last updated 06.21.00
View Response Pages1... 2...3...4... 5...6...7... 8...9...10
it is great-thats all i need to say.........pepsix@juno.com
Whenever I listen to SwordfishTrombones, that's my favorite. When I'm listening to Bone Machine, _that's_ my favorite.
I just tried to make an "ultimate" Waits collection for a friend -- a largely hopeless task on a mere 110-minute tape... It ended up with all the driving songs, the "religious material" and the beer-mat poetry on one side and everything else on the other -- there was basically no way to make it all flow from song to song too diverse.
I'd be interested in knowing what tracks other fans would expect to see included in a boxed set or other multi-CD set.
--Mike Jennings.....jennings@biohazard.org
Forgot to choose a lyric. hm.
"Never _could_ stand that dog." Not for profundity -- for delivery. "For some, murder is the only door through which they enter life" Most of the lyrics to "The Ocean Doesn't Want me today" -- "I'll open my head, and let out all of my time" "Never drive a car when you're dead." Seems like sound advice. "The fenceposts in the moonlight look like bones" "I wondered how the same moon outside over this Chinatown fair/Could look down in Illionois, and find you there.
Hmm. This is pretty tough. I guess I'll settle on "The large print giveth and the small print taketh away."
Thing about Waits, it's like acquiring a taste for Guinness. First time you taste it, you cannot imagine why anyone would voluntarily stick it in their mouth. But soon enough, It feels smooth and gorgeous and you just want more any everyone who doesn't get it thinks you're nuts, and you go away thinking that stuff everone else is into is pathetically insubstantial. And you end up with bad breath. Yeah, he's a lot like that.
This friend I made the tape fore pretty much a Corona drnker right now, but I think she's starting to get it.
--Mike Jennings.....jennings@biohazard.org
I was introduced to Tom Waits nearly ten years ago by friends of mine that work in small independent college record stores. They were also DJs for the University Radio station (OSU). They played his music and told me about him. One friend has a video of Tom Waits interviews and performances such as when he appeared on David Letterman and the Martin Mull talk show (he performs the Piano Has Been Drinking and pulls out a bottle of Harvey's Bristol Cream). Since then I have heard of people that see him in concert or hear from a friend of a friend of a friend that he just did a show in a small club somewhere. I cry myself to sleep those nights. Recently though I have been meeting people that are doing Tom Waits tribute shows. Doing covers of his songs and performances. One of which is Charlie (from the Jessie Dayton band) down in Houston. There's another in LA that a friend of mine saw. If I see Tom Waits perform before I die then I will have lived the perfect life. I had a dream one time that I was riding down a dirt road in the West on a motorcycle and stopped into this ramshackle place. It was very dark and smoky inside. There was a large bar completely stocked. I found a table and sat down. It was pretty quiet except for the blues on the jukebox and these two guys talking in a corner. I looked at them through the smoky haze and it was Tom Waits and Charles Bukowski. Nick Cave was slinking around there too. Then I realized that I was dead in the dream and that this was my eternity. I was in heaven. An endless supply of drinking, smoking, music, and conversation with my heroes. I just only wish that Henry Miller could have been there for sexual pleasures. What more could anyone else want. Tom means that much to me. Also, I do regular spoken word shows with music behind me. I have just recently begun working with the band and to get a feel for one another we're only doing standard jazz and blues music. Hopefully down the road I will be able to have more of a Tom Waits sound as I am complet
ely influenced by his genius. Also if I see that he is in a certain movie or a song of his is played during it then I have to watch it. I love eveything about him. I can't believe you actually want someone to pick their favorite album of his. I only pick Swordfishtrombones because it s what is currently in my tape player, but then again I have Small Change in my CD player. I was last listening to Trouble's Braids to try and get my band to play something similar for my next spoken word performance. I only have access to the Internet through school. I can't remember my whole address right now. (You don't need one to sign on). Almost forgot, a former boyfriend of mine would drink whiskey and start singing Tom Waits songs to me. Those nights we always had the best sex. I couldn't believe how much it turned me on with the lights out and hearing Tom Waits' voice while I was having sex and that waft of whiskey. WOW!......(no email address)
The first time I heard about Tom Waits was 1993 or so after reading some interviews on the authoress Poppy Z. Brite where she mentioned him as a big influence on her style. I vowed I'd find out more about this guy, but being 14 at the time I was a wee bit on the lazy side and never got around to it.
