Tom Waits - Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)

[silentnlurking]

this album was made to sit at the kitchen table with

a bottle of scotch

a pack of cigarettes

and a gun

let nature take it's course

[ckwrich1]

Pure kindness transcends the illusions of love.

[chaparral66]

One of my favorite Waits songs. Still a classic.

[Marina334]

Uma voz estranha, arenosa, belíssima.

Uma das mais bonitas canções de Tom Waits.

[taykoz]

this song ALWAYS makes me cry.

[vagamagsbund]

3 people.... aw why bother! just lean back and enjoy the song!

[burningburney94]

Tom Waits and Morrissey. the two greatest singer/songwriters ever.

[DrWeiland]

@burningburney94 Nick Cave?

[burningburney94]

@DrWeiland Him too. as well as Leonard Cohen.

[trailboss99]

Amen

[youknowsheshalfcrazy]

God, I love this man.

[mikitojojo]

Wonderful Song! Thanks for share.

[MrTom123167]

@mikeschanzer - I remember listening to Woody Guthrie got me through some really hard times because he kind of told it how it was, like with this song. Hope you can keep on keeping on anyway!!

[MikeSchanzer]

the nightmares never truly leave...just recede a bit with time....Seeing things right now through a Bushmill induced haze...only way i can deal with it at present...Thanks Tom for sharing them with me!!!

[LarryFogarty]

utter  class

[thestranger4812]

The only bad song on a great album (Small Change).

[k775blondie1]

I have loved this song since 1976..... makes me sigh & cry for the wounds that will never heal... even after all these years.

[MsRoteRatte]

selbst nach 30 Jahren bekomme ich bei diesen Song eine Gänsehaut

[maryt38]

I'll never forget my dear pals memorial at the pagoda in Battersea pk where this tune was played in his memory. Steve was a beautiful spirit from Sydney and this tune is so fitting.

[bundangviking]

This was the song I ever listened to by Tom Waits . . . and yeah, it will always be my favorite.

[journeythruthepast]

This will always be the great song he's ever written.

[TheZairae]

God damnit. Why is Tom so fucking cool?

[JAStewart]

@mojiqueisdal

From what? Betterdom? Tom has only improved through his career, but that's not to say that his old stuff isn't good, his new stuff is just increasingly incredible.

[chicagogordon]

There's something about this song that comforts old expats like me. and it's not "it's gonna be alright" comfort.. it's "I'm right there with ya, friend" type of comfort.

[volksball]

@chicagogordon: I couldn't have said it better myself.

[70oldgit]

is tom waits like the emperors new clothes

[wizardofwaste]

I put Tom Waits up with the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and Hoagy Carmichael as the greatest songwriters America has ever produced. Like the others, people will be listening to Waits' music long after he (and all of us reading this) are gone.

[jahwarrior72]

@wizardofwaste

that's funny, because my own list of greatest American songwriters ever includes Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Arlo Guthrie, Tom Waits, and Bruce Springsteen.

[frejasvej33]

@wizardofwaste You say produce, I would rather say created. And maybe actually in a very bad way? Tom Waits has seen nigthmares, and I believe that only the people who has suffered the pain Tom had can ever understand the pain he describes in some of his songs.

[GeahkBurchill]

Three people are Mathilda in disguise and don't like the mask being pulled off.

[mrsbookthief]

LOVE the picture at 2:12

[ageshero]

I wonder to myself, is it possible not to like this, its so gritty and beautiful, soulful.

[wheatonna]

He just knocks it so far out of the park that nobody will ever find it. There aren't too many as good as this.

[guariban]

A Real Poet! God should cry when he sings...

[winters0123]

The photos of him are amazing as well, he's like James Joyce, utterly brilliant and looks brilliant in photos!

[MrTJK1492]

In my opinion his best song

[possessedspawn]

Oh my!!!!! What a wonderful song. It will change my life from now on

[whipchorus]

If you don't like this you're a twat. I mean for fuck's sake.

[winters0123]

@whipchorus Haha I agree, well said

[BenLongman]

i don't care what anyone says, i fucking love his voice. a man with a soft, clean voice singing a beautiful love song can be moving, but tom singing it is just absolutely heart-wrenching

[GillyMs]

..... been a Waits fan for years - this is something rather special ....

[DanielTheWalrus]

I want this playing at my funeral.

[kaminblog]

Gigantisch!



[kaminblog]

Gigantisch!

[lucasboy13]

you can really hear the pain in his voice, it brings tears to my eyes. This is truly an amazing man, thank you Tom for the beautiful piece.

[TheNellamaria]

great rain dog!!!

[thom2805]

excellent!

[StellaOmega]

Seems like no matter what musician I look for on youtube, the comments are full of people complaining about every *other* musician. This guy deserves praise, those others don't.

