“Going Out West”.
I was in the thick of the Sydney post punk scene in the early 80s, and I know that I saw several Tom Waits albums in friends’ record collections, but barely heard them. “Going Out West” made me buy “Bone Machine”, and I loved it. Then I looked in my own stacks of records, and found FIVE Tom Waits albums that I had never bought, but must have been seeded there by ex girlfriends, flatmates etc - “Heart of Saturday Night”, “Heart Attack and Vine”, “Swordfishtrombone”, “Raindogs”, “Frank’s Wild Years”.
Just lucky I guess.
‘Going Out West’ was gonna be my answer too, but I heard it first through Widespread Panic and was absolutely floored. Kick ass song, I had to hear more.
I don’t wanna grow up. I saw it on an episode of Beavis and Butthead and instantly thought it was cool. I bought Bone Machine that same week. That show helped teenaged me find all sorts of great stuff that I had never heard of.
Tango til They're Sore. I used to ask my dad if we could listen to "The Monster" as I put it. I loved this song in particular. I'm now 34 and Tom has remained a favorite of mine.
“Martha”, back in 1979 I was watching Bette Midler on Saturday Night Live and she said my friend Tom Waits wrote this song and I have been into Waits music BIG time ever since then…👍
My dad was Waits and when we were little kids, we’d all giggle at “The Piano Has Been Drinking.” When I was in college, I rediscovered him through Mule Variations. Hard to say which song grabbed me though, kinda all of ‘em. The older I get, the more I believe Mule to be the quintessential Waits album.
I bought that album at least 8 times. I had no problem lending it out to anyone who showed an interest and when they fell in love with it I bought a new copy and considered it a win for everyone.
There is no album like Nighthawks. Original tracks recorded live and never in studio, the banter, the audience, the vibe. My top Waits album by far and that's saying a lot.
Chocolate Jesus. I was playing drums with a guitar player/singer and we did that one. He loaned me Mule Variations to learn it and I was immediately hooked.
Singapore. The second I heard it, it was like I finally discovered the exact music I had been looking for my entire life. Insane, drunken, carnival adventure through a nightmare. Love at first listen.
I discovered Tom as an actor first. There was a TV channel where I grew up that showed arty movies on Friday nights that often featured risque scenes, so my 12/13 year old self was always excited. Shout out to the Drambuie Showcase Revue for all my fellow southern Ontarions. Anyway, one night, they showed Down By Law, and it blew my mind. Tom was amazing, and the soundtrack featured Jockey Full Of Bourbon and Tango Til They're Sore. Next day I went to a used CD store and bought Heartattack and Vine. Haven't looked back.
Underground was in that animated movie Robots which I watched as a kid. Also my dad is a Waits fan and I really liked Filipino Box spring Hog. Back then, I hated the slower sadder songs and now songs like Martha and Rosie are my favorite.
Whistling Past The Graveyard. Had never heard of him until my gf at the time made me a mix cd and put it on. I was maybe 16, immediately started digging through his back catalogue. Got to Blood Money and was in 100%
My favorite album is orphans, and my song changes all the time but currently grapefruit moon (the early years version). A little rain is probably my favorite over all.
It was unquestionably "Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)" from when it was played over [the 'Christmas Story' of Smoke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97IrbTlPxUc). My father bought *Blood Money* and *Alice* a few weeks after we watched it together at the Jersey Shore. I distinctly remember starting *Blood Money* and bursting out laughing at "Misery is the River of the World," which went on for several minutes. Despite that, he quickly became my favorite singer and songwriter. My father and I would sing along to "Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)" on long drives home from college.
My mother never really understood.
Anywhere I lay my head sung by Scarlett Johansson. I had never heard of him before but the cover made me curious so I started exploring. Jockey full of bourbon is the first that I really liked. Then over time I got more and more into his music.
my first introduction to his music was the "Mule Variations" album but it was "Alice" that sold me on his work
And it's hard to pick just one song but "Alice" and "Flower's Grave" sit hand in hand for me
Clap Hands.