Then earlier this year a friend of mine in New Orleans put a few samples on a tape for me and I had to chastise myself for not discovering him sooner. In the days where huge studios try to control what you hear on the radio, and MTV spews out fewer and fewer songs, most of which (if not all) are by hack overnight bands, it's great to hear someone that still does what he wants.
While he may not be for everyone, there's nothing like a late night on the road during a muggy summer night with the trademark Tom Waits growl coming from the stereo......llarson@minn.net
Can't get him out of my head. Sweet disease stuck into my mind fro more than a year now. Addiction to that affliction. Genius. Makes me sad whenever I read what he's done because I can't figure how the I ever could write something like that. I've once trust a man in a blue trench coat, will never do it again. I six times drove a car while I was dead, bad advice Tom, I lived to somehow vaguely remember, took me hours tough. Makes me working on my bourbon ingurgitation but I'm weak and too often replace Wild Turkey with Southern Comfort but she's so sweet, that Louisville lady... and a million of dollars can't change that. I'm from somewhere up North, Quebec City for a fix, makes me dream of breaking down in East Saint-Louis, winding up in a bar and drinking all the money I owe my brother, he's working, he doesn't care. But you see I'm excluded from your damned country for being young, having fun and not money. I swear I'll begin soon to smoke cheap cigars. Maybe......... http://www.sit.ulaval.ca
he's all i need to get by......hiyaface@aol.com
Absolutely my favorite artist. I think mostly because I can sing along with him and not sound bad.
It's hard for me to name my favorite but "Drunk On the Moon" is big.......tbeerman@iac.net
Waits is the fucking ruler!......(no email address)
It is awesome. It is poetry, and a scream of soul........akhundov@mail.sas.upenn.edu
greatest fucking genius of all time.........souther.salazar@ccc.infonet-ed
Tom Waits... The bastard child of Kerouac, Hopper and Armstrong, whose music conjours up the stench of cigarettes, cheap bourbon and cheaper women, a gun-metal sky over interminable plains, clapped out bangers bombing it doiwn some dusty road in the middle of nowhere...You get my drift. The barely beating heart and tar-filled lungs of America, Waits is without a doubt one of the most extraordinary musicians the 20th Century has seen, perfect for listening to at 3 in the morning alone in my fetid East Anglian dump... I could go on, but the pubs have just opened and duty calls. It's what he would have wanted........NOhsan@aol.com
Frank's Wild Years........jevans@cu-online.com
GOD........blair.labelle@utoronto.ca
incredible.......lescos@mass.u-bordeaux2.fr
I've only been listening to Waits for a year, and I can't wait to see him live. I'm amazed that I never heard about him sooner and can't see why he isn't a world famous artist.........todd~keith@bigfoot.com
He is one of a few alternative artists in real meaning..........c961417@fps.chuo-u.ac.jp
My finance is obsessed with tom so i was kinda forced into it. So I had to do a web page analysis for one of my classes and yours was one of the coolest and something I was interested in. Keep up the good work!!!
Danielle..........971dboudreau@alpha.nlu.edu
I'm affraid I don't know to much about Mr. Waits himself, but I do LOVE his work. His voice (needless to say...) was the first thing to capture me, and so when I started to listen to his words I found this fragile and sensitive man behind it all. I also found that I could easily relate to the songs, which I ind important.
