Tom Waits: a Songwriter on the Edge Bachelor’S Diploma Thesis

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Filip Drlík

Tom Waits: A Songwriter on the Edge Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Dr.

2011

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

……………………………………………..

Filip Drlík

I would like to thank my supervisor, doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Dr. for being very helpful and supportive. I would also like to thank Romana for opening my mind for many different views.

Table of contents

Introduction ...... 1 1. Self-stylization ...... 3 1.1. Influences ...... 3 1.2. Self-stylization ...... 7 1.3. Authenticity ...... 13 2. Reports from the Edge ...... 17 2.1. America’s Dark Side ...... 17 2.2. Role in society ...... 22 3. The Role of media ...... 24 3.1. Balancing on the Edge of Mainstream ...... 24 3.2. Appearance in Movies ...... 29 Conclusion ...... 31 Works cited and consulted: ...... 33 Resumé (English) ...... 36 Resumé (Czech) ...... 37

Introduction

“David Letterman: Hey, and what kind of places do you go on your field trips?

Tom Waits: Well you know the most interesting one was, we took all these kids. I

took about 30 kids to a music store. And I figured: "Well, okay I'll drive on that".

And we got there and I'm kinda standing over by the pianos and I'm thinking

well eh: "I'm gonna be recognized any minute now." ... Then I decided to move

over by the percussion. And, eh, I found an interesting lighting situation.

David Letterman: You were ready to go.

Tom Waits: I'm ready. I'm ready for: "Aren't you that guy?". Nothing. ... I went

over by the guitars and I waited. Nothing. I was a little let down. ... A week later

they asked me to drive on another field trip. This time they are going to the

dump. Well it's recycling and all that?

David Letterman: Yeah, I understand. Yeah.

Tom Waits: Twelve guys surrounded my car! Go figure!” (Waits, 2002)

This quotation is a typical example of an interview with Tom Alan Waits, or in the matter of fact, with the performing persona he created. This songwriter has been in the centre of the reviewers’ and critics’ attention for more than thirty years. His lifelong endeavor and diligence earned him a cult following. He has published twenty two albums and contributed to a large number of movies. More than one hundred of his songs were covered by various mainstream artists including Bruce Springsteen or Rod

Stewart. Various major products companies addresses him and asked him to use his

1 records, but Waits has always refused and he was always successful in protecting his works of art.

This thesis focuses on Tom Waits’s position in the society and especially in the mainstream culture. Even though he came from a middle class background, in his works he dealt with characters and stories from low class surroundings. Tom Waits is a songwriter on the edge of the society, because he was always attracted by the “seamy” part of life. He stylized himself in the position of a wise man transferring the stories and wisdom from the world of lowlifes to the mainstream culture. His melancholic reports in the form of lyrics convey messages for all those who want to find out more about the darker side of life and the maze of imagination in Tom Waits’s head.

As the opening quotation of this thesis suggests, Tom Waits earned a specific status in the American culture. The first chapter deals with the ways in which Tom

Waits stylized his persona and what influences were vital in his life and career, but it concentrates mainly on the career development. The last part of this chapter discusses the authenticity of his works of art and what value it has in the contemporary society.

The following chapter concentrates on the contents of Waits’s songs. It also discusses their social aspects and possible worldviews and opinions that Waits might have incorporated in his work. The chapter three deals with the mainstream and what position

Waits has had in it. It concentrates mainly on the most significant differences from other artists of the mainstream music.

1. Self-stylization

As many other artists, Tom Waits too achieved specific reputation not only because of his music, but also due to performing and appearing in a certain pose. This chapter describes and discusses the ways in which the author stylizes himself and how it contributes to his overall impression. It also deals with the influences which shaped

Waits’s creative process.

1.1. Influences

Tom Waits’s view of the world was influenced and modified throughout the years. During some of the interviews, Waits mentioned several possible facts about his background and the influences that shaped his further development. When talking about his childhood, he stated that the divorce of his parents made him travel very frequently and to shuttle between them. This situation aroused love for cars and driving in him, which became one of the characteristic features of Waits’s music; the feeling of freedom, when driving, car as a form of the shelter, or car as a symbol of the social standing.

Waits’s father, a teacher of Spanish language, sometimes took his son on a trip to Mexico. He was very keen on the local culture, so they listened to Mexican music in the car. When they arrived, young Tom Waits was introduced to a very different world from the one he was used to. Carnival-like culture amazed him and left in him an obsession with circuses and similar surreal, bizarre settings. In other words, things which were on the other side of the edge of what is “popular” or “mainstream” have always fascinated him. After releasing several albums, Tom Waits began to change labels to gain more independence over his work and the interest in “strangeness” started

3 to emerge in the textual or visual concepts of his songs and in their titles as well. This tendency is apparent for instance on his 1985 album called “Rain Dogs”. The foreign influences are an important part of the composition. The instruments chosen for these recordings are quite unusual as well, including marimba, various percussions and an accordion. One of the characteristic instrumentally unusual songs is the “Cemetery

Polka”. The reed organ and brass instruments in combination with percussions play quite disharmonic a tune that really sounds like it was coming from the edge that separates the living and dead.

