Tom Waits
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Added: 5 years ago
From: silverjoo22
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  • Hahaha! Thats Jake Lamotta at the beginning!!

  • full moon wonderful spoon and no sip, full moon and no sip. great post!

  • Tom's song that proves he could be a great pop songwriter if he tried. He much prefers writing tunes that no one else is capable of approaching, thankfully.

  • Tom Waits is one of, if not THE greatest singer of all time. His voice is unique, his pitch is impeccable and his range is broad.2nd to none

  • @MrDaemonB Singers?! shut up.. He knew he never was one so stop yur parade

  • @majorisore Tom Waits is the only white singer that has any soul to project through his music.(other than opera singers?) I don't follow pop music, never have...my background is 20's 30's Blues, as well as other honest folk styles. Also modern electric blues from the 50's-70's....I've really tried to get with the music since but Waits is about the only standout.....If he said that? If asked, who would answer differently,besides he is a humble man by nature.

  • @MrDaemonB How can you possibly come to your conclusion after admiting you limit yourself too Blues within a VERY specific time & in DIFFERENT decades? Were u deaf between 30's-50's? (dont answer: joke) You 'tried' to get with music but nothing stood out. Thats very, very arrogant mate. Try harder. Tom Waits is unique and everyone loves him for that brutal humble throat. Comparing him to the years of training required to be opera singer is rediculous. Star Struck?

  • Stas bolacho? Que hombre loco!

  • Stas bolacho? 

  • Rod Stewart's version was an abomination. Think of Def Leppard covering The Beatles or Led Zeppelin. Anyone who prefers (or even likes) the cover version is probably legally deaf.

  • @JeffersA1 you sir are an idiot

    

  • Its true that Rod Stewart did an excellent version of this song. It was the only time after the Blondes Have More Fun album that he did anything worthwhile. He had a wonderful band at that time and they were inspired. He was paying them pennies though and when they refused the miserable terms he offered for the world tour that followed this smash album, he sacked them all and brought in some guys from Wallmart or someplace. They sucked. He lost the moment and never recovered. Toms version rules

  • @JeffersA1 You ass.

  • @JeffersA1 I don't think anyone has ever said 'Thank God for Rod Stewart.'

  • Rod Stewart took this excellent song by the scruff of its neck and took it to another level. Waits original is so miserable, limp and pathetic by comparrison. Thank god for Rod to breath much needed life into it. Ask anybody who sung this song and the answer is always Rod Stewart, no one but musical nerds have heard of the original because it is crap by comparrison.

  • @JeffersA1 I didn't want to get into this but that's just not true. Rod Stewart's version is over produced yet bland, has no heart. Tom Wait's voice is something of a paradox. He's vocally more limited than Rod Stewart but his voice seems carry the weight of each word. Rod Stewart is singing to an audience, Tom Wait is singing to the girl he watches at the window and to every alienated soul in a language it understands. This whole song resonates with longing, Rod's is like a chat up line...

  • @kingsindiandefence Well said, couldnt have put it better myself.

  • Respond to this video I really don't want to be too critical of Rod Stewart. It's weird, I love Springsteen's version of Jersey Girl. I want to scoff at Tom Waits singing when comparing the two versions of that song but can't because what he puts over is a beautiful love song sung with total honesty. That he even dares to sing his own songs, with sincerity, winning through his vocal limitations just adds to the great lyrics he puts down.

  • This sucks really bad. Thank god for Rod Stewart's cover version. Tom needs to get on his downtown train and leave the music to Rod.

  • IS THIS A MOVIE? WHAT DOES IT NAME?

  • @Tedminat0r no, not a movie, just his epic video...

  • @mrmmarc aww. >: u just ruined my day >:

  • Rod blows.........after Maggie May he sold out and did noting but CRAP........Waits has forgot more about music than Rod ever knew

  • kako je ovo dobro jebo mu sve!

  • this blows rod stewerts boring 80"s pop version way out of the water!!! tom is just amazing....

