Rod Stewart covers Wait's Tom Traubert's Blues/Waltzing Matilda
Today in History: American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor, Tom Waits, was born on this day in 1949. His gravelly voice is definitely an acquired taste, and has been described as:
"the sand in the sandwich", something that "sounds like it was hauled through Hades in a dredger", or that it sounded as though "it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car." Rolling Stone also noted his "rusted plow-blade voice." One of Waits's own favorite descriptions of his vocal style was "Louis Armstrong and Ethel Merman meeting in Hell."
There are many other artists that have done covers of his songs, such as Rod Stewart above. Despite a lack of mainstream commercial success, Waits has influenced many musicians and gained an international cult following, and several biographies have been written about him. In 2015, he was ranked at No. 55 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.
Many of his lines are quite descriptive (Waitsisms) such as:
You got to tell me brave captain,
why are the wicked so strong,
how do the angels get to sleep,
when the devil leaves the porchlight on.
Outside another yellow moon
Punched a hole in the nighttime
Sixteen men on a dead man's chest
And I've been drinking from a broken cup
Two pairs of pants and a mohair vest
I'm full of bourbon, I can't stand up
Well, Jesus gonna be here
be here soon
he's gonna cover us up with leaves
with a blanket from the moon
with a promise and a vow
and a lullaby for my brow
Jesus gonna be here
be here soon
