Speaking of fans, his distinct features have inspired artist
to recreate his likeness. Whether it is through drawing, collage, painting,
photography, digital art, print, all have been used to pay homage to Waits.
Some of my personal favorites are below, even one that I have drawn
myself. It always amazes me how one object, person, idea can
be represented in so many unique ways. The photography displayed
below is by, whom I consider to be, an amazing photographer. Anton Corbjn is a
Dutch photographer who mainly works with celebrities such
as U2, Depeche Mode, Joy Division and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers. He creates
beautiful photographs that are just perfect in every way.
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| -Myself |
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| -Unknown |
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| -Anton Corbjn
Now that you know what he look like, its about time you
heard what he sounds like. The link below is a playlist that I created that
contains some of my favorite songs. In the order that they appear: Goin' Out
West- One of his more famous tracks perhaps you may remember it from
the Fight Club Soundtrack. Dead and Lovely-The first song that I had discovered by
Waits, for me its one of those songs that will never get old no matter who many
times you listen to it. This song is also featured in
the movie Wristcutters: A Love Story, a movie that Waits
has a role in. Yesterday is Here- Is a beautiful song with great imagery.
Just the line "you'll have to wait until yesterday is here"
is just so backwardly beautiful that it eventually starts to makes
sense. Gun Street Girl- is a song about a man who fell in love with a
girl from the wrong side of the tracks and now he is in
jail. The last track however is not a song. It's a recording of
Tom at various concerts. He likes to tell funny/lame jokes during his
performances, so this track is a 30-minute compilation of those
jokes. It's really great to study too. His distinctive, growly,
voice, once described, as being "soaked in bourbon" is really
soothing to listen to. Neat fact, he used to swallow cigarettes as a teen
to make his voice sound like it does.LINK http://pl.st/p/23228192523
“It ain't no sin, to take off your skin and dance around in your bones” ― Tom Waits Stories, Tom waits tells stories, with his lyrics, with his jokes, but he also reads stories. The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You by Frank Stanford is an epic poem that Waits has often drawn from. If anyone has read the book, (if not, you should!) the sporadic ideas that are let out in a continual stream conscience flow are similar to how Waits lyrics are presented. My creative writing teacher first quarter told me Tom Waits buys 50 copies of this book each Christmas and gives them away as presents because I he such a big fan. This seems a bit stupid, but neat fact none the less.Here is an excerpt from the poem: |
MOVIES Waits has been in (and that are worth watching)!
Down by Law http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090967/
Wristcutters: A Love Story http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477139/
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1054606/
The Book of Eli http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037705/
Coffee and Cigarettes http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379217/
Time to watch the man in action. Rain Dogs Live performance:
I've read somewhere that Tom was a really big fan of Johnny Cash. He was asked to be in the video that is posted below, but declined because he believed that video was commercializing Johnny's Death.
I guess my love for Tom Wait's music had started when I was a kid. My uncle who grew up in Edinburgh during the 70's. Because Scotland is a "shithole", so my uncle says,there was nothing really to do except listen to music. It was during this time that bands like Joy Division, X-Ray Spex, and Tom Waits, were rolling through nearby England. Eventually their musical influence would trickle down to Scotland, and teens such as my uncle would love their sound. My unce showed me Waits after he realized that our tastes in music were freakishly similar.
I'll leave you with a story to think about..
“My kids are starting to notice I'm a little different from the other dads. "Why don't you have a straight job like everyone else?" they asked me the other day.
I told them this story:
In the forest, there was a crooked tree and a straight tree. Every day, the straight tree would say to the crooked tree, "Look at me...I'm tall, and I'm straight, and I'm handsome. Look at you...you're all crooked and bent over. No one wants to look at you." And they grew up in that forest together. And then one day the loggers came, and they saw the crooked tree and the straight tree, and they said, "Just cut the straight trees and leave the rest." So the loggers turned all the straight trees into lumber and toothpicks and paper. And the crooked tree is still there, growing stronger and stranger every day.”
― Tom Waits