Unfortunetaly (excuse my English...)due to lack of money I haven't yet had the possibility to get all the albums, but then again I'm still young and life is long.
Jakob .........fritzell@algonet.se
I first listened to him in 1983 when my wife and I house-sat (similar to baby sitting the only difference is that you are minding a house instead! Did this when he was on holidays and didn't want his house burgaled yet again!!!!)
I was going through his album collection and came across Tom Waits, I put it on the turntable and when I first heard I was bowled over and became his fan immediately and have been so since then. It is true to say that I am hooked on him! I get withdrawl symptoms if I do not listen to him atleast once a day. When I go on holidays I always take my walkman and ofcourse Tom Waits. I think he is lush yum yum. However, some of my friends think that I am nuts to adore someonoe like Tom Waits. What do they know about that?
I have never had the pleasure to watch him perform live but next time he comes to UK perhaps he can perform in Cardiff failing that I will travel to London.
Sincerely,
Batook.........Rjoshi@op1mail.cardiff.gov.uk
Nighthawks at the Diner .........wfl2@lehigh.edu
Blue Valentine.........jacob@spmu.rssi.ru
Waits is fine!!!.........samdc@transit.samara.ru
-Tom is my personal God. His music touches me so much that I find myself doing ridiculous, obsessive things. I cry piteously and sing along, I try to write lyrics like his, and my biggest dream in the entire world is of seeing him in concert. I don't care if I become a homeless beggar, if it means that I can see Tom. I own every standard recording by him, as they are all that I can find. I've never really met anyone who had heard of him, except for my father, who loves him too. That is quit depressing. Imagine my tears of joy at discovering web sites such as yours! My favorites are Diamonds on My Windshield, Please Call Me Baby, Step Right Up, Romeo is Bleeding, I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You, The Ocean Doesn't Want Me Today, I Don't Want to Grow Up, Martha, Burma Shave, Whistlin' Past the Graveyard, Telephone Call to Istanbul, Walking Spanish, 9th and Hennepin, Time, and In the Morning I'll Be Gone. Yes, I have a lot, but I really love anything and everything he has written. If you EVER find out about concert/show performances, new releases, etc., please e-mail at once. Or, if you'd ever like to chat about him, write me as well. Thanks so much! p.s. - She only lost a half a pint of blood, 29$, and an alligator purse! -Beth Seales .........k97bs01@kzoo.edu
I've been listening to Tom for about three years now and I own 15 of his cds. I love him. lyrically and musically I think that he is a genius. I am a musician myself and while I would never have a hope of copying him I have on a couple of occasions emulated him in lyrical stylings. I am going to try and get my hands on all the waits that I can. I only wish that I had a chance to see him live. Bootlegs included. He is a god in the music industry.........livet@hotmail.com
Tom Waits is like a ball of mercury. You can't put your thumb on him. Gin-soaked sentimentalist? Nope. Beatnik? Nope. Urban chronicler? Nope. Piano man? Nope. Kurt Weill reborn? Nope. I've long since given up trying..........hestcm01@holmes.ipfw.indiana.e
Tom Waits and that wondrful old gold smokin' voice of his are great company at three in the morning at Denny's sobering up with a cup and a smoke of my own. I don't have much material of his, but what I do have I love. For now my favorite album is Small Change. It's got a great atmosphere, almost cinematic, but it's not gimicky. I even like Bone Machine, not too many fans I've noticed like that albums. I'm suprised...well I don't know. Tom Waits as the messenger of the end of the world. Who would of thought... I'm amazed at the different levels that Tom gets to inside your head and heart. This man is one of the twentieth century's greatest "unsung" storytellers. He's the guy who sits down next to you when you're sitting on a curb downtown and he looks at you and says, "Lizzen here fellah..." and you sit there for three hours as he tells you everything. He gives you his tale in that whiskey smellin' inimitable way. That's Tom Waits. That's good stuff.........Thomc37604@aol.com
I love Tom Waits music because unlike so many artist Tom Waits invents sounds and new worlds to surround each note. I feel like I am entering new reality or state of mind. Its more then music is metaphysics. He is truely one of a kind..........jhscott@csd.uwm.edu
Tom Waits is the best. Nobody around here (Wisconsin) seems to know who he is though!