LOL!

[Altema2608]

My favorite song.

[Sokinad]

Normally, I would laugh and wonder what the photograph at around 4:30 is all about. Somehow, this song stops me from doing so...

[thetruegents]

what an exquisite piece of music...

[IanBond07]

My roommate bought this album new in '77 when I was in college. We wore it out.

[AlfSpungie]

Beautiful photos! Tom Waits is so gorgeous in quite a twisted way - just like his voice singing songs like this one.

Where did you find them?

[andreathorpe]

so many memories....

[motsigman]

don't like all his stuff but after 30 years of listening to this it means so much, we use to sing the original at school as kids but this brings a tear to my eyes woman, drink, life,

[roogalater]

Friend of mine has been right into Tom Waits for years, and although I thought Tom was an interesting geezer the music didn't do it for me like it did for those who were into it. 20 years of rough knocks later I'm getting it.

[FrizAtHome]

Mark Lanegan's father

[TheBrainMachine78]

A few too many drinks and this song will break your heart.

[bundangviking]

@TheBrainMachine78

was well put!

[MuntucoGer1]

@TheBrainMachine78 Christ, it does me without the drink man

[NotSoSilentE]

@TheBrainMachine78 It does the trick pretty well when your sober, too.

[MuntucoGer1]

@TheBrainMachine78 does without the booze too. Breaks me.

[Loupland]

@TheBrainMachine78

It's allrdy breaking my heart without the drinks... I dont want to experience this on any mood-enhancer.

[Nniiccoo65]

My son just posted this on his face book page. It's funny how artists like Waits can not only continue to stay popular but meaningful to a new generation. We listened to him in the early seventies in our bedrooms and in our cars cruising the dragg. Warms my heart to see that kids are picking him up and actually hear what he's singing. Pretty cool huh?

[daveydave987654321]

@Nniiccoo65 not only that but today's massive artists such as Patrick Stump continue to cover his work and bring a bit of Tom Waits into everyones lives.

[mrhankeyfan]

@Nniiccoo65

Eventually, great music will find its way into the right ears. No matter how much sensory overload brainless nonsense our society can produce to combat it, great music will ALWAYS reach the ears of those worthy to hear it.

[matseman46]

@Nniiccoo65 True and why? Because Tom are real and all kids recognise true emotions they want it and love it...

[rakeuiff]

@Nniiccoo65 Very cool!

[SBDMedia]

@Nniiccoo65 That's the proof that you've raised your kid well

[Babzycakes15]

I'm so used to hearing Rod Stewarts version I cant get used to this one! Its good but just cant take ta it!

[wizardofwaste]

It's a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace. And a wound that will never heal.

That this could have been written by someone in their 20s leaves me at a total loss for words. It's an anthem for those of us with depression.

[jedimindtricks87]

From wikipedia: "The origin of the song is somewhat ambiguous. The sub-title of the track "Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen" seems to indicate that it is about a time that Waits spent in Copenhagen in 1976 while on a tour. There, he apparently met Danish singer Mathilde Bondo." He wrote the song after drinking a pint of rye in skid row and talking to the people down there. Apparently everyone he spoke to "a woman put him there". Tom Traubert was "a friend of a friend" who died in prison.

[Varsar]

I can play this on the panflute. Which is completely irrelevant, but still, I love this song

[michagstraube1]

this song let me dream,dream of my baby

[badboistilezy]

I can play this on piano, which is completely irrelevant, but like you said, it also leaves me lost for words.

[DrunkenPiano]

@badboistilezy i can play this song on a sock, completely irrelevant, but i thought i'd share.

in all seriousness, one of the most beautiful songs i've ever heard.

[Gelatoalcio]

This man's got something that pierces my soul and permeates my mind.

[Hueyham]

Wasted and wounded. Tom Waits is ey Master of words and stories from the street. God bless him !!!

[journeythruthepast]

Just a masterful song. One of the best I've heard after tens of thousands of others. It's right up there.

[cell9song]

This song tears my soul apart. Very hard to listen to.

[123spasser123]

Does anybody knows what references Waits got for Copenhagen?

[VisionofOrion]

"the devil dosent have the best tunes. Tom waits does."

-Johnny Depp.

[pitberry]

This, "On the nickle", "More Than Rain" "Heart of Saturday Night" all grab desperately at the heart, a bullseye fer the songwriter's target.If this was all he could do, it would be enough. Now, add to that the fact that he's endlessly funny, scary, and funky!

[williestew68]

I think anyone who has ever been wounded by love or by the loss of love or simply by a lack of love, will understand the pain in this song. Beautifully tragic.

[bass0111]

I first heard this in 1982. I have listened to it countless times since, but never, ever without filling up with tears. Quite beyond the beyond.

