Lyrically, Nighthawks is one of the best albums. It encapsulates everything that makes Waits Waits. Storyteller. Drawler. Bopper. Tour guide. Joker. Observer of the unobserved. The 1975 album takes us on a colourful sunset-to-sunrise trip through the Los Angeles streets. Streets that people never see through their blurry eyes & smoked-glass windows. The Irish Charts – Search Results – Tom Traubert's Blues (Waltzing Matilda)". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved January 1, 2021.

The album’s biggest strength is thus that Waits really commits to his stories. The problem is that Waits REALLY commits to his stories. The lyrics include some references to gender and race that verge on slurs, and the overall vibe can get pretty gross. For every humble expression of anticipation to reunite with a loved one after a shift at a dead-end job, there’s a lewd confessional from a guy who believes sex workers and models in pin-ups have some special emotional attachment to him. Of course, it all fits the narrative framing, but it can still feel a bit uncomfortable, and after close to 50 minutes, also a bit repetitive. Tom Waits's fifth LP, 1977's Foreign Affairs, may just be the most criminally underrated of his career. As sharp and striking as a film noir, and as gripping as a crime novel, it's arguably the best place to hear the tales of the late-night world Waits inhabited and wrote about in the '70s. It finds him at the peak of his Beat-inspired era; common wisdom is that this album's predecessor Small Change (1976) is the finest example of Waits' beatnik boho wino persona, but Foreign Affairs has a unique atmosphere all its own and one that is ultimately more alluring. Rod Stewart – Tom Traubert's Blues (Waltzing Matilda)" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved June 4, 2020.Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)" (commonly known as " Tom Traubert's Blues" or " Waltzing Matilda") is a song by American musician Tom Waits.

Elvira on her date with Elvis and the fish recipe she got from Vincent Price". The A.V. Club. 5 October 2016.

Companies, etc.

Waits’ current label, Anti-, is reissuing his first seven records, first on CD and on LP over the next few months, chronicling his time at Asylum. Newly remastered but without any bonus material, they form something like a road trip through an America that maybe never existed except in Waits’ own head, or perhaps a novel about an artist defining himself against pretty much every major trend. However, just because they show Waits getting comfortable in his own skin and learning how he could present himself to his fans, these albums comprise more than simply a prelude to his remarkable run of records in the 1980s and 1990s. These seven albums constitute the first act of a remarkable career, even as these reissues complicate that trajectory from assembly-line singer-songwriter to eclectic iconoclast. Tom Traubert's Blues" was covered by Rod Stewart under the title " Tom Traubert's Blues (Waltzing Matilda)". Released as a single in November 1992, it was later included on the compilation Lead Vocalist (1993) and live albums Unplugged...and Seated (1993) and You're in My Heart: Rod Stewart with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (2019). Rod Stewart – Tom Traubert's Blues (Waltzing Matilda)" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved June 4, 2020. Small Change - More moody spoken word stuff, with a sax. This certaintly creates a mood. I can feel the humid city at night. A little dated but not in too bad a way.

Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol.10, no.3. January 16, 1993. p.15 . Retrieved January 1, 2021.The song's lyrics narrate the story of Tom Traubert, "a man who finds himself stranded and penniless in a foreign land." Biographer Jay S. Jacobs has described Traubert as "etched as a sympathetic character, but it's clear that he inhabits a hell of his own making. He'll never make his way home again because any cash he gets his hands on he squanders on drink." [5] I wrote a review of this when I was trashed, and I ended up sort of trashing the album, just because I was in a mood. Now I'll just calmly explain how I feel about this album. As a mood album it's great, it's drunken jazzy lounge music with personality. However I think the first 2 songs hurt this album. This will probably be a controversial oppinion as these songs are usually beloved, and they're not bad songs, I just don't like the fact that they open the album, because I REALLY have to be in the mood for them.

a b Køster-Rasmussen, Janus; Vesterberg, Henrik (1998). "The Streets Aren't for Dreaming – Tom Waits". Copenhagen Songs – Songs of a City. The Rolling Stones, Some Girls (1978): Marilyn Monroe, Raquel Welch, Lucille Ball, Farrah Fawcett, etc. I love this album for three reasons. Firstly the songs. Whomever was singing them it would be churlish to argue with the quality of song writing on Rain Dogs. These are anthems for the ages. Bones Howe considers the song's lyrics to be "brilliant" and "the work of an extremely talented lyricist." Speaking of the lyrics, Howe has said: "occasionally I'll do something for songwriters. They all say the same thing to me. 'All the great lyrics are done.' And I say, 'I'm going to give you a lyric that you never heard before.' ' A battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace / And a wound that will never heal. '." [5] Release and reception [ edit ]On the other hand, “Somewhere” makes perfect sense thematically: His characters may be hard up, but they’re still dreaming about that promised “place for us.” “Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis,” a minor hit at the time and a fan favorite for decades after, is one of Waits’ most devastating tunes. He sings in the voice of the title character as she describes a happy life to an old friend: She’s married and off the dope, pregnant and hopeful. Someone might have stolen her record player, but “I think I’m happy for the first time since my accident.” The last verse arrives like a punch in the gut, as she admits she’s making it all up before asking to borrow some dough. When asked in an interview with Mojo in 1999 if he shared many fans' view that Small Change was the crowning moment of his " beatnik-glory-meets-Hollywood-noir period" (i.e. from 1973 to 1980), Waits replied: