I absolutely LOVE Tom Waits. I first heard him in VCE Music class two years ago, when we had to compare and analysis two different versions of the same song. We listened to his cover of "Somewhere" from West Side Story. After class I had a free period and I spent the whole time listening to his songs on Youtube. I was completely captivated, and he had bought out all these different emotions in me all at once, it was like a hurricane but theraputic at the same time. It was strange, but bloody awesome. I can't listen to him too often because I feel so emotionally distraught it's so weird, but he just can soothe me so well also. Every few months I come back to him though, and I realise he never left :')
Tango Till They're Sore makes me just melt. A lot of his songs make me melt actually. I love that he as a person is equally as interesting as his music. He's a compulsive smoker, and if you watch interviews with him he's CLEARLY the stimulus for Heath Ledger's joker, in terms of mannerisms, it's just uncanny. His talking voice is just as captivating as his singing voice, and the lyrics in his songs are so unusual and lovely, it's just beautiful poetry really.
What I also love is his fan base, who just worship him. I feel like we all just are so in love together, and the Youtube comments on all his songs just show how enthralled people are with him. Here are some awesome comments:
"This is the Song I want for my last hour ..."
"A good night: Whisky, dim lights, thunderstorms and Rain Dogs LP. Throw a cigar into the mix and you've got yourself a party for 1."
"tom waits is the only person who can hit all the wrong notes and make them sound just right."
"drunk louis armstrong"
"whenever i die i want this song on full blassssttt and send me off to bed forever more!"
"After smoking heavily for years, cancer dies of Tom Waits."
"This man's name is a sentence on it's own. Tom Waits. Probably because you don't need to say anything after his name - his just that damn good.
Tom Waits."
"both the worst and the best singing voice in the world"
"now the time is 0:52 a.m (Sunday) in japan
i'm drunk and watching this in my room....
goodnight everyone, i'm really feelin' good now...."
"The first time i heard this song i was laying in my hospital bed on one of my last days before getting out... i had an acute spinal inflammation and couldnt walk. always reminds me of looking out the foggy window. in that early november of 2009. i actually get a warm feeling."
"i wish i could hear this song at the very instance i loose consciousness as i go to sleep..."
He's just lovely, and makes me feel philosophical and wise. Daniel Durchholz described Tom Waits' voice sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."
I will now leave you with this video; you just need to hear one of Tom's song's to be hooked:
