the name of the show, came out of Chicago, I believe. Anyway been hooked on Tom Waits ever since (was 12 at the time) as has my old man been. We dont agree on much but we both now like to take a pull on a Mickeys, kick the dog and put on some T.W. and kick back. Agghhh... the good life.....................Bluezville@AOL.com
I toast the Great Tom Waits! The sweet, smoke soaked voice of the Waitster! Ahhh...nuthin¹ better. Got all his albums, a few boots. A very unique talent, whos fan base is widespread. In fact, Tom happens to be one of the few artists me and my pappy have ever agreed on, at least up to Swordfishtrombone. Very ufair trying to pick one album, but what the hell...By the way first saw Tom on a PBS show called Soundstage back in ¹74 or ¹75, bout the same time as Nighthawks came out. Changed my shorts, changed my life, changed me into a 9 yr. old Hindu Boy, but kept the wife. GREAT SITE......................elvisarise@aol.com
hi i'm french and i like very well tom songs and i look for a video of tom music concert (not movie but video concert) i cant find it in france is there video concert of tom please give me a answer if you have time i like movies too of tom and i have no problems to see them i like your site too and i hope you will continue it with many others tom info may be you try to put in your site one song of tom to hear it youre favorite one "the piano as been drinking...not me" christine ......................lamborot@ardep.fr
The only one I can turn to in those late night hours when I'm out of Gin and I'm wishin' I had her back. Tom and Lou Reed, my after hours companions.(no email address)
HE is something spiritual. He drills himself into my soul and breaks open my mind. Stirs me with his voice. Erotic. Deep. Broken Voice. I've never been touched by music as he touches me ( I wish) Never had the obsession before him. I long to see him concert (a secluded little club somewhere) before I leave this place. Heaven is filled with Tom Wait's music. He makes "me harder than Chinese Algebra"......................nakedlunch@bigfoot.com
Hm, I'm not sure if I haven't done this before...Well, The first contact I had with tom Waits was, guess, when I watched Down By Law (here in Brazil, called Daumbailó, never ask me why). Later on, a girl gave me atape with Franks Wild Years, and then I have never stopped listening to Tom. And Franks...is, yet, my favorite record. I confess that I don't like much the "Early Years" - I prefer those records after Small Change (One of the gratest, I think). Heartattack and Vine, Bone Machine, The Black Rider, are also great! What's most impressive in Tom's Work, in my opinion, is that he is, at the same time, really sarcastic, acid, but trully, trully sentimental......................fburjato@zaz.com.br
I just recently learned of Tom Waits from a friend. He is a very talented musician and I enjoy listening to him very much.......................bekalee@hotmail.com
His music captures the essence of insanity, of depravity, and of the beauty we can't help but see in it all. And he colrs it so richly through his orchestration, his lyrics, his rhythms, that if the listener didn't know any better, he'd guzzle a pint of booze a day, too. Hell, I do from time to time while listening to Tom Waits. I cannot think of anyone (except maybe Leonard Cohen or Charlie Parker) who has such an inimitable style. A unique musician that I am very happy to have discovered.......................gradyboat@juno.com
The man is a saint. Plain and simple, he is a musical genius who is without equal in the genre of rock music. That's all I need to say......................00aljarrett@bsuvc.bsu.edu
He is amazing...but,WHEN IS HE GOING TO BE IN TOUR!!?? and WHERE????????????????????? I am introducing my friends to his music and, little by little little, THEY LIKE IT ! :)......................sergibubka@yahoo.com
Sometimes, when I've tired for any music (You must know this feelling), I appeal to Mr. Waits creation! My favorite Waits music works is Island Album. But I must express delight for His albums "Foreign Affair" and "Blue Valentine", especialy like song " Sweet Litle Bullet From Pretty Blue Gun".(no email address)
Incredible! I couldn't say a bad thing about him! He's a phenominal songwriter, singer, actor, composer, everything! I first heard Tom Waits sitting in the basement of my friend Will's house. The first song? "The Ocean Doesn't Want Me Today." Beautiful. My prom date actually brought in FRANK'S WILD YEARS to get telephone call from istanbul" played.(no email address)
Love the site Joe, one of the best for TW. Favourite album? Man, you ask more than I can deliver. I don't like Heartattack and Vine and I haven't heard Bone Machine yet - whatever you're passionate about, it's always worth holding something back to lick your lips over! I heard from a contact in the movie biz that when Tom was making "Short Cuts" he wasn't able to do any filming early in the morning. Not because he'd been out pissing it up the wall every night but because he had to take his son to school. That's a picture I like a whole lot - TW the family man. And for a really awful pianist like me, most of Tom's stuff is pretty easy to bash out and a lot of fun to sing even though I've never smoked a cigarette in my life. I have very few regrets in life, but one is that I didn't get into Tom Waits while he was still touring regularly. Never mind eh. Thanks Joe for all the time and effort you put into this - it's appreciated here.......................jim@simpkins.net
pizdato (I have no idea what that means).......................popov@fsrd.ru
Tom is definetly one of the best singer/songwriters ever. Of course, his music is not appreciated as much as it should be, but that is also part of its joy. His music means so much more to me because I am the only person I know that listens to him. Unlike most people I prefer Tom's earlier music........................chad_dukes@hotmail.com
i think that he is one of the greatest song writers ever.......................tara.sheehan@aol.com
Brilliant. Rides the line between familiarity and chaos frighteningly well. A true blending of words and music ... the sounds tell the stories far better than in the work of any other songwriter (composer). Zappa is Waits' only real competition, but I prefer Waits because he actually seems to have a point of view beyond iconoclasm. His stories have (however unlikely they seem) heroes ... No music moves me as much as Tom Waits' music........................gchapin@ctel.net
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