Tom Waits Swordfishtrombone

[bluevalentine9]

Anybody else think that this guy (the character) is possibly the same guy that Tom talks about in his song 'Black Wings'? He uses the "Some say . . " phrase in both songs which got me thinking. I'm sure Tom didn't plan it that way, but it is pretty cool when you connect them like that.

[roxyd5434]

This is a tremendous song. Get the trilogy of albums. Swordfishtrombones, Raindogs, and Frank's Wild Years. Each are perfect.

You need to listen to the song I Need To Know by Mark Anthony. He steals from Swordfishtrombones, note for note.

[NaukyMC]

@roxyd5434 I made sure to inform the people listening to Mark Anthony's version of this. Hopefully, they won't act harshly to this truth.

[MrJDCasey]

Man,I remember the day I first heard this.I was livin' with my cousin in New Orleans and her husband turned me on to this.I felt like a new born child!

[bacardi119]

Shame on the person that hit the dislike button. How can you dislike this album for God's sakes. Oh well, maybe he was drunk and hit the wrong button.

[eelpieballox]

harry parch is worth mentioning ,, tom embraced his odd instruments,,

[DSabbah]

Dirty water on a swordfishtrombone- sounds like a stick kissin' h.

[mrmitchmellowship]

its reminding me of lion king a bit.

[RubHerSoul1]

Funnily enough, I've met at least 5 Tom Waits Fans who worship Rain Dogs (not surprisingly; it's a masterpiece)but they've never heard this lp by him. It's the record where he changed his style into what you hear on RD. That's like praising Revolver and not being aware of Rubber Soul. I mean ya can't have one without the other. I prefer Swordfishtrombones tho. But that's just my opinion. Either one satisfies on the same level. But you MUST hear both!

[treehuggerj]

@RubHerSoul1

If I could like this twice I could. Also, your username is fantastic.

[plasticflowerz]

@RubHerSoul1 Both albums are great but to me Swordfishtrombones has the edge over Rain Dogs. It's more tightly put together,

[RubHerSoul1]

@plasticflowerz I just think ST is a giant leap that paid off in spades for Waits and the fans who may have been getting a bit too used to Waits' approach. It was time to him to morph into the true artist he is. Rain Dogs doesn't have that surprise element. But it's a wonderful continuation of his new found style. And why not conitinue in that direction,especially when there's more gold to be mined? I'm just surprised by the hardcore fans who still haven't discovered Swordfishtrombones

[Friedegger]

@RubHerSoul1

Controversial: Though they're all great, I think in some ways Frank's Wild Years is superior to both Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs. The songs have greater thematic continuity without sacrificing range of experimentation.

[RubHerSoul1]

@Friedegger Hmmm. Well, FWY is not thematically in the same league as Rain Dogs And SFT. Altho it's great. Neither are Blue Valentine or Small Change. I compare those 2 lps because they are like bookends. Anything else he did prior or hence is of it's own entity. That's why i brought up the comparison between Swordfish and Dogs. And again, I can't believe how many TW fans have only heard Rain Dogs.

[Friedegger]

@RubHerSoul1

I guess I was seeing FMY, Rain Dogs and SFT in the same conceptual trio. With a constantly evolving artist like Tom Wait, where you draw the line between one style or another can be somewhat arbitrary. I came to Tom Waits first through Real Gone and then through Rain Dogs but now I'm more likely than not to be found listening to The Heart of Saturday Night.

[RubHerSoul1]

@Friedegger You came in to TW listening to Real Gone? Wow! Usually, you have to start with something a bit more docile and work your way up to that period. That's a hard listen for the uninitiated, heh heh. I started with Swordfishtrombones and Small Change I think. I like Blue valentine a lot. Hey, did you ever see Waits in the movie Short Cuts? Great flick! He's a half drunk limo driver.

[Friedegger]

@RubHerSoul1

Blue Valentine is excellent: there's the gravelly maudlin strangeness that characterises the later records melded with the earlier forms of plaintive melodies and jazzy finger snappers. I haven't seen Short Cuts yet, though I liked him as himself in Coffee & Cigarettes, and as the devil in The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus.

[RubHerSoul1]

@Friedegger Well he's in a large ensemble cast in Short Cuts. Long film, but very rewarding. It's directed by Robert Altman. Here's a list of actors that are in it: Lily Tomlin, Buck Henry, Robert Downey Jr, Chris Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Frances McDormand, Julianna Moore, Fred Ward, Anne Archer, Tim Robbins, Peter Gallagher, Jack Lemmon, Andie McDowell and, lessee......oh yeah! Huey Lewis! Who's actually great in it! You'll really love it!

[Friedegger]

@RubHerSoul1 Sounds awesome: its now officially on my mental checklist of films to see next (right by the Assassination of Jesse James and The Breakfast Club...)

Incidentally, I have now listened to the song Swordfishtrombones a few more times than I had intended today. Best find of the day: Tom Waits' Long Way Home.

He is the gift that keeps on giving.

[RubHerSoul1]

@Friedegger You've never seen the Breakfast Club? You must be a young' un. Well that's great that you appreciate Waits then. I've never met anyone who doesn't tho. Some folk just might not get him is all. But I never hear anyone say they hate him.

[AlsatianCousin]

@RubHerSoul1 - well this indeed is a very good observation. Many people don't get him and that's fine - it's not a contest and Tom Waits wouldn't get many of them either and he'd be first to admit I'm sure - but nobody I ever heard hates him. It's one of those things, you know there's something there - just can't put my finger on it. And then it dawns on you years later.

[CarlSagan0101]

@Friedegger

It's funny that you say that. The stuff that got me into him was off of Rain dogs, Bone machine, and Orphans. I didn't get into his stuff from the 70s until a couple months after I first started listening to him.

