Baker’s Dozen 004 — Tom Waits

Tom Waits’s discography is a tough nut to crack: it spans five decades and covers a lot of sonic ground from the solo piano crooner early days to noisy modern freakouts. I do tend to prefer the weirder and/or more bluesy rock oriented sounding stuff than the piano bar crooning. That said, there’s no way to prepare for Waits, you just have to dive in the deep end. If you’d like to follow along listening while you read, you can find the Spotify playlist here.

1. “Lie to Me” from Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (1996) — The opening track from his ambitious triple mid-90s album is pretty conventional by all standards, but it’ll get your toes tapping, your head bobbing and ready for the freakshow that’ll soon follow.
2. “Singapore” from Rain Dogs (1985) — This is what people often think of when they think of Tom Waits: kind of a menacing, haunted house/circus stomp.
3. “Dirt in the Ground” from Bone Machine (1992) — This is probably my favorite song of his and is kind of a funeral dirge in the sense that it’s about every man’s eventual fate. His vocals on this one could probably be generously described as “challenging” as it’s sung in a raspy falsetto, but it just works for me. The live rendition from 2008’s Glitter and Doom is worth seeking out too.
4. “Pasties and a G-String (At the Two O’Clock Club)” from Small Change (1976) — This is one of those songs that if you aren’t into it then you probably aren’t going to be into this period of his catalog. A lustful vocal romp over some understated drums.
5. “Hoist That Rag” from Real Gone (2004) — My favorite album of his. I don’t know if that’s a common thing or not as I don’t know many/any Tom Waits fans. Waits assembled a fascinating band for this record and it included the likes of Les Claypool of Primus, Brain, and Marc Ribot. This track has Ribot’s undeniable Cuban jazz influence though filtered through Waits’ un-erasable musical personality.
6. “Telephone Call From Istanbul” from Franks Wild Years (1987) — A sparse rollicking tale as could only be written by Tom Waits. The main elements are just his voice, percussion and some plucky banjo until the last 20ish seconds of the song when the full band comes swinging in before a quick fade out. Would’ve been cool to hear that fleshed out a bit more, but it still rules.
7. “Fish in the Jailhouse” from Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (2006) — A celebratory song from the point of view of an incarcerated man about fish being served in the jail because he can pick a lock with a fish bone. As unhinged as you’d hoped for.
8. “Lonely” from Closing Time (1973) — Peak 70s melancholy Waits IMO. Just beautiful stuff. I really do love his early albums, but it’s a style I’m not as keen on overall so I skew towards the later stuff.
9. “Top of the Hill” from Real Gone (2004) — Another jam from my favorite record of his. I think this was the first album of his I heard if I remember correctly, which means this would be the first song of his I heard and it isn’t hard to hear why it sunk its hooks in me. It’s like this hypnotic rocking bastard jazz.
10. “Big in Japan” from Mule Variations (1999) — I always wonder if fans that get into an artist’s work from the earliest days go fully down the road with them into weird jams like this. God bless ’em if they do.
11. “Another Man’s Vine” from Blood Money (2002) — Probably the most left field choice I’ve made on this list of the thirteen, but this one just always reels me in for some reason. The slow groaning instruments combined with his trademark snarl is just *chef’s kiss.*
12. “Ain’t Goin’ Down to the Well” from Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (2006) — I generally don’t care much for harmonica, so that shows you how much I dig this song right off the bat. Another blues rock growler.
13. “Make It Rain” from Real Gone (2004) — It’s very possible I’ve done this whole list wrong and should’ve made this the first or second song, but it’s such a bring the roof down closer than wrapping the list up with it seemed only right.

He’s got 17 studio albums in addition to soundtrack work and some live records so every album couldn’t be represented with just thirteen tunes. Yes, I took six tracks from two albums, but they’re two really good albums and I think the easiest gateways into his catalog as a whole. I know a lot of folks aren’t into live albums, but I really can’t recommend Glitter and Doom highly enough. I saw two shows on that tour (Birmingham and Atlanta) and there’s a combined three tracks from those on there so it’s extra special for me. Feel free to chime in with what you love or hate about this list or how you would’ve done it differently. Enjoy…