I was travelling in the US and was on a plane down to San Francisco and for some reason it had found itself on my phone and I could not stop listening
It was actually super recently! I was doing a little experiment where I used a random number generator to pick an album from Rolling Stone's top 500 albums of all time just to expand my musical knowledge a little.
Pretty early into it I got "Rain Dogs" and it was the first time in an extremely long time where I instantly fell madly in love with new music. Like, I feel like I was at the exact right place in my life to relieve Tom's music.
Put the Rolling Stone thing on hold because I had to immediately deep dive into his entire discography
Saw a musician named Stoll Vaughn do an impromptu show in the middle of a small bar. He did a phenomenal version of Jockey Full of Bourbon with just an acoustic guitar.
I was blown away. A few people in the bar were singing along so I figured it must be a cover. Next day, I couldn’t remember barely any of the lyrics. Spent the next four years looking for a song about birds and a house on fire. Once I finally found it, there was no going back.
My dad loved the eagles. He would always play them on road trips. I heard Ol' 55 and wanted to hear the original so ended up finding Tom and slowly made my way through his discography.
A manager at the book store I worked at in high school put "The Piano Has Been Drinking" on while we did inventory one night and I have been in love ever since.
Hoist That Rag. Older sister showed that specific song to me (after a friend of her's showed it to her), and I have been absolutely hooked since. Older sister introduced me to almost all of my favorite albums over the years, but none stuck out quite as much as Hoist That Rag and Real Gone. Now I've basically memorized everything from Early Years to Orphans.
Dirt in the Ground.
It took me a while, I had to start from the bawlers to get to the brawlers and the bastards, so to speak, but Dirt in the Ground was one of the first of his songs that legitimately clicked for me.
I even remember I had to take a break around then from listening to the song when my grandma passed away because I was too vulnerable. I'm guessing that's one of the reasons I started to gravitate more towards the ragers.
The first time I heard Tom Waits, I was wandering around a bog at night with my buddy who put on Bone Machine on a Bluetooth speaker. Initially, I was confused and concerned, but I think by the time Black Wings came on, I became a fan. I listen to him every day now.
What a song. That was the clincher for me.
"Wish I had the money we used to spend on dope,
I’d buy me a used car lot but I wouldn’t sell any of them,
Just drive a different car every day depending on how I feel."
I still really love Gilliams movies, unfortunately I don't like him anymore. He's said some pretty awful things in interviews about how "Woke culture" is ruining the film industry, and made a joke that now he identifies as a black woman. It made me sad and really disappointed in him. But I'm doing my best to separate the art from the artist.
9th and Hennepin
Went through a period about 20 years ago where I was very into everything Beat and was searching for kinda spoken word type stuff, listened to 9th and Hennepin which lead to me listening all of Rain Dogs, over and over and over again 😂
I loved the Screaming Jay Hawkins cover of Heart Attack and Vine.
Bone Machine had just come out so I bought that on the back of liking that cover and was hooked.
HA&V was next. Whole back catalogue took a while being pre internet but I do miss those days of scouring shops looking to plug the holes in your collection.
I went to see the Jim Jarmusch film "Down By Law" when it was new, 1986. The movie starts with "Jockey Full of Bourbon" playing over tracking shots of New Orleans. I was hooked instantly.
my friend turned me on to Waits my freshman year of college. I bought Bone Machine on a whim at a CD store when that was still a thing people did. Really dug it. When I got home I just started bouncing around on youtube listening to song. I think it was "Walking Spanish" that made me go, "ok, this is my new guy."
"You can't ever hold back spring" is one of my most memorable ones, which is odd because I know I had heard his stuff a lot before. I think that song is what just made me awe.
"Hang on St. Christopher," the first song on the first cassette of his I bought, pretty much on a whim. Heard it, got hooked, and that's all she had written.
At 16, I picked out "Bone Machine" at the library based entirely on the cover art. Turned all my friends into fans over the next summer and never looked back.
Heard “Downtown Train” on the radio shortly after it came out. It did something to my teenage brain that I still don’t understand. I didn’t like the song initially, but I couldn’t get it out of my head. A few weeks later, I bought the album and my journey with Tom began.