The lyrics and titles of songs on Rain Dogs and other albums also suggest certain out-of-ordinary characteristics. Titles of tracks, such as “Singapore”, “Walking

Spanish” and “Burma Shave” evoke the foreign atmosphere. Also the text of the song

“Tango Till They’re Sore” mentions unfamiliar settings and words of a story:

“Well ya play that Tarantella

All the hounds they start to roar

And the boys all go to hell

Then the Cubans hit the floor

And they drive along the pipeline

They tango till they're sore

They take apart their nightmares

And they leave them by the door.” (Waits, 1985)

Another great influence on Tom Waits’s art was the Beat culture. At the age of eighteen he discovered the classics, such as Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac or Charles

Bukowski. Later in his life he met Allen Ginsberg personally and cooperated with him for a short period of time. As Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” is one of the key works of the Beat generation, it is apparent that it influenced Tom Waits in certain respect. The

4 cars, distance or the road itself are significant symbols and themes of Waits’s lyrics.

The author of the Book “The Words and Music of Tom Waits” claims that “Throughout

Tom Waits’s life, Jack Kerouac’s Beat classic, On the Road, has served as an important thematic touchstone.” (Kessel, 65)

The song “Ol’55” (Waits, 1973) is exactly the piece of art that deals with these themes. In fact, it is one of the very well-known songs by Waits and certainly one of the most popular, particularly with truck drivers. Also the cover version by Eagles contributed to popularity of this song. The lyrics in fact celebrate the act of driving and being in the car. The hero of this song is on his way from someone else’s place, from somebody who gave him no warning and made him leave early in the morning. The melancholy is apparent, but the narrator is happy because he has a place to go to – his old car. The driving frees him from sadness and from all worries. He is “riding with

Lady Luck”. Of course, Ol’55 is not the only Waits’s work dealing with Beat motifs, there are also other songs with similar theme, e.g. Semi-Suite (1974), Diamonds on my

Windshield (1974) or Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard (1978).

One of the strongest influences on Tom Waits’s life was undoubtedly Kathleen

Brennan, his life partner. They met in Francis Ford Coppola’s studio while working on the movie “One from the Heart”. They got married in 1980 and have been together for almost 32 years. Brennan is a songwriter as well, but as her husband claims, she does not like the limelight (Carroll, 33). Since they have been together she was a great influence on Tom Waits’s art, or so he repeatedly admitted during various interviews.

She made it possible for him to see things differently and convinced him that combinations in music are infinite and boundless. Moreover, she actively contributed to the writing and composing process. Musicians and other people around Waits agree that she was a great influence on him as on a person as well. Barney Hoskyns, the author of

Tom Waits’s biography, quotes Bones Howe, a former producer and a friend of Tom

Waits.

“She really separated him from everybody. I don’t know if it was her personal

jealousy or what. I don’t harbour any bad feelings towards her, because I really

believe she saved his life. She came along at a time when his relationship with

Herb was getting strained. She’s a very strong woman and she found Tom’s soft

points. She provided him with strength when he needed strength. I have no idea

what would have happened to him without somebody to really kind of take

charge of his life.” (Hoskyns, 278)

Even though he claims that she separated him from everyone else, he does not deny that it was only for his benefit. Howe claims that he (Tom) needed strength. By saying this he meant the problems Waits had with his old record company and the manager Herb Cohen. This turn in Waits’s life had a strong impact on his art. Before he met Kathleen, in his art he concentrated more on lowlifes and people on the edge of the society. After Kathleen joined him, his work began to be more colorful and dreamier, more esoteric. Anyway, his interest in strange and broken characters remained present after that as well. Hoskyns claims that this turnover was characterized by a transition from moods and characters to imagery (Hoskyns, 279). This new development is apparent in the instrumentation, in lyrics and in visual concepts (music clips, stage performance, clothes etc.) as well. This change in his career was so significant that all reviewers refer to the period of time before it as to an early Tom Waits period. The following era up until now is usually regarded the late Tom Waits period. However, this division is only approximate, the transition did not occur instantaneously.

1.2. Self-stylization

“I’ll speak any damn way I please,” (Waits, 1999)

This chapter also deals with the influence, but with the one that Tom Waits had and intended to have on the audience. Artists generally choose the words for their lyrics to realize certain intention. The main “task” of songwriters is probably describing what is happening around them, commenting on the events and society. By choosing the language and style these artists express their attitude. On the other hand they also form attitudes of their audience. And if the listeners accept this worldview and identify themselves with it, then, in fact, the songwriter changes the reality.

Some artists, in order to be more authentic, create a whole performing persona, artists such as Madonna, Marylin Manson or contemporary Lady Gaga. These musicians came up with a certain pose that they were trying to maintain. The mentioned were successful, because they used a right pose in the right time. If these poses were authentic or not, that is hard to judge and it is not the subject of this thesis. Anyway, considering Tom Waits, he is definitely a type of artist with a very strong persona

(myth) around him. He achieved this by artistic stylization. When he was among the outcasts, he was in his own element. Many journalists and reviewers were attracted by this fact. For instance, Mark Rowland, a journalist from the Musician magazine. The title of his 1987 article is “Tom Waits is Flying Upside Down” (Montandon, 91). When he describes Waits’s music, he does not mention only what styles he (Tom) combines, but he also speaks about the persona he created. He claims that “… his face-on-the- barroom-floor theatricality accurately reflected a chosen lifestyle, it had earned him a cult following for life …” (Montandon, 94). The significant points in this statement are the adjectives “cult” and “chosen”. Waits chose his audience on the basis of what

7 attracted him and he accepted the chosen lifestyle with all features. So, if the artist wants to change the reality, he or she has to start with themselves first.

