It’s Tom Waits Week!
Our favorite singer-songwriter celebrates his birthday on December 7. We hereby declare it Tom Waits Week on this site, and every day we are going to post videos of our essential Tom Waits songs.
Here’s one we love, from his early years: it pretty much sums up our relationship histories. Unfortunately they never made a music video of it; then again our histories ain’t pretty.
There’s an earlier version of this song here; spot the differences.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
December 2nd, 2010 at 08:28
I discovered Tom Waits through an album of Disney songs covers. He sang “Heigh-ho” (The Dwarfs Marching Song) and it sounded like it was sung by trolls. Come to think of it, I also discovered Bonnie Raitt through that album. She had a really beautiful cover of “Baby Mine” from Dumbo. I think that team up with Don Was led to the Grammy winning album, “Nick of Time.” That Disney covers album also had Sinead O’Connor doing a really desolate interpretation of “Someday My Prince Will Come.” Thinking now of how perverted that album was, it should not have been a surprise to hear Tom Waits doing “Heigh-ho.”
December 2nd, 2010 at 12:14
goofy: Tom Waits and Rickie Lee Jones used to be a couple. Imagine what that sounded like! Rickie Lee Jones, my favorite singer-songwriter, female division.
December 2nd, 2010 at 13:38
Wasn’t Pirates about their break-up? In A Lucky Guy, Rickie Lee sings “Oh he’s a lucky guy/He doesn’t worry about me when I’m gone/He goes to sleep at night/He don’t turn off the light/And wonder how to find me/Or if I’m alone.” Heartbreaking.
December 2nd, 2010 at 13:46
jake: Pirates is my favorite Rickie Lee Jones album. Listening to Pirates is like having your heart shredded very fine and served with arugula. I saw Rickie Lee Jones in Sundance. She did not sing songs from Pirates, but she did Satellites. Everyone burst into tears.