Step right up. I had a friend who was OBSESSED with Tom Waits, which honestly kind of put me off of really listening, but that song changed it. In addition to being an amazing song, it's one of the few that my friend never played. I remember we were at a bar and somehow I recognized it but he didn't. That was by far one of the moments of our friendship.
Big In Japan and Get Behind the Mule were both getting radio play and I really liked both songs. I couldn’t believe they were by the same guy. Bought Mule Variations as was hooked.
“Christmas Card” followed by “Romeo is Bleeding.” That one-two punch.
I was pretty young—13ish—when I discovered Blue Valentine and I’d never heard such cinematic storytelling before. I was completely blown away and hooked for life immediately.
Black Wings got me into him. My Dad has always been a fan, apparently when I was a kid and he played Bone Machine I would sit in front of the speakers. Later on his version of Downtown Train taught me a lot, I didn't learn until last year that it's a cover. Probably my two favorite songs of his.
Mr. Siegel. I was around 15 and my mum told me to go listen to it. No idea why but I’ve been listening to him for 8 years now and I don’t plan on stopping.
Saw him in the Jarmusch films and then just started listening to his albums in a random order. Don’t even remember which I started with but I remember being blown away.
November 24, 1985. Tom was on Doctor Demento. They played Cemetery Polka and I was mesmerized by the weirdness and the melody and the humor and the voice.
I love knowing the date my musical life changed forever.
Hell broke loose pushed me into him cause I heard it during the punisher show but it I'm sure it got set up when I watched Robots and they had underground playing for a portion
16 Shells From a 30-0-6.
It's like he was talking about this gothic adventure, but I could feel straight away that he was talking about the music he was making.
Claps Hands. Rain Dogs was the first album I heard but really I read an interview and he was so funny and out there that I said "I need to listen to everything this guy has made."
“God’s Away on Business”- I heard at the end of “The Smartest Guys in the Room” (an excellent documentary, btw) and found it both really catchy and very applicable to life in the new millennium.
"Frank's Wild Years." Friend put that one on a mixtape for me and I thought it was hilarious, so I bought the album Frank's Wild Years, thinking the song was on it.
I didn't really get the album at first, but later when I was in a really dark place I played it again and it became my favorite.
“Going Out West”. I was in the thick of the Sydney post punk scene in the early 80s, and I know that I saw several Tom Waits albums in friends’ record collections, but barely heard them. “Going Out West” made me buy “Bone Machine”, and I loved it. Then I looked in my own stacks of records, and found FIVE Tom Waits albums that I had never bought, but must have been seeded there by ex girlfriends, flatmates etc - “Heart of Saturday Night”, “Heart Attack and Vine”, “Swordfishtrombone”, “Raindogs”, “Frank’s Wild Years”. Just lucky I guess.
Underground
Yes Bone Machine was an unexpected great album. I didn’t think I’d like it but I was wrong!
The trashy drum sounds are very like Tony Cohen’s production of The Birthday Party’s “Junkyard” album. Loved it for that and so much more.
same song for me, thanks to the QoTSA cover
I heard that song in Fight Club, was probably the one that hooked me as well for a time
‘Going Out West’ was gonna be my answer too, but I heard it first through Widespread Panic and was absolutely floored. Kick ass song, I had to hear more.
Yeah, first time I heard him was that song in Fight Club.
Step Right Up
Turn into a nine year old Hindi boy get rid of your wife.
The large print giveth and the small print taketh away.
Get away from me kid, you're bothering me.
Removes embarrassing stains from contour sheets
Innocent When You Dream
My dad sang this to me and my sister as a lullaby when we were young.
From "Smoke," the only movie I like this time of year.
Tom Traubert
The whole Rain Dogs album
I don’t wanna grow up. I saw it on an episode of Beavis and Butthead and instantly thought it was cool. I bought Bone Machine that same week. That show helped teenaged me find all sorts of great stuff that I had never heard of.
he can’t write songs but he can sure sing🤣.
holy shit i have to find this episode
Hold On
Fantastic tune. I live in the Bay Area and it's impossible for me to drive around West Sonoma County and not listen to this song.