One of these features was certainly the place where he used to stay, back when he lived in Los Angeles. He chose a cult place, Motel Tropicana, a place where Jimi

Hendrix and Janis Joplin used to live. Moreover, Andy Warhol filmed part of his movie

Trash there. Waits stated that his neighbors were strippers, pimps, “a maniac misfit unemployed actor and a guy named Sparky.” (Montandon, 6) The places Waits chose for entertainment or living were in fact the nests of lowlifes. However, that was part of his persona, regardless whether or not he chose it deliberately. He rather stayed in fleabag joints while his band slept in luxurious hotels. So how did the people view Tom

Waits then? The answer to this question was mentioned in the Newsweek magazine article in 1976. “I’ve got a personality that audience likes … I’m like the guy they knew

– someone raggedy and irresponsible – who never accounted to much but was always good for few laughs. A victim, just a victim. But I don’t mind the image.” (Carter, 1976)

Concerning the public view of an artist, it is not so important how people really perceived Tom Waits, but it is more important how he perceived himself. In this statement he suggests how people should view him.

Thus the mystification can be also considered one of the keystones in the creation of the public image of an artist. This discipline is included in what the

American sociologist Erving Goffman calls Impression management. In his book The

Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, he states a remarkable example of how impression could work in the media:

“... those who work in the field of radio broadcasting and, especially, television

keenly appreciate that the momentary impression they give will have a lasting

effect on the view the audience takes of them, and it is in this part of the

communication industry that great care is taken to give the right impression and

great anxiety is felt that the impression given might not be right.”

(Goffman, 144)

Goffman uses this example to illustrate how impression management works in the media. Tom Waits undoubtedly used the media to present his image, it is the main field of his influence, but this is discussed later in the thesis, in the chapter 3, The Role of Media. Many interviewers and viewers on the YouTube server agreed that Tom

Waits was an extraordinary interviewee.

During the interviews, Tom Waits did not communicate only by words. When on TV, he also incorporated the stage play into his performance and non-verbal communication. The influence of perception of the viewer takes place on the viewer’s side, in other words, it is important how the audience views and understands the person.

Artist who wants to influence views of other people can do it by words, carefully chosen for the situation, by the way he or she pronounces the words, or he or she can use the non-verbal channel as well. For instance, if the person being interviewed uses long sentences with lots of digressions, they probably want to hide the true answer, or at least transfer the attention to something else. On the other hand, if they use short, snippy answers, the viewer might have the feeling of distrust and remoteness. Concerning Tom

Waits’s performance, the audience has to identify themselves with him in the first place.

That is the main point of his act.

When he signed his first contract with a major label Asylum represented by Herb

Cohen, Tom Waits was given an opportunity to play as an opening act for Frank Zappa.

For a typical mainstream artist, this would have been a dream came true. Anyway, Tom

Waits is a type of artist that knows very well what his audience is like and he knew that the fans of Frank Zappa might not be addressed by his act and music. He reported that

9 these years on tour with Frank Zappa were a valuable experience, but terrible in a certain respect. At most of these concerts, the people in the audience were waiting for

Zappa, so when they saw and heard Tom Waits and the very extraordinary and strange act of his, they usually reacted by booing, whistling. However, there were always some who were addressed by Waits’s music – probably the people so empathetic that they could identify themselves with the songwriter who has to do the opening act for a rock star. When asked about how it feels to be an opener for Frank Zappa, Waits always answers that Zappa used to refer to him as to a “rectal thermometer”. He used him to measure the temperature of the crowd. (Waits, 2011)

Concerning the body language, Tom Waits certainly is very expressive. His gestures and the way he moves, sits or performs – these all are significant features of his nonverbal communication, together with the way he speaks (intonation, sentence stress).

During most of his early interviews, Waits is not very relaxed – he usually smokes one cigarette after another, sits bent forward and when asked a question, very frequently he just mumbles something while carefully watching the floor (e.g. in Don Lane Show in

1979 or The Mike Douglas Show in 1976). His posture is very off-hand and uneasy, the viewer might get a feeling that the interviewee does not like being interviewed at all. It feels like he is there only by an accident, like a person that was violently pulled out from their natural habitat and put in a chair in a cold, non-friendly TV studio. In this way, many viewers may sympathize with the artist and identify themselves with him, because he is surely one of them. Anyway, he certainly has this sort of impression. As far as the questions and answers are concerned, early Tom Waits (approximately the time before 1980) tends to ironize most questions directed at him, or simply overhearing them. That surely is a sign of evasiveness in the dialogue, so the man may seem like

10 someone who does not want to reveal his true nature in order to protect his real character.

