Favourite Tom Waits songs

[Wienergull]

Right, we've had the Bobster and the Boss. Surely, Mr Waits also deserves a place in the Pantheon? Tonight's top five for starters:

Burma Shave
Medley: Jack & Neal / California, Here I Come
Town With No Cheer
Frank's Wild Years (Think this one may attract more than one vote, FWY?)
Tango 'Til They're Sore

 

[The Merry Prankster]

Martha and Jersey Girl

 

[otk]

Tom Waits dueting with Springsteen on 'Jersey Girl'

 

[The Merry Prankster]

Oh...... and Potter´s Field

 

[Norman Potting]

...Don't know much of his stuff (ok zilch actually) apart from "Downtown Train". However I prefer the cover versions by Mary Chapin Carpenter or Rod Stewart to his. His voice is an acquired taste I am sure (see also Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen).

 

[sussexfatboy]

Hold On, from Mule Variations

 

[Gwylan]

Singapore and Mr Siegal (one of the best opening lines ever)

 

[Wienergull]

Singapore and Mr Siegal (one of the best opening lines ever)

Good call with Singapore. Shore Leave's another favourite. If it had been written a few years earlier, it would have made the perfect soundtrack for the scene in Apocalypse Now where Martin Sheen's in the hotel prior to his mission:

Well with buck shot eyes and a purple heart
I rolled down the national stroll
and with a big fat paycheck
strapped to my hip sack
and a shore leave wristwatch underneath
my sleeve
in a Hong Kong drizzle on Cuban heels
I rowed down the gutter to the Blood Bank
and I'd left all my papers on the Ticonderoga
and was in a bad need of a shave
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

and I said Baby, I'm so far away from home
and I miss my Baby so
I can't make it by myself
I love you so

Well I was pacing myself
[Shore Leave Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com]
trying to make it all last
squeezing all the life
out of a lousy two day pass
and I had a cold one at the Dragon
with some Filipino floor show
and talked baseball with a lieutenant
over a Singapore sling
and I wondered how the same moon outside
over this Chinatown fair
could look down on Illinois
and find you there
and you know I love you Baby

and I'm so far away from home
and I miss my Baby so
I can't make it by myself
I love you so

Shore Leave...
Shore Leave...

 

[Trufflehound]

Oooh, so many...

Singapore and FWY of course.
16 Shells from a thirty-ought six
Swordfishtrombones
Innocent When You Dream
In the Neighbourhood
Walking spanish
Blind Love

I rather like What's He building in There? as well.

 

[Wienergull]

I rather like What's He building in There? as well.

Ah yes, another stroke of spoken word genius a la FWY.

"I heard he
Has an ex-wife in some place
Called Mayors Income, Tennessee
And he used to have a
consulting business in Indonesia..."

Could anyone pronounce "Indonesia" in a more sleazy fashion?

 

[Icy Gull]

I have a couple of friends who are big Tom Waits' fans and occasionally try and "sell" him to me but alas without success. Maybe I should make more effort but his dreadful voice and dirgy songs (that I have heard) have me begging them to change the record. So unable to give a favourite as I've yet to hear one I like, sorry.

 

[Gwylan]

Oooh, so many...

...
Innocent When You Dream
...

Oh, that's a great one. How could I forget that?

 

[nutter]

Check out some of the earlier albums.His voice changed over the years.'Closing time' into my personal favourite 'The Heart Of Saturday Night' and also 'Blue Valentine" are brilliant

 

[Peteinblack]

'Singapore' and 'Jockey Full of Bourbon' off Rain Dogs album.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Martha and Jersey Girl

Martha for me too. Devastatingly sad.

 

[wadhurstseagull]

I never talk to strangers
Broken Bicyles
Closing Time

 

[Fungus]

I have a couple of friends who are big Tom Waits' fans and occasionally try and "sell" him to me but alas without success. Maybe I should make more effort but his dreadful voice and dirgy songs (that I have heard) have me begging them to change the record. So unable to give a favourite as I've yet to hear one I like, sorry.

Yeah, his voice is a struggle, but the songs are great - so many brilliant cover versions. Does anyone know of a compilation of covers? I'd go to the record store for that!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Did he once have a song (album?) called 'Tom Waits For No Man'? Vaguely recall something like that. If he didn't, he certainly should have.