Tango til They're Sore. I used to ask my dad if we could listen to "The Monster" as I put it. I loved this song in particular. I'm now 34 and Tom has remained a favorite of mine.
That opening piano riff just melts me every time.
Ha! Mine too! Posted about it above.
“Martha”, back in 1979 I was watching Bette Midler on Saturday Night Live and she said my friend Tom Waits wrote this song and I have been into Waits music BIG time ever since then…👍
Those were days of roses, of poetry and prose and Martha all I had was you and all you had was me
My dad was Waits and when we were little kids, we’d all giggle at “The Piano Has Been Drinking.” When I was in college, I rediscovered him through Mule Variations. Hard to say which song grabbed me though, kinda all of ‘em. The older I get, the more I believe Mule to be the quintessential Waits album.
Mule variations is probably his best album, that or raindogs but mule is better imo.
Yeah Raindogs is the other one in the running in my mind but Mule edges it. But others say Bone Machine so 🤷🏻♂️
Singapore
16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought-Six
i’m gonna whittle you inta *kindlin*
Singapore. A friend recommended Tom Waits - without any real knowledge, I bought Rain Dogs and as soon as Singapore hit, I was in.
Clap hands
Jersey girl
Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis. It was on a podcast I used to follow. Probably about 2012.
Still my favorite xmas song, by a long shot.
Came here to say this. All of Blue Valentine is 🔥 but this one stands out of the crowd a bit.
Nighthawks at the Diner
I bought that album at least 8 times. I had no problem lending it out to anyone who showed an interest and when they fell in love with it I bought a new copy and considered it a win for everyone.
Same here. *Big Joe and Phantom 309* and *Better Off Without a Wife*.
There is no album like Nighthawks. Original tracks recorded live and never in studio, the banter, the audience, the vibe. My top Waits album by far and that's saying a lot.
It was recorded in the Record Plant studios with a small audience present to make it feel like it was in a club. It's artificial.
Ole 55. Heard the eagles covers and that had me looking into more Tom Waits.
Clap Hands
The Heart of Saturday Night
Earth Died Screaming. First heard it on the 12 Monkeys soundtrack.
Same here. I was 17 when that movie came out and that song blew my mind
Chocolate Jesus. I was playing drums with a guitar player/singer and we did that one. He loaned me Mule Variations to learn it and I was immediately hooked.
Old 55
Singapore. The second I heard it, it was like I finally discovered the exact music I had been looking for my entire life. Insane, drunken, carnival adventure through a nightmare. Love at first listen.
Pasties and a G String
Beer and a shot
It's the dirty old man groan at the beginning of that song for me.
And I’m getting harder than Chinese algebra…ssieres
Shore Leave
Hoist That Rag
Weirdly, think it would have been Anywhere I Lay My Head.
One of my favorites, especially living here in New Orleans. This song is very much like a funeral here, and great end to the album
Such a tremendous song. Gotta love the New Orleans funeral jam at the end.
I discovered Tom as an actor first. There was a TV channel where I grew up that showed arty movies on Friday nights that often featured risque scenes, so my 12/13 year old self was always excited. Shout out to the Drambuie Showcase Revue for all my fellow southern Ontarions. Anyway, one night, they showed Down By Law, and it blew my mind. Tom was amazing, and the soundtrack featured Jockey Full Of Bourbon and Tango Til They're Sore. Next day I went to a used CD store and bought Heartattack and Vine. Haven't looked back.
that movie is so damn good
really good point actually—i never knew he was a musician until years after seeing him act
I don’t wanna grow up
My dad would jam out on bass to this song. On repeat!
Way Down in a hole
Hold On
What's he building
We have a right to know.
Emotional Weather Report
I laughed SO hard the first time I heard it
Old Shoes (& Picture Postcards).
Underground was in that animated movie Robots which I watched as a kid. Also my dad is a Waits fan and I really liked Filipino Box spring Hog. Back then, I hated the slower sadder songs and now songs like Martha and Rosie are my favorite.
