I knew Tom was a musician, but not that he'd created this song, I've only known of his talent in movies. It turns out he's a Hall Of Fame rock n roller, but, I'm not aware of a single song of his that he was famous for (by sales) and after looking online, see he never had a hit song that made it to the American Top 40.
but movies? OMG, he's got the face for movies... and I remember him in 7 Psychopaths, Licorice Pizza, Book of Eli, Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (that is one incredible movie, and the co-stars are all legends too) Dracula (ditto legendary costars) Fisher King (Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams!) Outsiders (see where this is going? Swayze, Lowe, Cruise, Dillon, Diane Lane) and Rumble Fish (Lane and Dillon again, Rourke, Cage, Hopper and Fishbourne)
Anyway, point is, huge talent, massively respected by actors, and musicians - but not a radio star. How damn strange!
The biker (lifestyle) magazine Easyriders was a bit wild in its early days, but to its credit it has en excellent writer in charge of rock'n'roll music reviews. One time there was an interview with the relatively unknown Tom Waits, who by then had already released a few albums. The reviewer thought that even of TW didn't ride a motorcycle, being a drunkard (at the time) and generally being a bit irreverent towards life, he was stil 'one of us'.
ReplyDeleteOther famous covers of TW's songs are 'Jersey Girl' by Bruce Springsteen, and artists like Joan Baez, Norah Jones, The Ramones and even Johnny Cash have used his songs.
Dang, that makes sense that Easyriders would love him! And I listened to Norah Jones, and the Eagles, and Springsteen, and those 3 songs weren't hits either. There's something about Downtown Train that made it a hit, and I think it was that Rod Stewart and his team could make a melodic ballad out of it. I think it's an 80s classic. Not just one of many songs that was the musical background in my day to day radio listening, it reached #3 on the US Billboard Hot 100, #1 on US Adult Contemporary and Album Rock charts, #1 in Canada, and the Top 10 in the UK and earned Rod Stewart a Grammy nomination. THAT is a hit. So, why didn't Tom Waits have any success as a singer with it? My perspective is that he's a dang good song writer, and not a good singer or musician, I suppose. Lots of songwriters make number one hits, repeatedly, for the IT GIRL of the day. Hall and Oates, and Prince, wrote a BUNCH of them, and other people went all the way to number one on them, but couldn't do anything with their own songs - like Sinead O'Conner with that song from Prince, "Nothing Compares 2 U,"
DeleteTom Waits also wrote "Ol' 55", which was covered by the Eagles.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right that Waits is a good song writer, but he's not the best performer, or his style isn't polished enough for the mainstream.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeeK37wrBDQ
I listened to that for a minute, didn't recall ever hearing it before, and don't care for it. The Eagles have a LOT of stuff I do like, a few I love. Joe Cocker didn't have a polished style either, but damn, I love his 4 hits, "With a Little Help from My Friends," "You Are So Beautiful," "Feelin' Alright," and "The Letter". Not a good singing voice, but wow, style despite singing with crushed gravel and glass in his mouth
DeleteI really like the Eagles' version of "Ol' 55". Give theirs a listen, if you haven't before. It's very different from the Tom Waits version.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--rAINTn2TE
Funny you mention Joe Cocker, because I thought of him, too, because of his singing style. The four songs you list were actually covers, but some of them he probably made more famous than the original versions.
https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/42/covers
I was referring to Ol 55, when I said "I listened to that for a minute, didn't recall ever hearing it before, and don't care for it." And I won't listen to it again, as that was only days ago, and my opinion won't change, and I've got so many other things to do. SO, yes, it's very different, and no, it's not something I liked at all. The Eagles did a lot of songs I don't like. Albums full of them, and a handful that were great, but that's about one or two per album, and the rest is filler. That's typical in music is my opinion. In the 60s, a group or musician could just sell a single, and have some garbage on the B side as filler, but I think after the 70s, it was full albums and 8 tracks, then CDs, until recently when a single could break out on You Tube or sell all by itself on Apple music or other download methods.
DeleteFrankly, a hit song is a rare thing, always has been. The Stones haven't made one in decades. Neither did Ozzy, Metallica, AC DC, etc. All those bands know how to, they simply can't pull it off.
Anyway, getting back to Cocker, damn I love his 4 songs, and yeah, covers. I don't care. All Along the Watchtower from Hendrix was a cover. So was Blinded by the Light, Manfred Mann. Both were a bolt of lightning to the brain of the original singers, that THEY sucked as performers and others could make the same song PERFECT.
What that does to the ego of the originator, I can't even guess... you wake up thinking, I'm Bob Dylan, a damn legend, I got the world by the balls... and Hendrix puts out Watchtower, and your career is over. Springsteen's version of Blinded is garbage. Shows that his style is lousy, and he got lucky with one album before going back to whatever the hell his schtick is, that he won't let go of.
Gee, aren't I just the opinionated one?