Artist Thumbnail
Tom Waits
In the work of American songwriter Tom Waits, swampy blues, Beat poetry, West Coast jazz, Tin Pan Alley, country, 1930s-era cabaret, and post-Civil War parlor songs meet neon-lit carnival music and wheezing, clattering, experimental rhythms (often played by makeshift musical instruments), forming a keenly individual musical universe. It has often been imitated but never replicated. Since the '70s, Waits has charted a path from playing fleabag dive bars to opera theaters and prestigious concert halls all over the world. His recordings - from early masterpieces such as Small Change and Blue Valentine and the twisted, dramatic, and black, humorous art songs on the trilogy of Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, and Frank's Wild Years, to the deconstructed experimental soundworlds erected for Bone Machine and Mule Variations - have charted the lives and circumstances of the humble, forgotten, evil, demented, abandoned, cursed, and just plain down-on-their-luck humans to places of honor in our pantheon in a spirit akin to the photographs of Robert Frank and Diane Arbus. Waits has won two Grammys and is a member of the 2011 class of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is included among the 2010 list of Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers, as well as its 2015 list of 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time.

Songs

See All
1
thumbnail
Underground
Tom Waits
2
thumbnail
Hope I Don't Fall in Love with You
Tom Waits
3
thumbnail
Hell Broke Luce
Tom Waits
4
thumbnail
Hold On
Tom Waits
5
thumbnail
Boots on the Ground E
Massive Attack

Albums

See All
thumbnail

Rain Dogs (2023 Remaster)

2023
thumbnail

Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards

2006
thumbnail

Mule Variations

1999
thumbnail

Swordfishtrombones (2023 Remaster)

2023
thumbnail

Real Gone

2004
thumbnail

Bryars: Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet

1993
thumbnail

Tickets For The Bachelors

2021
thumbnail

Blood Money

2002
thumbnail

Bad As Me (Deluxe Edition Remastered)

2011
thumbnail

Alice

2002

Singles & EPs

thumbnail

Boots on the Ground

Single • 2026
thumbnail

Lost In The Harbour (Live)

Single • 2022
thumbnail

Get Behind The Mule (Spiritual)

Single • 2024
thumbnail

Table Top Joe (Live)

Single • 2022
thumbnail

Grave Diggers: Tom Waits

EP • 2022
thumbnail

God's Away On Business (Live)

Single • 2022
thumbnail

Circus

Single • 2019

Videos

See All
thumbnail

God's Away on Business

Tom Waits • 7.5M views
thumbnail

I Don't Wanna Grow Up

Tom Waits • 2M views
thumbnail

In The Neighborhood (2023 Remaster)

Tom Waits • 233K views
thumbnail

Telephone Call From Istanbul

Tom Waits • 102K views

Live performances

See All
thumbnail

Tom Waits - "Tom Traubert's Blues" (Live on The Human Factor)

Tom Waits • 604K views
thumbnail

Tom Waits - Dead Man Walking Concert (1998)

Tom Waits • 31K views
thumbnail

Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen)

Tom Waits • 794K views
thumbnail

Tom Waits - "Take One Last Look" (Live On David Letterman, 2015)

Tom Waits • 554K views
thumbnail

Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis

Tom Waits • 503K views
thumbnail

Tom Waits - Live Performance On Loose Talk (1983)

Tom Waits • 22K views
thumbnail

Tom Waits - "The Heart Of Saturday Night" (Live from No Visitors After Midnight, 1975)

Tom Waits • 338K views

Featured on

thumbnail

Late Night Classic Rock

Playlist • YouTube Music
thumbnail

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Greatest Hits

Playlist • YouTube Music
thumbnail

Rock of Ages

Playlist • YouTube Music
thumbnail

POST-

Playlist • YouTube Music
thumbnail

Dead Leaves, Dead Souls

Playlist • YouTube Music

Playlists by Tom Waits

See All
thumbnail

Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 642K views
thumbnail

Tom Waits - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 408K views
thumbnail

Tom Waits - Mule Variations (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 276K views
thumbnail

Tom Waits - Nighthawks At The Diner (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 544K views
thumbnail

Tom Waits - The Heart Of Saturday Night (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 383K views
thumbnail

Tom Waits - Rain Dogs (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 273K views
thumbnail

Tom Waits - Closing Time (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 507K views
thumbnail

Tom Waits - Franks Wild Years (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 337K views
thumbnail

Tom Waits - Bone Machine (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 432K views
thumbnail

Tom Waits - The Black Rider (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 322K views

Fans might also like

thumbnail

Patti Smith

846K monthly audience
thumbnail

Nick Cave

5.82M monthly audience
thumbnail

The White Stripes

22.1M monthly audience
thumbnail

The Velvet Underground

1.49M monthly audience
thumbnail

Warren Zevon

1.4M monthly audience
thumbnail

PJ Harvey

474K monthly audience
thumbnail

Bob Dylan

7.54M monthly audience
thumbnail

Lou Reed

1.37M monthly audience
thumbnail

Leonard Cohen

2.87M monthly audience
thumbnail

Nick Drake

672K monthly audience