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

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1
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Hold On
Tom Waits
2
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Underground
Tom Waits
3
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Hell Broke Luce
Tom Waits
4
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Hope I Don't Fall in Love with You
Tom Waits
5
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Downtown Train
Tom Waits

Albums

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Rain Dogs (2023 Remaster)

2023
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Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards

2006
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Mule Variations

1999
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Swordfishtrombones (2023 Remaster)

2023
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Real Gone

2004
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The Black Rider

1993
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Tickets For The Bachelors

2021
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Alice

2002
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Bad As Me (Deluxe Edition Remastered)

2011
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Blood Money

2002

Singles & EPs

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Get Behind The Mule (Spiritual)

Single • 2024
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Table Top Joe (Live)

Single • 2022
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Grave Diggers: Tom Waits

EP • 2022
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God's Away On Business (Live)

Single • 2022
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Circus

Single • 2019
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Lost In The Harbour (Live)

Single • 2022

Videos

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God's Away on Business

Tom Waits • 7.2M views
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Tom Waits - Yesterday Is Here (Poker Face Soundtrack S01E02)

Tom Waits • 165K views
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I Don't Wanna Grow Up

Tom Waits • 1.8M views
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Tom Waits - "Downtown Train"

Tom Waits • 125K views
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Telephone Call From Istanbul

Tom Waits • 78K views
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Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen)

Tom Waits • 678K views

Featured on

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Late Night Classic Rock

Playlist • YouTube Music
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Singer-Songwriter Classics

Playlist • YouTube Music
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Uncle Fester's Record Collection

Playlist • YouTube Music
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Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Greatest Hits

Playlist • YouTube Music

Artist-made playlists

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Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 549K views
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Tom Waits - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 336K views
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Tom Waits - Rain Dogs (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 234K views
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Tom Waits - Nighthawks At The Diner (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 497K views
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Tom Waits - Franks Wild Years (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 287K views
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Tom Waits - Bad As Me (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 224K views
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Tom Waits - Bone Machine (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 411K views
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Tom Waits - The Black Rider (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 283K views
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Tom Waits - Closing Time (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 374K views
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Tom Waits - The Heart Of Saturday Night (Full Album Stream)

Playlist • Tom Waits • 275K views

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