  • Waits is a musician's musician, and being one myself, I know from where I speak. Great version of this song. I would comment on this Rod Stewart guy, but I'm not sure who he is. Wasn't he he like a leach from back in the 70's that hung around with Jeff Beck and that crowd? The name sounds familiar, but if he didn't have any talent, I wouldn't know who he is, sorry :-)

  • this guy is freakin genius!

  • Another Stout and a pack of lucky strike... Tom Waits is the coolest singer, songwriter...

    don't compare apples to eggs listen and appreciate the lyrics the talent and the greatest voice and his use of anything the makes a noise...

    This Man optimists NEW YORK to me

  • Wow, this sucks. But i know, If i'll listen to this song about 5 times, I will love it forever :D

  • He's so great! such guts he'll sing anything and I always like his version the best.

  • Waits wrote it. And I won't comment on Rod Stewart.....oops, I guess I just did! (Think Louie Armstrong.) 

  • Waits wrote it.

  • Unico e solo Tom Waits....

  • intrigante......

  • Was this directed by Jim Jarmusch?

  • @lennybrucelee

    it does look a lot like "down by the law"

  • fucking awsome. Noah and the wale say tom is a big infleubc,e to be honest i hear nothing in the music and doesn't do anything for me at all. Tom on the other hands hits your like brick in a face, awsome

  • Tom is great.. what a great voice and a great song writer.

  • Congratulations on being inducted into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of fame, Tom. This video is one of the best ever made, for all time. You are a genius.

    If I only could bring 10 cds to an island, Mule Variations would be one of the first ones I would pack!

  • Congratulation to Tom Waits' Rockn' Roll Hall of Fame induction!

  • @LetJimiT8keOver Then you miss the point entirely. You can absolutely hear the people Tom sings about in his voice. He sings about the seedier characters, and it's exactly the kind of voice that those characters need. And something like, say, "Tom Traubert's Blues" is genius, because the beauty of the music-especially the strings, which I would put on par with Sinatra's "It Was A Very Good Year" or anything Bernstein wrote-is contrasted brilliantly by Tom's voice.

  • why can no one watch anything on youtube without talking about how their taste is so much better than everyone else's.

  • Aaah Mr Tom! You make being awake, pissed, at 4am thinking about all the mistakes you've ever made enjoyable.

  • I love tom waits but I do much prefer his rain dogs stuff. This song sounds like it could be by anyone (apart from the voice), I prefer the more signature pinky plonky twangy stuff,

  • @ToliveAnimations by that I pretty much mean like the stuff you hear at the end of the video

  • @ToliveAnimations Downtown Train is from Rain Dogs.

  • @MsCaseyBoo you're right, sorry I meant Bloody Money.

  • lmao @ rod stewart fans talking about music.

  • @LetJimiT8keOver He has a 5 octave voice. He sings throaty because he wants to sound like his old heros. I'm not saying he has a nice voice, or that you have to like him - but he is hitting notes.

  • From 4.33 onwards is the shit! Tom in his glory! Gotta love it!

  • Comment removed

  • ROD STEWART VS TOM WAITS? PLEASE RS IS A NARCISSISTIC DILETTANTE,

  • @spekeman99 Ha ha ha ha. yeah, ha ha ha ha ha ha...oh wait, are you serious?

  • I tend to agree more with mtut's take on this whole "cover by Rod" situation. Tom Waits is, and I don't think I'd get much argument from ANYONE, no matter their musical predilections, an absolute genius wordsmith and songwriter in general, and Mr. Stewart was paying him some overdue homage by delivering his passionate, heartfelt rendition that was much more suitable, in the eyes of the music bigwigs whose opinion really count, for consumption by the unwashed masses. Rod gifted Tom with MONEY!

  • @dansteely77 I agree with your comment. And that is exactly what's wrong with the entertainment industry. Art is mass produced for the plebs. Art has become industrialized and sanitized for the uneducated, easily offended.

  • this is 1000 , times better than rod stewart,s version

  • Real Waits fans would show some respect for a cover version that brought Waits' brilliant writing to new audiences, Rod Stewart or anybody. See what Tom sees here. People are basically trapped by their identity in the world. Metaphor brings a tenuous hope for transformation. The lyrics! It shouldn't matter who sings them; just that people hear. Maybe people who are, superficially, not like yourselves, but who actually have some of the same feelings. Or is that what scares you?