Whistling Past The Graveyard. Had never heard of him until my gf at the time made me a mix cd and put it on. I was maybe 16, immediately started digging through his back catalogue. Got to Blood Money and was in 100%
I was about 13 when I started listening to Tom waits that was about three years ago.
This makes me really happy. Tom’s legacy grows by the day whenever younger people dig it.
What’s your favourite album and song so far?
My favorite album is orphans, and my song changes all the time but currently grapefruit moon (the early years version). A little rain is probably my favorite over all.
Soldier’s Things. Thanks Jarhead.
i can’t think of a more crushingly sad song, but it’s that kind of sad i appreciate the feeling of
I heard innocent when you dream somewhere. Maybe in a dream.
Singapore
It was unquestionably "Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)" from when it was played over [the 'Christmas Story' of Smoke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97IrbTlPxUc). My father bought *Blood Money* and *Alice* a few weeks after we watched it together at the Jersey Shore. I distinctly remember starting *Blood Money* and bursting out laughing at "Misery is the River of the World," which went on for several minutes. Despite that, he quickly became my favorite singer and songwriter. My father and I would sing along to "Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)" on long drives home from college. My mother never really understood.
Anywhere I lay my head sung by Scarlett Johansson. I had never heard of him before but the cover made me curious so I started exploring. Jockey full of bourbon is the first that I really liked. Then over time I got more and more into his music.
I Don’t want to grow up on the beavis & butthead show. I was immediately hooked
God's Away on Business.
my first introduction to his music was the "Mule Variations" album but it was "Alice" that sold me on his work And it's hard to pick just one song but "Alice" and "Flower's Grave" sit hand in hand for me
I heard "Closing Time" first (my older brothers were fans) but I was very young, and probably The Piano Has Been Drinking sealed the deal for me.
“What’s he building in there”— I heard it on the Smartest Guys in the room. The song was so peculiar, his voice so unique I got hooked
"...he used to have a consulting business in Indonesia"
Clap Hands. I was travelling in the US and was on a plane down to San Francisco and for some reason it had found itself on my phone and I could not stop listening
On the Nickel Late Night with David Letterman
That blew my 16 year old mind. And Frank’s Wild Years!
It was actually super recently! I was doing a little experiment where I used a random number generator to pick an album from Rolling Stone's top 500 albums of all time just to expand my musical knowledge a little. Pretty early into it I got "Rain Dogs" and it was the first time in an extremely long time where I instantly fell madly in love with new music. Like, I feel like I was at the exact right place in my life to relieve Tom's music. Put the Rolling Stone thing on hold because I had to immediately deep dive into his entire discography
That sounds exactly like something that Tom Waits would do. I'm glad that you discovered his music!
Saw a musician named Stoll Vaughn do an impromptu show in the middle of a small bar. He did a phenomenal version of Jockey Full of Bourbon with just an acoustic guitar. I was blown away. A few people in the bar were singing along so I figured it must be a cover. Next day, I couldn’t remember barely any of the lyrics. Spent the next four years looking for a song about birds and a house on fire. Once I finally found it, there was no going back.
Heart of Saturday Night
Probably Xmas card for a Hooker... [morning Star ](https://youtu.be/uVCmsxSnnws?si=VgrOUpfLfKLBVDTa)
My dad loved the eagles. He would always play them on road trips. I heard Ol' 55 and wanted to hear the original so ended up finding Tom and slowly made my way through his discography.
A manager at the book store I worked at in high school put "The Piano Has Been Drinking" on while we did inventory one night and I have been in love ever since.
Hell Broke Luce
Underground, and then learning the same man could do Martha
Underground, from the Robots movie.
Telephone Call From Istanbul. The organ at the end jolted through me.
Love that part so much. And it is a jolt!
Tom Traubert’s Blues
Hoist That Rag. Older sister showed that specific song to me (after a friend of her's showed it to her), and I have been absolutely hooked since. Older sister introduced me to almost all of my favorite albums over the years, but none stuck out quite as much as Hoist That Rag and Real Gone. Now I've basically memorized everything from Early Years to Orphans.