[Friedegger]

@CarlSagan0101 After listening to Real Gone and Rain Dogs on CD, I picked up Swordfishtrombones, Frank's Wild Years and Blue Valentine on cassette tape at a carboot sale. I played those tapes until my stereo wore out. Now I'm listening to his *really* early stuff on The Early Years, and I'm looking forward to listening to his newest album.

[Billkwando]

@Friedegger I came in through Bone Machine and HoSN totally grabbed me too. It's just fun to listen to. My fave is probably raindogsbonemachinefrankswildy­ears,

[tfinney7031]

The instrumentation in this song, along with his unique vocals make a great combination. I love this song!

[rocksteady1312]

beautiful forever classics

[azrielseclements]

This song will always remind me of 2 of my favourite things: The musician named Tom Waits and the TV show named Black Books

[ph1i1]

@azrielseclements Jockey full of bourbon is the inspiration to the theme tune. It just has to be or my name ain't Tom Waits

[EasternFlowers]

0 likes, thats what I like to fuckin see!

[iwtstromlwy]

tom waits can do no wrong

[isecreamman]

does this remind anyone else of be prepared from the lion king?

[PennPaco]

@isecreamman

This statement makes no sense.

[HugoNewman]

@isecreamman YES!!!! I thought I was the only one and was possibly going a bit mad. The bastards ripped Tom off!

[boxanova66]

i'll be all like BITCH suck my dick...while listening to this song and reading Bukowski

[PennPaco]

@boxanova66

You need to find a hobby.

[boxanova66]

@PennPaco already did, writing comments on you tube to see people's reaction, mostly people who take youtube comments serioulsy, like you my dear friend :)

[PennPaco]

@boxanova66 When you hold yourself out to the public to be a bumptious imbecil, we have only to believe the facts presented to us. 

[boxanova66]

@PennPaco uuu fisty lil' one, don't use me as a scapegoat for your own frustrations, remember that technically you are bashing youtube comments, which doesn't say much about you...I still love you though :)

[Horatio]

I don't want to take anything away from the genius of the song, but I feel the need to say that is my favourite song to be stoned to :) Especially if the room is low lit and filled with smoke. And everyone is wearing hats or have beards.

[KingOfWhiteTrash1]

and if you think that you can't tell a bigger tale

I swear to God you'd have to tell a lie...

[DirkjeA]

My fav. Tom Waits song. Swept me of my feet when I heard this for the first time so many years ago. Never got tired to listen to this great poet.

[DirkjeA]

My fav. Tom Waits song. Swept me of my feet when I heard this for the first time so many years ago. Never got tired to listen to this great poet.

[bunnibouillabaise]

he came home from the war with a party in his head

..

and some saying that he is hanging on the wall

some say he was never here at all

..

this the best song ever it makes me mad

[ar4216]

Can any hardcore Waits fan tell me what is the story behind the cover? I've been wondering about it since I got the album back in the 80s. The guy in the middle looks like Dennis Hopper.

[16chances]

@ar4216

there isn't a story exactly, it's just supposed to juxtapose the two guys on the cover who aren't Waits (a midget called Angelo Rossito, and a massive guy called Lee Kolima). Both guys are in the video for the song "In the neighbourhood".

Waits had asked David Smay (who did the shoot) what he though about "little people and their counterparts", and it was vaguely influenced by the film "Freaks"

It gives the first taste of the carnival vibe in much of Waits' later work.

Hope that helps!

[ar4216]

@16chances

Wow, thanks for the informative post! It does indeed help. :-)

[16chances]

@ar4216

no worries! i happen to be writing a paper on Waits at the moment, so all this info is at the front of my head!

[tortron]

@ar4216

it mentions in the book - Lowside of the road - a life of Tom Waits

that Tom wanted a cover as different as you could get from any of his previous work

[jamesy5466]

OH.

MY.

GOD.

i just heard this for the first time...and then proceeded to listen to it about 5471890 more times.

[Greesovith]

Tom is timeless. I love Dylan and Neil, amazing poets.. but you can kinda hear what time period they recorded their songs in. Tom is timeless and ahead of time no matter how many years pass. :)

[aliceramone65]

brilliant!

[tarahumare]

music poetry by Tom Waits,amazing song !!!!

[maniacguitar]

One must credit the musicians involved in this as well, giving it that character that the song has.

[sansjuhh]

This song reminds me of when I was a kid. My father owned a very smoky, dusty, small bar and he played me this song on the piano when i was 2 or 3 years old.

[DirtyGuitarRiffs]

Swordfishtrombones or Rain Dogs?

[killalavilla]

@DirtyGuitarRiffs Hum? For the moment, I'm goin' with Swordfish, but everything this doeboy does is wrong.

[cityfiend]

Genius loco chingon....I wanna joint....and play...

[Grollixt]

Tom Waites lurks. Doesn't really say how it s, but plenty about the look, feel, taste, semll and shape in your mouth. One of our own poets, however much cash he's made out of being laconic, conscientious, bitter, playful, sweet, heartfeot and wise. Except when he's shouting about guns and bars, obviously...

[evengerj]

Tom is the maestro. From my dirty smoked filled blues clubs to my funky coffee fuelled manna Tom Waits is what inspires life itself.

[KatieHippieWannaBe]

This song is amazing. Tom Waits is a genius, pure and simple.

[legunncat]

My eyes have seen the glory of the draining of the ditch.

[cityfiend]

Super cool t w....

[makkmarci73]

5* :)

thx

[LotjeG]

Genius. Absolutely genius.

[Norwid77]

Yes.

[maniacguitar]

@Norwid77 yes. indeed.