  • This song is a masterpiece!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Absolutely wonderful! The Rod version is pathetic in comparison!

  • this has to be the best video ever, i always come back to it every few months!! i love how he dodges the water with sheer elegance!! i really hope he does another tour, ireland needs you tom!

  • i love this song

  • I wish a man would sing like that to me

  • Probably the only video you'll ever see with a woman shaving her pits.

  • Iv'e been a fan for years, first song i heard by him was heart of saturday night and it blew me away. he's written so many classics, i believe he's more prolific than dylan (and i love dylan) and that voice jeeze its like he's dragging it up from his soul. The mans just pure genius.

  • Tom Waits rules!!!! Must definitely check out his gigs in Asia!!!

  • Tom Waits, une voix et quelle voix !

    D'une musique toujours ancrée dans le Blues, se rapprochant du Jazz et des musiques improvisées ou faisant référence aux musiques latines comme celles de Cuba et du Mexique, les chansons de Tom Waits parlent de l'Amérique profonde.

    "Downtown train" est extrait du disque "Rain Dogs" paru en 1985. Dans ce clip, on peut voir le boxeur Jack La Motta, l'ancien champion du monde des Poids Moyens.

    I'm shining like a new dime!

    Thanks a lot!

  • when i first was listening to this about a year and a half ago i had become self concious thinking my arms were too skinny i saw the dude with the baby had kind of big arms now mine are as big as his lol

  • vocal chords soaked in bourbon!

    Darned difficult song to sing...and to do it so brilliantly, gotta take at least your hat off, no?

  • combination of Dylan & Springsteen...throw in some pirate/hobo....been listening to him for years...never gets old...

  • brilliant 'tom'

  • I wish Tom was my father...

  • Favo!

  • Este tío es un puto genio.Tom Waits,no hace música, Él es pura música.

    Gracias Tom Waits por hacerme sentir así.

  • I'm completely unfamiliar with Tom Waits. His performance is played out with an unusual style. Is this typical of him?Also, the only reason i even veiwed this video is because i was veiwing the one from Patty Smyth from the 1980's, and a comment read that they preferred this one over Patty Smyth's video. Although i enjoyed the differences, myself, i prefer Patty Smyth's.

  • In my opinion, Tom Waits is the most original performer around today.

  • @airfeild Saying he had an 'unusual style' is an understatement. Hes an aquired taste, but one worth getting.

  • @airfeild Hey, here's a suggestion, genius: try typing his name into Google, Wikipedia, even, gasp, You Tube. Idiot.

  • @mustangred...Haha! Wow, are you really being all rude at me like that? My initial discovery of Tom Waits led to my "genius" comment. I'm aware of where to go to find out more about something i didnt know about before. But hey, what are friends for? Thanks for your input, and the insults, as we all need humble reminders. By the way, Mustangs are my favorite car, seriously. High-five, from your favorite "Genius" by day, "Idiot" by night.....

  • @momcnrock He-he... Good one!

  • @momcnrock He-he... Good one!

    There's one very good thing about Mr Stewart. He has excellent taste in music! He's given me enormous amounts clues on where to find the truly good music :)

    (The old RS was very good btw :) )

  • @momcnrock This guy wrote the song, and he sings it like a god.....you must be a housewife

  • @momcnrock you got it backwards, bro

  • @momcnrock You really deserve to die.

  • WOW 

  • "I stumbled onto this page by accident looking for Rods version." Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. You must have a serious estrogen imbalance. If you're not a housewife you have no excuse for looking for Rod Stewart videos on youtube. Man up and get your Tom on.

    If you are a housewife you should make your husband a sandwich and stop trolling.

  • @hoveringsombrero818 Make your husband a sandwich? Are you one of those guys, that can't get off his lazy ass and do it yourself?

  • @hoveringsombrero818 Rod stewarts older stuff is amazing. Every picture tells a story is a classic. So is this album

  • @ShineOnCrazyDiamond1 First of all THIS ISN'T ROD STEWART! And second, This ISN'T his older stuf! This is WAITS himself and His older stuff!