In his late interviews, there is an apparent transition. Waits adopted a new posture – from a rather shy, evasive, but on the other hand quick-witty guy he turned into a more relaxed older man who shares his wisdom and experience gained on the

“seamy” side of the society. Also, before he used to ironize every topic and most of the questions he got, but now he seems more relaxed, more self-confident. So the feeling the viewers might get from him is that he still is not exactly in his natural element, but he is strong enough to face the interviewer and his or her questions. His posture is more serious, the gestures are still there, but not as chaotic and uneasy as they used to be before. It resembles more the Rabble-Rouser, an excellent speaker for the masses of deprived lowlifes and outcasts.

Neil Postman, one of the most influential sociologists in the twentieth century, stated following in an interview he gave:

“Maybe to some extent its roots go further back. I'd say the most pervasive

intellectual idea of this century (one finds it in physics, anthropology,

psychology, philosophy, almost everything else) is that the form in which we

express whatever we have to express about the world controls to some extent

what we are saying and what we can see. You find this in Heisenberg's remark

that we do not see nature as it is, only by the questions we put to it. And you find

in linguistics people discovering that different grammatical forms give people

different perceptions of how the universe works. Some people say "We don't see

things as they are but as we are." It's this idea which I think is the major thrust

of scholarship in our own century.” (Postman, 1997)

In this statement, he claims that a different grammatical form offers different views and perceptions of how the world works. That could mean that there is a difference in a way people regard and classify someone who speaks slang and someone who speaks standard and cultivated language. Regardless of what the information is the stereotypes begin to work in this situation and the people may acquire a feeling that the person speaking slang is uneducated or unintelligent. There are many possible reasons what effect the “wrapping”, in which Tom Waits gives the answers to questions might have on the audience. It might be employed only to show that even a person that behaves like a drunkard has something valuable to say. Or it may be only a deliberately way how to get closer to the targeted audience. One of the options is that Tom Waits was really that kind of person and that this performance was natural. However, the fact is that he comes from a middle-class background, so this version is less likely, but it certainly cannot be denied.

1.3. Authenticity

“Because of authenticity people look up to art and artists.” (Abbing, 25)

In his book “Why are artists poor? The Exceptional Economy of Arts”, Hans

Abbing deals with art and its development in the classical and modern society. He claims that authenticity is very important a feature of a piece of art, including music composition and that it has been sought by consumers since renaissance. In this way he suggests that creating authentic art is a very successful marketing strategy. In other words, the listeners (or consumers, depends on the point of view) should seek the music that is authentic in some respect. To decide if Waits’s music is authentic, it is important first to understand which levels of authenticity are vital for being successful on respective music market. There are more types of authenticity depending on the view of considering the authenticity.

Denis Dutton, the academic originally from the USA, dealt with the authenticity and its various levels in some of his essays. According to his thesis, there are basically two types of authenticity. The first type described by him is the nominal authenticity.

Concerning the music, this term refers mainly to the authenticity in the sense of authentic instruments, or authentic way the specific song is played. The second type is the expressive authenticity which is much more suitable for this thesis. The author claims that this type of authenticity is problematic because, unlike nominal authenticity, it cannot be simply discovered empirically (Dutton, 370). He refers to the expressive authenticity as to something that can be characterized by the “faithfulness to the performer’s own self, original, not derivative or aping of someone else’s way of playing”. When applied on the world of artists, this statement can be understood as the question of how strong the influences on the musician are. In this respect, authentic art

13 means created without being strongly influenced by anyone else’s art. Concerning Tom

Waits, there were reviews and critics that suggested that he had strong inspiration in

Don Van Vliet (artist name Captain Beefheart). There are certain similarities and connections of these two artists, for example the strong voice, unusual attitude to composing music and also the fact that they both were under the same label, Asylum records. However, Tom Waits, when asked about a possible influence, flatly refuses this by saying that he does not listen to other artists, because he wants to keep his creativity as unaffected as possible. So even though they were represented by the same label, Tom

Waits was (in his own words) not interested in what Captain Beefheart was doing. The fact that Frank Zappa and Don Van Vliet were good friends and that they made music together might have contributed to Waits’s lack of interest in whatever the other artists under Asylum records were doing. It was Waits’s wife, Kathleen Brennan, who introduced him to the music of Captain Beefheart (Humphries, 147).

In the time we are living it is very difficult to avoid other influences, because we are surrounded by them practically on every step. However, one can ignore them, while others may judge them and learn from them. And there are also those who would copy them intentionally. Concerning authenticity of the artist, the first two mentioned cases can be considered authentic (meaning the expressive authenticity). Concerning the

Waits – Beefheart influence, Waits was influenced by Beefheart in the direction of his artistic expression, or so he admitted: “enter the strange matrix of his mind, and lose yours.” (Humphries, 147) Waits does not deny being influenced by Captain Beefheart, but it is impossible to claim that Waits’s music is not authentic, because when considering the complexity of the creative process and Waits’s imagination, the

Beefheart influence is just a fragment of what inspired Waits to create his songs.

In his early years, Waits listened to stories of other people, in places such as fleabag hotels or various dives, and turned them into songs. In this way, he captured someone else’s experience. But the authenticity of experience is very difficult, or impossible to grasp, so these songs were not authentic in this respect. However, they were authentic as works of art, because in a way they reflected the author’s true nature – and it does not matter if he chose to be among lowlifes or not, important fact is that he became a speaker of them, of all lost souls living on the edge of the society.

