Excellent! I agree that Swordfishtrombones was the turning point, and you're probably right that Brennan played a large part in that (but I wouldn't know, I never asked her about that). But even before that Tom Waits was different, nothing like anything you heard before. I stumbled across him in 1987 or so, somewhere in a penitentiary facility in Louisiana after an opening scene that for me still goes down as one of the best openings of a movie ever.
Yeah, I suspect 'Down by Law' was probably at more or less precisely the same moment as I first heard a record. Really need to add that to the Metropolitan list.
So glad I discovered this Subatack--in less than two hours I was reawakened to The Singing Detective and then found this, about one of my all-time favorite artists. Great track-by-track breakdown. You probably know that "Innocent When You Dream" is used in the end sequence of Smoke, a great film written by Paul Auster starring William Hurt and Harvey Keitel.
My first intro to Tom Waits was Nighthawks at the Diner. Once I heard that, I was in for life.
One of the things that fascinates me is that Waits' style and methods have evolved, but something fundamental has never changed. I've never met anyone who only likes one period and not another, they're always all in or not at all. Even though I discovered him through the Raindogs era records, I still listen as much to his '70s records as I do to more recent ones. The Tom Waits-ness endures.
That is 100% true. Nobody says the early stuff was better, or other clichés about music. Either you think he’s great or you don’t. Nobody dabbles in Tom Waits.
Completely brilliant. Thank you ever so much. For me, it was Raindogs— as I soon as I heard “ while making feet for children’s shoes” in Singapore, I was solid gone.
Oh, I loved that record too. I had a summer job in the school holidays and just listened to Raindogs on repeat as I walked to and from work. It made for a wonderfully dark summer
I discovered Tom Waits in the best possible way that one can: whilst being courted by a slightly older love interest who wore a trench coat and smoked cigarettes and wanted to impress me with his taste in music. I fell rapidly in love with both of them.
Ha! That was definitely the sort of interesting man I was trying to be at that stage. I don’t think it ever worked but at least I got to listen to some terrific music
Talking of Frank 'though, and the dog he couldn't stand. I remember that one of the first plays that Simon put on in York was a "sequel" to Frank's Wild Years, right? I wonder if the text of that still exists somewhere, I recall being quite impressed at the time....
I directed that! I think. I don't remember too clearly. I *think* I might have found a copy of the script a few years ago but who knows what I've done with it if I did.
Excellent! I agree that Swordfishtrombones was the turning point, and you're probably right that Brennan played a large part in that (but I wouldn't know, I never asked her about that). But even before that Tom Waits was different, nothing like anything you heard before. I stumbled across him in 1987 or so, somewhere in a penitentiary facility in Louisiana after an opening scene that for me still goes down as one of the best openings of a movie ever.
Yeah, I suspect 'Down by Law' was probably at more or less precisely the same moment as I first heard a record. Really need to add that to the Metropolitan list.
So glad I discovered this Subatack--in less than two hours I was reawakened to The Singing Detective and then found this, about one of my all-time favorite artists. Great track-by-track breakdown. You probably know that "Innocent When You Dream" is used in the end sequence of Smoke, a great film written by Paul Auster starring William Hurt and Harvey Keitel.
My first intro to Tom Waits was Nighthawks at the Diner. Once I heard that, I was in for life.
Thank you! Welcome on board!
One of the things that fascinates me is that Waits' style and methods have evolved, but something fundamental has never changed. I've never met anyone who only likes one period and not another, they're always all in or not at all. Even though I discovered him through the Raindogs era records, I still listen as much to his '70s records as I do to more recent ones. The Tom Waits-ness endures.
That is 100% true. Nobody says the early stuff was better, or other clichés about music. Either you think he’s great or you don’t. Nobody dabbles in Tom Waits.
Completely brilliant. Thank you ever so much. For me, it was Raindogs— as I soon as I heard “ while making feet for children’s shoes” in Singapore, I was solid gone.
Oh, I loved that record too. I had a summer job in the school holidays and just listened to Raindogs on repeat as I walked to and from work. It made for a wonderfully dark summer
I discovered Tom Waits in the best possible way that one can: whilst being courted by a slightly older love interest who wore a trench coat and smoked cigarettes and wanted to impress me with his taste in music. I fell rapidly in love with both of them.
Ha! That was definitely the sort of interesting man I was trying to be at that stage. I don’t think it ever worked but at least I got to listen to some terrific music
Talking of Frank 'though, and the dog he couldn't stand. I remember that one of the first plays that Simon put on in York was a "sequel" to Frank's Wild Years, right? I wonder if the text of that still exists somewhere, I recall being quite impressed at the time....
I directed that! I think. I don't remember too clearly. I *think* I might have found a copy of the script a few years ago but who knows what I've done with it if I did.