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Alice entered the U.S. album chart at number 32 and Blood Money at number 33, his highest charting positions at that time. Waits described Alice as being "more metaphysical or something, maybe more water, more feminine", while Blood Money was "more earthbound, more carnival, more the slaving meat-wheel that we're all on". To promote his debut, Waits and a three-piece band embarked on a U.S. tour, largely on the East Coast, where he was the supporting act for more established artists. Waits returned to Los Angeles in June, feeling demoralized about his career.
In 1995, Holly Cole released an album of Waits's covers, Temptation, while in 2008 Scarlett Johansson did the same with her debut album, Anywhere I Lay My Head. Bruce Springsteen had a commercial success with his cover of Waits's "Jersey Girl", as did Rod Stewart with his covers of Waits tracks "Downtown Train" and "Tom Traubert's Blues". Johnny Cash covered "Down There by the Train" on his 1994 album, American Recordings, calling Waits "a very special writer, my kind of writer". Willie Nelson included a cover of a Waits track on his album, It Always Will Be. The director Julian Schnabel for instance chose two Waits tracks for inclusion in his award-winning 2008 film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
Tom Waits
On completing its run at the Thalia, the play went on an international tour, with a second run of performances occurring in the mid-2000s. Waits still contractually owed Elektra-Asylum a further album, so took a break from Coppola's project to write an album that he initially called White Spades. He recorded the album in June; it was released in September as Heartattack and Vine. The album was more guitar-based and had—according to Humphries—"a harder, R&B edge"—than any of its predecessors. One of its tracks, "Jersey Girl", was subsequently recorded by Bruce Springsteen.
On arriving in the city, he told a reporter that he "just needed a new urban landscape. I've always wanted to live here. It's a good working atmosphere for me". In the city, he contemplated writing a Broadway musical to be based on Thornton Wilder's Our Town. As the follow-up Waits released two separate and distinct albums Alice and Blood Money on the same day in May 2002. The albums were as original as they were different from each other, with Alice chronicling the songs Waits and Brennan had written for Robert Wilsons 1992 theatrical production and Blood Money containing the music commissioned for 2000s Woyzeck.
The Black Rider, Bone Machine, and Alice: 1989–1998
He later recalled that it was an uncle's raspy, gravelly voice that inspired the manner in which he later sang. In 1959, his parents separated and his father moved away from the family home, which was a traumatic experience for 10-year-old Waits. Alma took her children and relocated to Chula Vista, a middle-class suburb of San Diego. Jesse visited the family there, taking his children on trips to Tijuana. In nearby Southeast San Diego, Waits attended O'Farrell Community School, where he fronted a school band, the Systems, later describing the group as "white kids trying to get that Motown sound".
Again produced and engineered by Howe , the recording was released as Nighthawks at the Diner in October 1975. The songs from both works later appeared on Alice and Blood Money, the albums Waits released in 2002. In the early-Seventies Tom Waits worked as a doorman at the Heritage in San Diego, a nightclub where artists of every genre performed.
Album Discography
Waits found himself in a situation similar to his earlier one with Frito Lay in 2000 when Audi approached him, asking to use "Innocent When You Dream" for a commercial broadcast in Spain. Waits declined, but the commercial ultimately featured music very similar to that song. Waits undertook legal action, and a Spanish court recognized that there had been a violation of Waits's moral rights in addition to the infringement of copyright. The production company, Tandem Campany Guasch, was ordered to pay compensation to Waits through his Spanish publisher. Waits later joked that they got the name of the song wrong, thinking it was called "Innocent When You Scheme".
1988 saw Waits contribute a cover of the song "Heigh Ho" in Hal Willner's Disney-themed album, Stay Awake. Returning to the U.S., he travelled to New Orleans to appear in Jarmusch's film, Down by Law. Jarmusch wrote Down by Law with Waits and Lurie in mind; they played two of the three main roles, with Roberto Benigni as the third.
Real Gone: 2004–2011
Waits began touring and opening in America for such artists as Charlie Rich, Martha & The Vandellas and Frank Zappa. As the decade unfolded, Waits gained increasing critical respect and a loyal cult audience with his subsequent albums The Heart of Saturday Night ; Nighthawks at the Diner ; Small Change ; Foreign Affairs ; Blue Valentine and Heartattack and Vine . It was an incredibly prolific period for Waits, establishing his reputation as a visionary songwriter. The Tom Waits Library is the largest website where everything about Tom Waits can be found. The site contains 1,518 pages, 8,122 images, 337 interviews, all performances, all song lyrics, all official albums, unofficial albums, movies, plays, the musicians Waits worked with etc.
In 2004, Waits related that "Wilson is my teacher. There's nobody that's affected me that much as an artist". Waits was scheduled to write the music for the play, and at the suggestion of Allen Ginsberg, Waits and Wilson approached the Beat poet William S. Burroughs to write the play. To do this, they flew to Kansas to meet with Burroughs, who agreed to join their project. Waits travelled to Hamburg in May 1989 to work on the project, and was later joined there by Burroughs.
He took his newly formed act to Monday nights at the Troubadour in LA, where musicians from all over stood in line all day to get the opportunity to perform on-stage that night. Chris Blackwell of Island Records learned of Waits's dissatisfaction and approached him, offering to release Swordfishtrombones; Island had a reputation for signing more experimental acts, such as King Crimson, Roxy Music, and Sparks. Waits did not tour to promote the album, partly because Brennan was pregnant. Although not enthusiastic regarding the new trend for music videos, he appeared in one for the song "In the Neighborhood", co-directed by Haskell Wexler and Michael A. Russ. Russ also designed the Swordfishtrombones album cover, featuring an image of Waits with Lee Kolima, a circus strongman, and Angelo Rossito, a dwarf.
Jarmusch noted that "Tom and I have a kindred aesthetic. An interest in unambitious people, marginal people." The pair developed a friendship; Waits called Jarmusch "Dr Sullen", while Jarmusch called Waits "The Prince of Melancholy". Newly married and with his Elektra-Asylum contract completed, Waits decided that it was time to artistically reinvent himself. He wanted to move away from using Howe as his producer, although the two parted on good terms. With Brennan's help, he began the process of firing Cohen as his manager, with he and Brennan taking on managerial responsibilities themselves. He later noted that "once you've heard Beefheart it's hard to wash him out of your clothes. It stains, like coffee or blood." He also came under the influence of Harry Partch, a composer who created his own instruments out of everyday materials.
Waits recorded his eighth studio album, Rain Dogs, at the RCA Studios in mid 1985. Waits called the album "kind of an interaction between Appalachia and Nigeria". Keith Richards played on several tracks; Richards later acknowledged Waits's encouragement of his first solo album, Talk is Cheap.
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