When describing the authenticity in music and expressive authenticity, Dutton also claims that the second type of authenticity, the expressive authenticity can be also understood in the sense of an emergent value possessed by works of art (Dutton, 370).

By saying this, the author means mainly the value of the work in a certain framework, in a certain social system. Considering early Waits’s music, it has a high value, because it authentically tells stories of people with lower social standing and it has, of course, some more features added by the author.

Hans Abbing deals with the authenticity in art in more detail, but he concentrates more on the economic aspects of authenticity. According to him, authenticity in music is what makes it valuable. It is a question of what the audience believes in. That means that if Tom Waits’s performance was only a pose he maintained only to make money, it would not lower the authenticity of the art, as long as people believe it. However, such hypocrisy cannot be connected with Waits. It is clear that he stylized himself to a certain extent, but this stylization was not insincere, meaning that he did not sing about drinking with prostitutes in the worst of dives without actually experiencing it. To achieve this sincerity in his authentic art, Tom Waits is an artist that was living on the edge of survival to have the authentic first-hand experience with what he was singing about. The reason why music industry accepted Waits and why he was able to be

15 successful in the world of mainstream music is that his music was genuinely authentic.

Various record companies and artists have strategies and departments that create whole concepts and images for artists who do not have a strong expression of their own. Tom

Waits is a true artist who has always been creating authentic works of art without subordinating himself to any “image professionals”. When he felt limited by the label company, he suffered by that and in the end had to move to a different label that would support him only in the way he wanted them to support him. In the interview for the

Musician magazine, (Montandon, 108) Waits talks about how he feels about the fact that the songs HE created belong only to him. He mentions his ex-manager Herb Cohen, who owned rights for Waits’s earlier tracks and could manipulate with them as he wished. So, considering Tom Waits who has been a stable star on the edge of the mainstream sky, it is possible to say that he stayed, stays and will stay in this position mainly thanks to being a true, authentic artist.

2. Reports from the Edge

From a certain point of view, singer-songwriters can be considered a new form of a troubadour. They frequently comment on or reflect the politics, society and culture.

In the past, as well as at the present time, the songwriters were of a great importance for the establishment they lived in. Certain portion of them was supporting the system, while some of them were criticizing it. Often close to the edge of the society, they were usually included in the same category as the wandering circus artists. It seems that Tom

Waits has come closer to the concept of such artist, not only due to his circus obsession and dark visions of contemporary America. This chapter deals with Tom Waits’s position in the modern society and with the features of his narrative which reflect the

“dark” side of American society.

2.1. America’s Dark Side

Who keeps company with wolves, will learn to howl. (English proverb)

As mentioned earlier in the thesis Tom Waits is an artist who used to dwell on the edge of society either by living on it or by visiting the “dark” side of it. Because of that, he has always been able to give us reports from the other side of the edge and that is what our society needs him for the most (Brackett, 78). The lyrics of his songs are the reports. It is all conveyed in them – the heroes of the dark side of America, the dark thoughts of psychopaths or emotionally unstable characters and the melancholy of people who lost their way. Waits’s authentic narrative could be described by a title of one of his songs included on the 1975 album Nighthawks at the Diner. This song’s

17 name is Emotional Weather Report and it is the opening track of the album (actually it is not, but the piece that precedes it is an instrumental introduction, so considering the textual point of view, it can be viewed as the opening track). This song is a confession a man who has recently lost his girlfriend. He compares his feelings to a weather report and that is why the title is Emotional Weather Report. Clearly the expressions such as

“lone gust wind in the bedroom“ (Waits, 1975) bring about the feeling of loneliness and the broken heart. The weather in this song is very bad (dark) and it does not look like it is going to improve any time soon. It induces the feeling of hopelessness that might be quite common for some characters on the other side of the edge. However, the title of this song is more characteristic to Waits’s early songs than the lyrics of it. Certainly the moods are vital features transmitted from the “America’s dark side” via lyrics and music of Tom Waits. These songs usually convey sorrow, melancholy, absence of important values, goals, God. (e.g. in God’s Away on Business).

Other important features of Tom Waits’s style of writing that can be included in the reports from the other side of the edge are the worldviews and opinions. Waits is a remarkable critic of society. He does so in a constant and subtle way – he does not incline to the use of direct pathetic criticism, but he rather incorporates these messages in a larger context. Kevin Canfield, the author of an article about Tom Waits claims that

“Tom Waits’s long career has been marked by an aversion to explicitly political music.”(Canfield, 2004) One of the albums characterized by these implicit criticisms is the 2002 album Blood Money. It includes songs such as Misery is the River of the

World, God’s Away on Business, Everything Goes to Hell, Starving in the Belly of a

Whale or A Good Man is Hard to Find (Waits, 2002). The title Blood Money suggests that the main message in this album is going to be the criticism of capitalism or the society in general.