  • @RemyJuju2 Whaaa, I know that. i was replying to the guy who said rod stewart was only for housewives.

  • @ShineOnCrazyDiamond1 I see that now, sorry, this Youtube comment area SUCKS!

  • @RemyJuju2 Thats ok Lol :3

  • @hoveringsombrero818 stop picking apart others musical choices, e-warrior. Does it really matter?

  • @hoveringsombrero818

    "Housewife" & "Man up". You must have a serious gender/sexual identity issue. If you're a fourteen year old boy, you'll probably realise in a few years that there are things more important than getting the most back-pats from the other guys and waving your penis around like a flag.

    If you're not a fourteen-year old, get off the internet, stop trolling, go back to the little bible belt-town you came from and leave mr. Waits to the intelligent ones.

  • @hoveringsombrero818 great. i just wanted to listen to some tom waits, i'm glad i get to read your sexist comments while doing so.

  • @hoveringsombrero818 not true, maggie may's a damn good song and not in the least bit housewifey.

    its almost too good to be rod stewart

  • @hoveringsombrero818 Well, the Rule should be,if you are going to do Tom Waits covers, Dont Be Rod Stewart. Wait, adjust that rule, Just dont be Rod Stewart

  • @guyphawkes Well very few people have made that mistake. Just one, in fact.

  • Comment removed

  • @hoveringsombrero818 The fact that so many people liked your idiotically sexist comment is extremely discouraging.

    Anyway, great song/video.

  • @hoveringsombrero818 Fuckoff. Was looking for Waits. Not sexist comments.

  • Im not Rod Stewart fan, but thank goodness he covered this song and actually saved it. You people are smoking some serious shit if you think this guy is a good singer.

  • @housetrancformer So,clearly you must have been on something yourself if you just happened to find this particular song by this particular artist...heres a little tip:if you are not a fan of Tom Waits then don't listen to him! There are at least 190 people who think hes alright so you will certainly not be missed!

  • @housetrancformer Yer an even bigger fool , if ye think ´Roddie da Twat´is a better singer dan Waits ...

  • @housetrancformer Dear lord man, are you an idiot? I wouldn't believe otherwise... Is this an ambitious computer program, analyzing worth from cultural data? Otherwise: go back to your Rod and your Wham! or what have you, and just don't look back; you're grave will more easily be adorned, and the ceremony more easily digested by your entourage... but leave those that actually care for music the fuck alone, asswipe... Tom Waits is the greatest living composer and poet, bar none...

  • @housetrancformer no one's saying he's a technically a good singer, but it has a certain charm. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all.

  • @housetrancformer

    It's not about the singing, it's about the performance, the soul.

    Otherwise put Susan Boyle on it. Bet you would like it XD

  • Tom Waits is a god, simple as.

  • His voice sounds like it has done nothing but smoke cigars, and drink bourbon. Then, takin outside, beatin up, ran over by a mack truck, and spit on. Love it to death...

  • This song is so real...I can relate this to cities like Philly or Austin.

  • Lycanthropes don't actually turn into "werewolves" on full moons. They turn into Tom Waits.

  • @gentrelane

    Which is alot more scary, since you can't threaten to ruin his voice, he's already done it himself, lol. Patton Oswalt loves to do impressions of him

  • Tom Waits actually wrote the song and Rod Stewart covered it which Waits was cool with he said that letting Stewart record it helped him buy a pool for his kids...what a guy..haha love him to pieces!!

  • @Ashley4339

    huwahahahahahaha

  • At midnight, he starts singing softly, and by morning, he's dancing down the street with a fucking accordion. He must have had a serious grudge against his neighbor's sleep schedules.

  • @ThePsychoReturns Yeah I am pretty sure he does, as he sang in the song Rosie "sittin' on the window sill blowin' my horn, nobody's up but the moon and me."

  • Good thing he also sings a lot of lullabies.

  • Thanks, love this gorgeous song.

  • great song great video

  • Great song...and...this video is beyond sexy. Just sayin'. *Dies*

  • Tom Waits is the definition of cool! ;)

  • @TheGigsixstringAge his voice is so weird, i love it.