[williestew68]

@bass0111 totally agree. Probably the saddest song ever written. Just the sense that whoever the song is about has completely given up all hope and accepted his demise. He asks for no sympathy," I got what I paid for now". He asks only for a little kindness, which I suspect has long been missing in his life. Desperately sad

[hunterforu1628]

The first song I ever heard by Tom was Filipino Box Spring Hog, so then I was in it for the lolz. After having heard this song as the second song I had ever heard from him, I was floored at how he pumped so much meaning and emotion into his music. This song has hooked me onto Tom Waits and i can honestly say that he is my favorite artist, and will continue to be, until somebody shows him up, which I think I can say with certainty will never happen.

[oisinallen]

@hunterforu1628 You completely nailed it. Tom is absolutely incredible at the crazy songs (Filipino Box Spring Hog; Big in Japan; etc.), the surreal songs (What's He Building In There; Army Ants; etc.) and the beautiful songs (Tom Traubert's Blues; Martha; etc.).

He is genuinely the greatest.

[mezzli]

This is just a masterpiece.

[hassen6]

Does anybody knows name of a man with Tom in photo 5:30 ?

[sshannon]

@hassen6 Elvis Costello.

[hassen6]

@sshannon  Thank you

[fride111]

@ MrSarahJoanna :

check his website it's on there...

tomwaits.com

[vienieee]

great song

[MrSarahJoanna]

Thank you so much for posting this. I am responsible for at least 15 views :)

Can you tell me where to get that picture of Mr. Waits in the coat flying up, where he looks all Marilyn Monroe-y (well, for a Tom Waits)?

Thank you, that'd be great!

Greetings

[greenhoof94]

hobo music

[HIbradley27]

@greenhoof94 fk yea

[Deathsiren]

@greenhoof94 ??

[adman2481]

Great slide show...Thanks. I watched this 7 times in a row. OK, once on the page and 6 times doing other stuff! Tre' bien

[danno58a]

To suggest other song writers take Mr. Waits lead is misguided. His "style" is not something anyone can imitate any more than one could "imitate" Van Gogh or Mozart. I consider him our greatest living American poet, a troubadour who defies categorization. As he once said "So I break a lot of eggs. And I leave the shell in there". It these egg shells that make him unique and breath taking. We are so privileged to live in a time of such a genius. Long live Tom!

[danno58a]

To suggest other song writers take Mr. Waits lead is misguided. His "style" is not something anyone can imitate any more than one could "imitate" Van Gogh or Mozart. I consider him our greatest living American poet, a troubadour who defies categorization. As he once said "So I break a lot of eggs. And I leave the shell in there". It his "shells" that make him unique and breath taking. Long live Tom!

[braind33]

Thank you, Tom, for this and for so much more.

[GichigamiSongs]

when i first heard this song i was nine years old. i was listening to vanilla ice and mc hammer.  this song taught me what music is supposed to be.

[Ashley4339]

Such a very beautiful song and the pictures sort of of set the scene between Toms eulogy to the barflys of the world and an absolute admiration of the man...many many thanks for posting this!!

[journeythruthepast]

Tom Waits is one of the only writers of the rock era who can write timeless torch songs. He's right out of the Tin Pan Alley Era. Of course he's done less of these ballads since 1983 but he makes so much out of his modest piano and guitar skills. What a treasure. Tom Waits at his most abrasive takes a while to warm up to, but when you do you love him like a crazy old uncle.

[pwilliamscardiff]

Part 1/3

This song has long been one of my favourites. I’ve read many explanations of the lyrics but few pay tribute to the obvious reference to the de facto Aussie national song (anthem?). As Isaac Newton was “standing on the shoulders of giants”, so is Tom Waits with this song/poem/tune, and that is not to disparage his work, but to pay respect to Tom and the past meanings of “Waltzing Matilda”.

[pwilliamscardiff]

Part 2/3

Originally written by Banjo Patterson about the itinerant workers which roamed the Australian bush looking for workaround the turn of the 19th century, it became the voice of all Australian troops leaving to fight on foreign shores and always played for the ones “lucky” enough to return. It is played every Anzac Day, the Australian equivalent of the American Memorial Day, and is etched into every Aussie veteran’s heart.

[pwilliamscardiff]

Part 3/3

Thus the song cannot be sung without reference to the alcoholism and tribulations of veterans of the Vietnam war, where Australian soldiers stood side by side with American GIs. I have no idea what Tom Waits meant when he wrote the song, and most poets do not divulge their own intentions, preferring to leave interpretations to the reader/listener. It‘s hard to believe that this deeper meaning eluded him, as surely as it wouldn’t elude any Australian veteran.

Thank you for posting.

[coconadis]

Hermoso!!!  Gracias

[mwells219]

back when music was made by men not 16 year old crybabies.