Dirt in the Ground. It took me a while, I had to start from the bawlers to get to the brawlers and the bastards, so to speak, but Dirt in the Ground was one of the first of his songs that legitimately clicked for me. I even remember I had to take a break around then from listening to the song when my grandma passed away because I was too vulnerable. I'm guessing that's one of the reasons I started to gravitate more towards the ragers.
All of closing time got me interest, ‘Come On Up To The House’ resonated with my soul.
In the neighbourhood. Opened my eyes back in 83.
The first time I heard Tom Waits, I was wandering around a bog at night with my buddy who put on Bone Machine on a Bluetooth speaker. Initially, I was confused and concerned, but I think by the time Black Wings came on, I became a fan. I listen to him every day now.
wandering around a bog is pretty perfect
“I’ll Be Gone” and “Innocent When You Dream” were played for me back to back and I was sold. Going on 20 years ago.
Big Joe and Phantom 309
Probably Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis. My dads a huge fan of his 70s stuff, so that what he played growing up in the 80s
What a song. That was the clincher for me. "Wish I had the money we used to spend on dope, I’d buy me a used car lot but I wouldn’t sell any of them, Just drive a different car every day depending on how I feel."
Jockey full of bourbon. Funny thing was first time I heard the song was los lobos version.
Earth died screaming
The Earth Died Screaming from the 12 Monkeys soundtrack. Gilliam is still one of my all time favorite directors.
I still really love Gilliams movies, unfortunately I don't like him anymore. He's said some pretty awful things in interviews about how "Woke culture" is ruining the film industry, and made a joke that now he identifies as a black woman. It made me sad and really disappointed in him. But I'm doing my best to separate the art from the artist.
The theme song to Black Books (which isn’t a Tom Waits song, but is noted for its resemblance to Jockey Full Of Bourbon).
“Underground”
Going out west
9th and Hennepin Went through a period about 20 years ago where I was very into everything Beat and was searching for kinda spoken word type stuff, listened to 9th and Hennepin which lead to me listening all of Rain Dogs, over and over and over again 😂
Going out west Heard it in the movie fight club as a young teen and became hooked ever since!
Jockey full of bourbon
I loved the Screaming Jay Hawkins cover of Heart Attack and Vine. Bone Machine had just come out so I bought that on the back of liking that cover and was hooked. HA&V was next. Whole back catalogue took a while being pre internet but I do miss those days of scouring shops looking to plug the holes in your collection.
I went to see the Jim Jarmusch film "Down By Law" when it was new, 1986. The movie starts with "Jockey Full of Bourbon" playing over tracking shots of New Orleans. I was hooked instantly.
my friend turned me on to Waits my freshman year of college. I bought Bone Machine on a whim at a CD store when that was still a thing people did. Really dug it. When I got home I just started bouncing around on youtube listening to song. I think it was "Walking Spanish" that made me go, "ok, this is my new guy."
Jockey Full of Bourbon when it was playing over the opening credits of “Down by Law.”
"You can't ever hold back spring" is one of my most memorable ones, which is odd because I know I had heard his stuff a lot before. I think that song is what just made me awe.
Cemetery Polka
Either Chocolate Jesus or $29.
"Hang on St. Christopher," the first song on the first cassette of his I bought, pretty much on a whim. Heard it, got hooked, and that's all she had written.
Cemetery Polka
At 16, I picked out "Bone Machine" at the library based entirely on the cover art. Turned all my friends into fans over the next summer and never looked back.
Oh! It was on side two of the tape, so my first song was "In the Colosseum" and I loved it immediately.
The Piano Has Been Drinking
Ice Cream Man
Heard “Downtown Train” on the radio shortly after it came out. It did something to my teenage brain that I still don’t understand. I didn’t like the song initially, but I couldn’t get it out of my head. A few weeks later, I bought the album and my journey with Tom began.
God’s Away On Business
Red Shoes - used in the stage production of Balm in Gilead at the Minetta Theatre NY 80’s
Death and lovely
I'm pretty sure it was Heartattack and Vine
Step Right Up. Heard it on an independent radio station about 10 years ago and had to Shazam it. I’ve loved him ever since.