The opening track is named Misery is the River of the World. Waits uses a metonymy of a river that flows through the whole world like a misery flows through people. The line “If there’s one thing you can say about Mankind, There’s nothing kind about man” quite eloquently characterizes the type of criticism Waits includes in this song and other songs as well. In God’s Away on Business, the author openly states who is in charge of the world instead of God, who we (mankind) set into that position. “Who are the ones that we kept in charge? Killers, thieves, and lawyers” (Waits, 2002) This is a clear expression of the worldview of the artist. This line puts a division between the ones “in charge” and the ones on the other side of the social spectrum, the ones badly affected by that. It may be very easy to identify with this opinion, because many people tend to complain about the ones in the charge, because they may see their current condition as the fault of their leaders. Moreover, lyrics of this song convey another message. Waits calls the world leaders “killers” and that evokes anti-war feelings.

In 2004, Waits published an album called Real Gone. In spite of his previous claims against the explicitly political songwriters, it included a song named Day After

Tomorrow. It is a ballad, a story told by a soldier who went to war. He is writing a letter to his wife or girlfriend. It depicts war as an absurd, useless thing. The man who is confessing in the letter admits he is not fighting for freedom, or for justice, but only for his own life. He misses everything, his hometown, his old life. Many critics and reviewers claim that this song is Waits’s reaction to the War in Iraq. The character in the song does not understand why they should fight, he does not believe in the war itself. This could be a reflection of what Tom Waits felt about wars and this particular war. Of course, whether or not this song is a protest against the War in Iraq is subject to speculations. However, there are certain features that suggest that it is the war in Iraq indeed. The doubting soldier is American and he does not understand the nature of the

19 war against another religion. In the song, he asks himself a question: “What I’m trying to say, is don’t they pray to the same God that we do?” (Waits, 2004) The soldier simply does not see any point in killing other people and taking risks of being killed,

(You can’t deny the other side don’t want to die any more than we do) which could practically reflect Waits’s disapproval with what the American government decided to do.

Main feature of Waits’s songs is the storytelling. As mentioned earlier, Waits used to hang out with lowlifes and learnt how to “howl as one of them”. His depictions of heroes and heroines have fascinated critics and inspired other artists. His heroes are not common men in suits with ties going to a warm office each morning. His characters are usually broken, lost souls. The song The Ghosts of Saturday Night (After Hours at

Napoleone’s Pizza House) (Waits, 1974) is full of colorful depictions of the nightlife (or very early morning life) in surroundings that may be considered a genuine low-class dive. However, the descriptions move on to another spatial setting, the setting of an early morning town. Concerning the characters, there is a solitary sailor whose only currency is the facts of his life. He sits at the pizza house and reminds only a remnant of a real person. Another “ghost of the Saturday night”, as Waits suggests, is the “waitress with Maxwell house eyes” the sailor is dreaming of. Then the narrative moves on to the street where another ghost, the steel-belted attendant cries “Fill’er up!”. Then there is

“that town cryer crying with nickels in his hands”. This scene is very realistic and describes very likely scenes “after hours”, when the city slowly starts to wake. It is kind of a scene similar to the one described in Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia”, but Waits’s descriptions concentrate more on characters and settings than on moods.

Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis (Waits, 1978) is a song in which the narrative voice belongs to a prostitute. Each verse starts with address to the man named Charlie. The prostitute starts her confession – she claims that she has quit taking dope, she quit drinking whisky and that her life has changed and she experiences the happiest period of her life. However, listeners more aware of Waits’s work might have a feeling that her confession seems very odd. It is hard to believe that “a hooker” could let her old life behind her so easily. And indeed, in the last verse, she denies everything she has said and admits that she needs to borrow money from Charlie so she could pay her lawyer. She is in fact in prison and she will be “eligible for parole” on Valentine’s Day.

This hooker character probably represents the typical Waits’s heroine from the other side of the edge, living on the dark side of America, living the dark version of the

American Dream.

Businessmen and clerks are not interesting for Tom Waits. Like some kind of very strange moth, he is attracted to the dark or “seamy” side of society. It was mentioned earlier in this thesis that this world of lowlifes and greasy dives is his element. Tom Waits ventured there many times, to give us the reports, to open our minds for different views, to show us that people are different in many ways. Brackett claims that “He (Tom Waits) has composed incendiary poetry that reflects America’s

Dark Side in songs that move us even if we don’t always understand what he is saying”

(Brackett, 78). The author calls Waits’s poetry incendiary. By saying that he probably means that Waits’s work is provocative because of its context. The question is to whom his work seems incendiary. Perhaps the rich, posh people do not like that very much, because very often they do not want to know what happens in the seamy part of society.

It is possible that Waits’s peers may find his songs provocative in a certain way. They may see Waits as someone who sings about lowlifes, despite the fact he comes from a

21 middle-class background and he earns more money a year than any of his dreamy characters would in a lifetime. However, Waits’s position in music and in society is very specific and fragile. As a person who used to live on the edge of survival, he is in between his cult audience and the characters of his songs.

2.2. Role in society

“If Tom Waits hadn’t existed, it would have been necessary to invent him.”