[byroncallas]

This seemed to come out of nowhere when first recorded - an almost unbelievable reach into the depth of man's guts, original to the nth degree. It's aged well. Many of Wait's live performances of this over the years are simply masterpieces, created anew with each performance. In my book a timeless masterpiece.

[Elmoresnooze]

Elvis Costello is a huge twat.

[DenOfVipers]

@Elmoresnooze Hahahaha. Yeah he is.

[djfromhell]

Ben, I agree. Thing is, Tom's voice is so distinctive and beyond soulful. It's like when you listen to 'Innocent When You Dream', 'Christmas Card from a Hooker' or 'Burma Shave'. You can't help but feel his voice mesh so beautifully with the music behind it.

I mean, I appreciate the fact that people have covered his songs, but to me, it's the equivalent of covering The Beatles: it's just not supposed to be done. Ever. Because it is so original and distinctive.

[BenWright91]

Very well said. Accept no substitutes; only Tom can play the countless characters that live inside so many of his songs. Its never the same when someone like Rod Stewart turns the soulful, honest Downtown Train into a shallow pop song.

[BenWright91]

Although his voice and style may have changed from his earlier records on asylum, his songwriting has remained just as strong. One of Tom's greatest strengths is his ability to remain relevant and create timeless music that doesn't adhere to the pop music trends of the now that later sound very dated. Tom Waits is very similar to the Beatles in that he has been able to create unique music that has aged (and will continue to age) very favorably.

[BenWright91]

Personally, I'm not overly ecstatic about the current "indie" rock phenomenon that seems to have everyone so hallucinated. I really hope more people start listening to Tom and the shift of popular music goes back to quality songwriting instead of the seemingly "complex" beats that don't actually adhere to any form and lack real heart. So much undeserved praise has gone to bands like Phoenix who essentially make disco pop under the guise of an "Indie" label and are therefore considered artistic.

[KatieHippieWannaBe]

@BenWright91

-bows down-

That was possibly the most eloquent and dead on explanation of the so called "indie" scene ever.

[LeviZilla]

@BenWright91 @BenWright91 Music doesn't have to be complex to be good. Some music is fun to dance to like Phoenix (any many other indie pop bands). I love Tom Waits but sometimes Cemetery Polka doesn't pump me up and other music does the trick. The bottom line is; different music appeals to different people. Some music is sad (like this song) and some is upbeat fun (like Phoenix.)

[BenWright91]

@LeviZilla Yes, I agree. I too need my fill of fun music. And although it is out of personal taste that I dislike Phoenix, I can see the appeal. What I don't understand however, is the swarm of praise that follows them. No fault to the band itself, but I don't think their music really stands up to the pedestal that so many critics raise for them. I don't like it myself, but I think it's good music. I'm just not entirely convinced they're the artistic geniuses that everyone makes them out to be.

[Deathsiren]

@djfromhell Truth.

[djfromhell]

People...stop with all the Drano talk. This song is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard in my life.

[BenWright91]

@djfromhell Thank you. I'm honestly sick of the whole "Drano" diatribe. It was cute and all the first time but the "gargling with (insert cleaner fluid here)" comment has gotten really old. At the very least you guys could be a little more original with your criticism/wit.

[chief123]

I do believe he has trouble cleaning his Drains with nothing clean it with, because he spends his nights, and days gargling what is known as Drano.

[RedVynil]

Does he gargle with Drano?

[LandoftheShanks]

@RedVynil Do you?!

[RedVynil]

@LandoftheShanks No, and I don't sound like I do, either.

[LandoftheShanks]

@RedVynil Neither does Tom Waits. I don't think you can say someone sounds like they gargle with drano till you've experienced it first hand. So, I am going to assume from now on, that you have gargled with Drano - and ask this also - WTF were you thinking when you did it?!

[RedVynil]

@LandoftheShanks I was thinking of how bloody difficult it was to get the horrid taste of your mum's quim out of my mouth after she forced herself on me.

[LandoftheShanks]

@RedVynil Always gotta' bring me mum into this, don't you?!

[Rumpelteazer123]

うぇすてっでんうぉんでっ　ていんとわっざむーんでぃっ　がっほわたーぺーいほわなう しーゆもーろーう　へぃふらんきゃなぼーろー　あかっぷろーぶっくすふろーみゅー

とぅーごぉー　わーるぢぃんまちーるだ　わーるぢぃんまちーるだゆーる

ごぉわーるぢぃんまちーるだうぃーずみぃぃ

[kuriocoolin]

心にしみる曲です。人生のいろいろな場面が回想されます、ありが­とう。

[tomomaru2007]

まさに不毛地帯のＥＤですね

[Julebuul]

voegde bob er gevat aan toe

[magaandolga75]

Thank you