I try to explain to people why I like that bullfrog voice so much, but it's tough... He is a genius with rhythm. Tom does rhythm and percussion like nobody else... he's been around and seen it all, and his lyrics will tell you that... He's so creative... he uses accordions... he's not afraid to use that voice of his any which way he wants... he can express such a range with his music... from "Earth Died Screaming" to "Falling Down"... it's all good! His music is just so darn addictive...I want to see him on tour just ONCE before I die!.........lconnett@students.wisc.edu
I was first entrance by Tom and his music in 1986, when I was 15 years old. Something in his incredible storytelling spoke to my soul. I have since become a Waits fanatic and own every album he ever released. I met him a few years ago when he was working with William Bouroughs, a truly beautiful soul.........sopinski@unm.edu
Frank's Wild Years.........jbrown@black.clarku.edu
First week of university, me and a new friend were the only ones who hadn't gone to the (mainsteam) disco on a thursday night. We discussed music - he played guitar, I sang. He asked me what I thought of Tom Waits. I hadn't heard of Tom Waits. I hadn't heard of Tom Waits??!!?? He drags me into his room and Clap Hands from Rain Dogs fills the room. The guitar solo astounded me at once, and that voice, atmosphere, everything... Within 12 hours I'd bought Rain Dogs for myself. And a week later Frank's Wild Years was in my possession. I now have everything he's (officially) released, and a few besides, and I'm still hungry for more. Thanks Tom, for being such a fucking genius. What more can I say?........lushey@juno.com
I like very much this kind of poems,music and sans of humor. Thats all........amol@i-lo.tarnow.pl
Tom Waits music is one of the best thngs I have ever heard. I have 10 of his albums. I listen to them all. The Black Rider is one of my favorites because the songs are strange and probably could scare people with them.
I first heard Tom Waits several years ago on the radio and read a couple of articles about him and decided to pick up one of his cd's. I purchased "The Black Rider" not knowing what I would hear. Well, needless to say, I loved it and continued to learn more about Mr. Waits and assemble a collection of his music. His lyrics are second to none and the music is purely Waits, nothing like it. No matter my mood, there are always many of his songs which perfectly reflect my feelings. I generally listen to his music alone when I can close my eyes and visualize his stories. Time drifts by, but is well spent. His music is the most valued of my music collection and always will be. I thank you, Tom Waits. Thank you for letting yourself remain true and exploring the far reaches of music and lyric. I find it hard to choose a favorite album so I'll choose the one I most recently listened to.........c.l.burkhart@usa.net
would like to see him some time!!!.........mmcnair@venus.net
I saw your excellent Tom Waits web site and was wondering if you could help me with a question that has bugged me for several years. On Jonny Meister's Blues Show about 4-5 years ago, I heard an excellent version of "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime" which I swore was by Tom Waits. However, I have been unable to locate it on any of his albums. Do you, by any chance, know if he has a recorded version of this song?.........pierce_j@research.trc.upenn.edu
Hi,
I'm from a third-world-country. I cant get Toms Records in this
place, but I already have "Frank's wild years, "Bone Machine", "The
Black Rider" and "Heart attack and vine"; I bought them in UK.
I think your page is one of the bests in the internet (also,
Radiohead homepage is really great.). I have put a link to this page
on my page about Music (Jazz, and u-ground page.)It is in spanish, but
if anyway you want to go, the address is at the bottom.
I just wrote to let you know that I loved your page and that you are
doing a great job.
By the way, What's Tom Doing now?. Is he planning to record a new
CD?..
Congratulations...
LEO.