(Brackett, 74)

Tom Waits is understood by many as the so-called “Rabble Rouser”, someone who can control masses of people by appealing on their passions and prejudices. This common sense of the word has rather negative a connotation, so in Waits’s case it might be more suitable to consider him someone who feels sympathy for those standing lowest. His task is communication, to tell his audience of things they have never seen or heard of before. So from one point of view his role in the society is purely artistic, to express his imagination and experience. However, that may be what he feels he needs to do. It is of greater importance to think of what we (mankind, society) need him for.

In his essay, Peter Etzkorn deals with the social concept of songwriting. He mentions the basic questions of the traditional sociological concern with communication. These are: “Who says what in which channel to whom with what effect?” (Etzkorn, 97) Concerning the role of Tom Waits, it is probably most important to find out to whom he communicates. He wants to communicate to all those who need to hear his reports. The seventies were characterized by the post-Beatles era where hard

22 rock and southern rock were the emerging styles in the mainstream. “The music world demanded an antidote to the soured dream.” (Brackett, 74) And this antidote came in form of Tom Waits’s music. In Mike Douglas Show in 1976 Waits said that he is “a living breathing example of success without college” (Waits, 1976). Since his first album published in 1973, Tom Waits has been filling the empty places in the musical spectrum.

In his early years he was the antidote to the soured dream, but he did not stay at one place. He was evolving, his music was evolving. In the present time, Tom Waits is there to fill the empty places as well, but the world does not need the antidote too much.

The world with all of that prefabricated highly artificial mainstream music still needs cult icons such as Tom Waits, true artists that provide their listeners with images and stories they cannot receive from the contemporary mainstream music. As Brackett claims in his essay on Waits, “He insists on pronouncing what is often difficult for us to hear, but he does it so damn well and keeps it contained in a crisp musicality so damn intelligent that we readily travel with him, down to the bottom of the world.”

(Brackett, 80) The question is what he meant by “things that are difficult to hear”. It is possible that it is difficult to hear Waits’s stories, because they are in fact warnings as well. They depict the life some cannot imagine until they reach it themselves. It is not pleasant to imagine that the promised American Dream has its other end, but it is possible nevertheless.

3. The Role of media

One of the things that contributed heavily to Tom Waits’s success was the interviews he gave. He is an artist who achieved “cult” status. Thanks to the interviews he could fully show the persona he created. He has been very unusual and always very extraordinary interview that an interviewer could get. He was able to react very quickly to questions and his answers were usually very smart quick-wits or pieces of wisdom he gathered throughout the years. Together with the non-verbal aspects of his unusual performance it looks as though he had applied his stage playing concert persona also on these live shows. As Goffman claims (Goffman, 370), the interviews have a long effect and what the people hear is usually taken as true. The media, mainly TV and appearance in movies, but in magazines as well, contributed to building the myth of Tom Waits.

3.1. Balancing on the Edge of Mainstream

“He didn’t join a scene, he was a scene, all by himself.” (Brackett, 76)

Peter Etzkorn describes the character of various theses dealing with the nature of popular music and mainstream in USA. According to his words, there are only two serious works (Johnstone and Katz’s paper and Riesman’s Paper) published that deal with the relationship between the mass communication and the audience. He states that

“They point up the importance of membership peer groups on the formation of individual preferences suggesting the importance of a new look at musical communication and taste preferences.” (Etzkorn, 98)

The abovementioned is one of the main principles of gaining and extending the audience. It can be also understood in simple words: “The communities share a

24 common taste of music”. Thus one of the significant tasks of a want-to-be successful performer is trying to expand their influence on the largest community of all, the mainstream community.

Considering Tom Waits, the situation is different, modified. Rather than trying to speak to masses of mainstream the author prefers addressing individuals with certain characteristics. Tom Waits’s targeted audience are the individuals that identify themselves with heroes of his songs – lonely, broken-hearted, melancholic characters living near to or on the edge of the society. Waits is a songwriter on the edge – on the edge of survival, on the edge of the society, on the edge of mainstream. Because of his talents and diligence in the songwriters’ craft, he is included in the mainstream, even though the number of his followers does not compare with pop stars such as Madonna or Michael Jackson. Nevertheless, when considering the artist as an icon, Tom Waits maintained a very specific and powerful standing. For instance, it is possible that

Madonna or Marylin Monroe gained the status of an idol thanks to addressing audience by means of a very sensual, provocatively erotic performance. If they are icons, or idols,

Tom Waits is a cult.

In the early 80’s it was clearer which direction Tom Waits was heading. At that time, the word “cult” in connection to Tom Waits or, particularly, his followers was used quite frequently. Donald Brackett uses this word as well in his 2008 book “The

Pathology of the Singer-songwriter”. In this extract, he also provides a comparison of

Tom Waits with other mainstream artists:

“He has since proven himself to be not only a long-lasting talent but also one

who is head and shoulders above his competitors – those who are more often

caught up in entertaining audiences and selling records than in making musical

history. Waits makes history first, then entertains his cultish fans, then finally

sells enough records to be commercially safe in a weird world.” (Brackett, 77)

This book was published in 2008 and the author directly calls Waits’s audience

“cultish”. This word has been used for Tom Waits and other things or people connected with him probably since the early 80s, but very likely it was used even before.