  • Great voice!

  • i foundind it funny that some mook commented "who is this guy and why is he ripping off a great rod stewart song?" RECOGNIZE you fool before you open your mouth!

  • Could be the Marlon Brando of the pop music world.

  • I didn't know who he was until I saw this video in '85. It grabbed me by the face, threw me to the ground and changed my whole taste in music. Thank you Mr. Waits.

  • This rod stewart covering him and making a song a hit with the pop radio is like when Eric Clapton covered Bob Marley and rock and roll fans thought I shot the sheriff was eric clapton's song, without having ever heard of Bob Marley.

  • @Heshsk8138 The difference there being that Eric Clapton is better than Bob Marley.

  • @TwoCows23 Clapton's just more 'accessible' than Marley (ie, easy to digest if a little on the bland side) hence his immense popularity. Coincidentally, Marley is seen by many as a bit like the Clapton of Reggae. It's all in the perspective. Personally, I'd rather listen to Marley's music than Clapton's though some of his early stuff was solid.

  • @plezou

    His voice reflects too much smoking, too much drinking, and the endless pursuit of love. You actually have to listen with that in mind to appreciate it. Rod's version is bland as left over porridge, and has no soul. Which is why it was a big hit on commercial radio.

  • "he's a driving me crazy"

  • it's a full moon!!!!

  • unmatchable

  • truly, the greatest music video ever made

  • I think it sucks that RS can take Tom Waits' musical vision and turn it into a damn hit...meanwhile most people haven't even heard of Tom Waits these days.

  • molt bon temilla i el on the nickel tambe es una bona canço catalonia is not spain

  • I love this song and this video!!!

  • amazing

  • I LOVE the ending where he's twirling and dancing in his weird way playing Bride of the Rain Dog. I wanted a video of just that so I could rewatch it a dozen times hahah. Before I've seen that, I thought Beck was the coolest weird dancer.

  • Tom Waits is like mental alcohol, when you first listen to him you can't bear the sound of his voice, but after a while you don't know how you were able to live without it.

  • Did this guy start smoking when he was 5?

  • Everything But the Girl did a cover of this song,hope someone uploads it.

  • p.s. Rod Stewert totally ruined this song for me for years, i didnt like his version i heard whilst growing up. it took me the distance of years to get past it and eventually love Tom Waits 'The original version'

  • I love this music clip, it has to be one of the most stylish and beautiful and cinematic of all time.

    love the song too.

  • @carrots001 For your information, this IS a Tom Waits original. Rod Stewart made a version of it that became more famous than the original, in the commercial world. You're asking who is this guy. I suggest you search more information about him. He is a Legend. It's not easy to understand his "thing", it took me some time, but once I did, I could never loose it.

  • @aerosir Yeah, I know. This is actually one of my all time favorite songs and videos. Sorry, my post was my weak attempt at humor. You were so civil in your reply that you went and made me feel bad.

    Hold on; Tom Waits. Isn't he the guy who did all the covers of those Scarlett Johansson songs? : )

  • I want to be like him. I am 34 now, I think i could get away with it :)

  • Esta música é apenas para alguns.....

  • I love this guy, he sounds like a charachtar from sesame street or something!

  • great song, great artist, great music

  • Great Tom Waits tune. Jake LaMotta - The Raging Bull - makes a cameo in the beginning.

  • id go gay for him

  • This is still one of my favorites of Mr. Waits. ^.^

  • Tom Waits is GOD.

  • cant believe i haven't listened to this guy before. he bloody amazing!

  • @oscarhocking You're lucky to find him! I was 19, going out with a much older man, drinking wine in his living room when he put Whistlin' Past The Graveyard on. Completely fell in love with the man, and Tom Waits. Perfect way to find Tom - smoking cigarettes and drinking red, hopelessly in love with this unsuitable guy. The guy left long ago, but I listen to Tom Waits almost every day. Hope you're still listening!

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  • I don't get it, if you don't like it, why watch it? I don't watch the Jonas Brothers, but i do like Tom Waits, so I watch him, and am rewarded. Seen the dude many times on stage, and he is just greatt

  • the fuckin voice is