Leonardo Boulton
http://geocities.datacellar.net/BourbonStreet/5072
A friend of mine back in high school got a hold of her
older brother's Waits tapes, we sat around the stereo giggling to "The Piano Has Been Drinking." I had heard of him earlier, but never got a chance to listen. He's been a hero of mine now for about seven years.
Now whenever I want to clear my head of the bullshit listen to the beat of my body, I put on Tom Waits tunes and feel the reverberations in my chest, right beneath my throat. This man has consoled me, healed me, frightened me, cheered me and made me appreciate a man's adoration more than once. And I
wish I could thank him. Nice work, by the way. Thank you for allowing me to contribute.......(no email address)
The three most important beings on earth are: God, Stravinsky and Tom Waits. But!!: God doesn't exist, Stravinsky is dead, so Tom Waits is the one and only today.........l.boulton@rocketmail.com
I seek the Tom Waits musical version of Alice In Wonderland..........Beercan97@aol.com
In 1985 I was in Okinawa, Japan and bought my first CD player. I was perplexed on what would be my first CD. For reasons unknown to me to this day, I picked up Raindogs, an album which I had never heard of, by an artist unknown to me. The first time I played it I thought "what a mistake." Then I listened to it. I now have most of TW's stuff and have been lucky enough to have seen him twice live once was the 1988 New Years Eve show at the Wiltern in LA........(no email address )
Heya--
Is it okay w/you if I set up a link to yer page from mine? It's a wee thing, nursed on spare time, but you can visit the baby at www-personal.umich.edu/~baphomet if the mood strikes you. Thanks for the bandwidth,
Mrrranda/WCBN..........baphomet@umich.edu
I have only recently 'discovered' Tom Waits. I wish I
had done so a long time ago...........robin.crispin@virgin.net
Whell when I first heard Tom Waits I turned off the
player. By after a while I started to like him, and
now I love him. He's the best musician in the world,
maby. He has great lirics that I enmire, I mean he
wrote the world in a light that you wouldn't see it
but it realy is. I don't know, the more I listen to
him, the more I like him and the more I'm adicted of
his music............rantasha@hotmail.com
My wife and I have been listening to Tom Waits in earnest for about 3 1/2 years, although I was first introduced to Mr. Waits in 1988 when a friend played "Martha" for me. Ironically, CLOSING TIME is our (my wife's and my) favorite album still. We would, however, consider the much more freaky BONE MACHINE in the running. Although not about his music, I was wondering if you or your visitors had any commentary on the following Tom Waits acting performances: DOWN BY LAW, IRONWEED, SHORT CUTS, MYSTERY TRAIN (as the DJ). All we can say is that we agree that Tom Waits is ultra cool. One more thing -- commentary on Tom Waits/Keith Richards collaberations? We think "That Feel" is brilliant. Thanks for a great website.
Dave & Tina...........dswit@rica.net
Tom Waits is the man. I have only been a fan of his for about a year now. A friend of mine introduced me to "Blue Valentines" and "Heart attack and vine". I heard a little of "rain dogs" and "Franks wild years" but they were too far out there for my tastes. I really got into his earlier jazz piano stuff though. I eventually got into the other stuff and have to say that "Rain Dogs" and "Franks" are my favorites. There is a certain mood and taste with his music that can't be beat. I really can't understand how some one could not like the greatest musical genius of our time. He has a way of making trash cans and bullhorns so catchy that you'll be singing them in a scratchy voice all day. His lyrics are incomparable. Every once in a while some one will write a great song, but all of Tom's songs are already there. They are all wondeful.......(no email address )
One of the true originators-aalways defying bracketing... Any marketers nightmare, but then that's parly the point-music and art in their own right. I can almost smell the stale nicotine and half-empty glasses. The heart of Saturday night when I'm drowning my sorrows in Jameson's, Rain Dogs the morning after. Everything else at all points in between...........SoonEmc@aol
There isn't much that can be said of Tom that hasn't been said before, but I can say that there is always an album around to fit any mood at any time of day. He is an awe inspiring artist full of honest songs of a man who is just out experiencing all there can be to life. I can never leave home without at least one album handy............onair1080@aol.com
Thanks for the great pages, I'd like to know if I could borrow an image to place on my site to use as a link to here?............scorchy@jetcity.com
It's early going into tommorow and I'm running on 50% determination, half on caffene with a friend of mine studying for two finals to run in a couple of hours and we opted to hear some music he had set up for his sister for Christmas. Nighthawks at the Diner.
