the best tom waits songs: a rundown.

10) Anywhere I Lay My Head (Rain Dogs) "she left me in her sleep boys, I can feel it in my bones"

9) Lie to Me (Brawlers) he sounds like Elvis

8) Swordfishtrombone (Swordfishtrombones) "some say that he was never here at all"

7) Walk Away (Brawlers) poppy, upbeat - "there's a heart that's beating in every page - the beginning of it starts at the end"

6) Just the Right Bullets (The Black Rider) a creepy walk through the woods, I don't know what this song is about, something to do with hunting, I love the clarinet and the galloping bridges.

5) Make it Rain (Real Gone) "night's too quiet, stretched out alone - I need the whip of thunder, and the wind's dark moan"
actually this whole song is quotable, I love it

4) Road to Peace (Brawlers) fuck yeah, awesome political song.

3) Lucinda (Brawlers) listened to this in my headphones and I guess people could hear it a little...they were like, "who the hell are you listening to, they sound awful", I LOVE the vocals in this. I wish I could sing like this. goddamit. even if I smoked a zillion cigarettes I could not sound like this.
"I did well for an old tin can sailor, but she wanted the bell in my soul"

2) Hoist That Rag (Real Gone) this is a fucking pirate song

1) Green Grass (Real Gone) listened to this for maybe two months straight...this is why I love tom, everything feels like a story, this feels like a creepy story told by a dead man.
best line: "stand in the shade of me / things are now made of me"


as you can tell, my favorite album is Real Gone. there are a few "modes" that tom does, very generally speaking he does really "rough", thumping songs that sound like cowboys raising hell in a saloon, then there is more subdued bluesy stuff. I think they divided it all pretty well in the "orphans" collection: weird, raucous, and sad. so I guess there are three modes, then. I'm partial to the louder stuff, and then secondly the quiet, creepy stuff. I love it when tom sounds deliberately insane, like the last part of Shore Leave on Swordfishtrombones.

http://www.ifilm.com/episode/18049/startsWith/2801505


tom waits was born in the late forties, which is actually when on the road takes place. I think this makes a lot of sense.