Tom Waits - On The Nickel

one of my favorite songs , he has an amazing voice!

....It says sticks and stones can break my bones but I always will be true....And I know a place where a royal flush can never beat a pair.....What becomes of all the little boys who never comb their hair,,,,,

Regarding his fingers and why they look the way they do, I'm pretty sure they're double jointed. Often times when he poses, or holds his hands out to the crowd in his younger days, he makes his fingers do that. Apparently he plays piano the same way, though I believe he's stopped since he's gotten older.

So beautiful.

well spotted, manabozho.
(Tut tut Trankle.)
Tommy is performing his own piano accompaniment in the key of F sharp major, which tends to straighten/flatten the fingers, (so that's explained.)
Why did he decide to do it in F sharp to begin with? Why not F major or G major?
Maybe just because that particular key was perfectly suited to the song.
Compare 'Sailing Away' also in Fsharp major and you will soon see how it could not really work in another key.

What do you you mean tut tut? His left ring finger is clearly bent back. That isn't him merely playing with straight fingers to accommodate his key of playing.

RodFunmuscle had a good explanation with the possibility of double jointedness.

Is that not clearly abnormal to anyone else?

Tom Waits is abnormal, period. I wouldn't try to decipher him. Can we mere mortals ever really understand?

I've found my way do variants of the Nickel, all in Chicago. So I can relate. I love this song.

Amen. Dylan and Springsteen can't hold a candle to Thomas Alan.

he is, without a doubt.