I really don't listen to all that much jazz, most of it from that soft shit my cousin relentlessly collects and plays. It's easy enough to ignore. Something here clicked, though, in that voice that feels as smooth as hot cappuccino and jagged as ice at the same time.
Recorded live, it draws you in. Better place than any to start liking somebody's style, and while that was playing it would take to to one of those late night cafe's fogged with cigarette smoke and musty with coffee. The overimaged adjectives in his improvisational intros were something else, and each song felt alive, like a piece of something real from somewhere else right here. Buzzing like velvet broken glass.
Bittersweet nostaligia runs through his words which always fit together when you least expect. I liked the images in Emotional Weather Report, and the way he linked sadness with bad weather was something every poet tries but rarely suceeds in. Impressed with the vocals on Spare Parts I--
colder than a gut shot bitch wolf dog
with 9 sucking pups pullin' a 4 trap
up a hill in the dead of winter
in the middle of a snowstorm
with a mouth full of porcupine quills
--in a single breath: how does he do that on those packs he obviously smokes to mellow out his voice? Big Joe and Phantom 309's folksy flavor wasn't something I expected, but of course, when storytime comes, what better rythym to play with? His twists on those old tales of love not met, women leaving and being left, stories never put to song, the rain still pouring on....
I could go on for the rest of the night about it. We never did get any studying done before deciding it was time to turn in. Right now it's three hours later and having stumbled here with Eggs and Sausage crooning still in my head, I felt compelled to write something.
Disconnected though it probably is.
If lung, liver or throat cancer still hasn't claimed him, I'd like to see him play if he ever comes through this damp place that never seems to make up its mind whether to stay sweater warm or turn cold as hell they call North Florida. Cause now I'm hooked and, wanting more, I think he'll be on my list when I start looking for more good music to listen to.
As the lead pipe morning falls..........ragabash@mediaone.net
I hear Tom Waits from a friend back in 1991, it was a natural step for me to lising to one if not the best musician and song writer since I like the beat movment , whisky and cigaretts.
Since 91' I have traing to buy all he's records but in Puerto Rico sometimes is pretty hard to find.
He's music reflects the dark side of love and happines in the soul of the human beings. songs like" Matha"or a" christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis" brings to me the memory of lost loves and the remember of them.
Tom Waits is a poet that with simple lyrics brings joy and pain of lost and braking all at the same time, thats whay I love he's.
Hector........pixies@ apricot-tele.com
Tom makes me happy. A bottle of scotch(or a jockey full of bourbon) and a Waits alblum are a recipe for an evening the likes of which non-raindogs would never understand or could even hope to comprehend. I can't tell you how many times the raspy growl has brightened my day. I can only think of one word that aptly describes the Waits experience, sublime.........mark111@cyberenet.net
Susan: Muppet music for the masses.
Jeremy: Suprisingly good drunk music.
Jason: Lost for words. Probably better than Louis Armstrong, but I can't admit it.......jmwalsh@rocketmail.com
this is a very good home page. Congratulations!
I I'd like to have some Tom Wait's songs for to play with piano i need the partitures with chords and lyrics
thanks you a lot ...... galacomp@interactive.com.ar
more comments are here
Redirect
site hosted by geocities...soho neighborhood
Last updated 06.21.00