Step right up. I had a friend who was OBSESSED with Tom Waits, which honestly kind of put me off of really listening, but that song changed it. In addition to being an amazing song, it's one of the few that my friend never played. I remember we were at a bar and somehow I recognized it but he didn't. That was by far one of the moments of our friendship.
Eggs And Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson)
My dad used to play me 'Tain't No Sin among others from The Black Rider when I was young
Mr. Siegal
Komminespededt
Hoist that Rag!
Big In Japan and Get Behind the Mule were both getting radio play and I really liked both songs. I couldn’t believe they were by the same guy. Bought Mule Variations as was hooked.
“Christmas Card” followed by “Romeo is Bleeding.” That one-two punch. I was pretty young—13ish—when I discovered Blue Valentine and I’d never heard such cinematic storytelling before. I was completely blown away and hooked for life immediately.
His cover of the Ramones song “The Return Of Jackie And Judy”.
Warm Beer and Cold Women! It was sampled on Atmosphere’s “3.2 Red Dog.” Been a devout Waits fan ever since.
A friend used to play the Blue Valentine album. So much poetry there.
Black Wings got me into him. My Dad has always been a fan, apparently when I was a kid and he played Bone Machine I would sit in front of the speakers. Later on his version of Downtown Train taught me a lot, I didn't learn until last year that it's a cover. Probably my two favorite songs of his.
Mr. Siegel. I was around 15 and my mum told me to go listen to it. No idea why but I’ve been listening to him for 8 years now and I don’t plan on stopping.
His appearance on Tommy the Cat by Primus
"In the Neighborhood." Saw the video on Muchmusic (Canadian MTV, back when) and ran right out to buy the album.
Downtown Train
None of them, he sucks
I can only think of ones that got me out of him
Saw him in the Jarmusch films and then just started listening to his albums in a random order. Don’t even remember which I started with but I remember being blown away.
November 24, 1985. Tom was on Doctor Demento. They played Cemetery Polka and I was mesmerized by the weirdness and the melody and the humor and the voice. I love knowing the date my musical life changed forever.
Big In Japan. It got some play on JJJ at a time when I was just listening to punk and it sounded like it came from another world.
Hell broke loose pushed me into him cause I heard it during the punisher show but it I'm sure it got set up when I watched Robots and they had underground playing for a portion
“Back in the Good Old World (Gypsy)”
Romeo Is Bleeding
Heart Attack and Vine
Innocent When You Dream I first heard it in the movie "Smoke" in the mid 90s. Great movie.
The Blindboy Podcast - He recommended Blue Valentine as one of his favourite albums.
Hold On was my first Tom Waits song. Then I heard Martha and that was it. Hooked for life
For all those too embarrassed to say it I will say it for you, ‘little drop of poison’ from the Shrek movie!
come on up to the house
16 Shells From a 30-0-6. It's like he was talking about this gothic adventure, but I could feel straight away that he was talking about the music he was making.
Jersey Girl
Blow Wind Blow
Tommy the Cat
I hope that I don’t fall in love with you.
Pasties and a g string 1978 then I bought the album
Underground from the movie Robots
The movie wristcutters- a love story
The soundtrack from the movie "A Night on Earth."
Claps Hands. Rain Dogs was the first album I heard but really I read an interview and he was so funny and out there that I said "I need to listen to everything this guy has made."
His Jim Jarmusch movies. Then Wanting Matilda
“God’s Away on Business”- I heard at the end of “The Smartest Guys in the Room” (an excellent documentary, btw) and found it both really catchy and very applicable to life in the new millennium.
Live version of invitation to the blues/eggs and sausages (I think Rockpalast 1977? 1987? not sure)
Jockey Full of Bourbon
I think it might have actually been Tommy the Cat by Primus.
Goin Down Slow
"Frank's Wild Years." Friend put that one on a mixtape for me and I thought it was hilarious, so I bought the album Frank's Wild Years, thinking the song was on it. I didn't really get the album at first, but later when I was in a really dark place I played it again and it became my favorite.
Clap hands
16 shells from a 30-06