In April 1979, Waits was interviewed in the “Don Lane Show” in Australia. Don

Lane, the presenter used the word cult in one of the questions as well: “Let’s move ahead. They tell me you have some kind of a cult following. Do you . . . do you agree with that?” (Montandon, 34)

As mentioned before, instead of aiming to the center of the mainstream, Tom

Waits chose a different path to walk; it can be characterized by diligent hard-working attitude to the craft of songwriting. Waits made many remarkable and legendary comments and one of them was his view on the music making:

“For me, it’s also a craft. It’s not something that drops out of the sky. It’s not

something where you sit at your picture window, and watch the sun glistening

off the trees and a deer walks by and whispers in your ear. It’s really a craft,

and it’s hard work. It’s just a lot of discipline, and hopefully, you get better with

each project.” (Montandon, 19)

However, the main point in which Waits was different from other mainstream musicians was in the understanding of the music he made. For him, music was something sacred, authentic and own to the person who wrote it. Because of the record companies which represented Waits, extreme amount of Waits’s songs were covered by different artists. For instance, Waits’s Downtown Train was covered by Rod Stewart,

Jersey Girl was covered by Bruce Springsteen, I Don’t Wanna Grow Up was covered by The Ramones, Ol’55 was covered by The Eagles. Actually there are few hundreds of

26 cover versions of Waits’s songs. In 2008 Scarlett Johansson published a CD that is filled mainly with covers of Waits’s songs. Concerning the original artist, Waits claimed that he was never particularly keen on the cover versions of his songs. In the interview with Mark Rowland (Jacobs, 156) Tom shared slightly outlined his view on cover versions of other artist’s songs. “If John Lennon had any idea that someday

Michael Jackson would be deciding the future of his material, if he could I think he’d come back from the grave and kick his ass. And kick it real good, in a way that we would all enjoy.” These strong feelings against the cover versions may be caused by the fact that Waits perceived his songs in a very special and almost motherly way. The songs he recorded were authentic pieces of his soul and he treated them as if they had their own life. In an interview for the Uncut magazine, he said that “My theory is that songs don’t really enjoy being recorded. If you’re not careful, you can mangle the whole thing.” (Gill, 49) Waits’s relationship to his art was very strong and protective and considering that, it is possible to understand why he was not very keen on cover versions.

The view Tom Waits has on art and dealing with it is probably the major distinctive feature of his personality that sets him apart in the mainstream world.

Because he was so protective of his songs, he never agreed to participate in any sort of endorsing commercial products. Mark Rowland asked him, if he ever gets approached by major advertisers. Waits responded that “he gets it all the time” (Montandon, 106) and that he always refuses. In the same interview, Waits shares his rather ironical view of contemporary mainstream artists.

“It’s amazing, when I look at these artists. I find it unbelievable that they finally

broke into the fascinating and lucrative world of advertising after years on the

road, making albums and living in crummy apartments; finally advertising

opened up and gave them a chance for what they really wanted to do, which was

salute and support a major American product, and have that name blinking over

their head as they sing.” (Montandon, 106)

It is thus clear that Waits despised artists who sold their souls and works in this way. He himself was very careful and observant of any misuses of his songs. The major case appeared in 1988. After Waits had turned down the offers of the Dorito - Lay’s crisps company, the firm decided to act regardless of his permission. They wanted to include his song Step Right Up (Waits, 1976). This song is an ironical jingle of various commercial slogans (the man is trying to sell something without actually saying what he is selling). The company hired Tom Waits impersonator, who sang the song in a slightly different way, but with very similar voice. Waits was upset, when he heard the commercial on air. He reported that he felt very embarrassed, because his friends had been calling him and they thought that he, despite his strong antipathetic opinions on artists who sell themselves like this, had sold the jingle to the company. He immediately sued. In 1990 the case got to the court. Waits filed the suit, charging that Doritos ad gave the false impression that he was endorsing the product and claiming that his persona had been misappropriated in violation of the Lanham Act. (Jacobs, 154) In the end, Waits was successful and the company had to pay him $2.475 million in compensatory damages. Even though it took quite a long time before he got his money, he was satisfied with the result.

There is also a different quality that sets Waits apart from the ordinary mainstream artists. As Etzkorn claims: “Experimentation with new forms does take place, but it is of a marginal variety.” (Etzkorn, 102) Experimentation with strange, sometimes handmade instruments, experimentation with rhythms and lyrics, that is all

Waits’s own element. He was particularly intrigued by the creations of Harry Partch, “a musician seduced into carpentry” (Gill, 51). Waits was constantly evolving and trying to find different sounds and voices. In order to find another “sound bank”, he “would go into a hardware store and think, I have to bring a mallet in here, start hitting things.”

(Gill, 51) Waits needed to be free to compose in the way he wanted. He needed to experiment. That is why he changed labels twice. Every time he felt that the record company is limiting him, he decided to change the label for another one. When he needed new minds willing to cooperate, he got them.

3.2. Appearance in Movies

Waits’s connection to the world of movies is very strong. He cooperated with directors such as Jim Jarmusch, Francis Ford Coppola or Sylvester Stallone.

Appearance in movies has also contributed to his cult status.

Waits’s first role was small, he played Mumbles, the piano player in Stallone’s

Paradise Alley. In 1980 Waits moved to New York, where he started to work for

Francis Ford Coppola as a soundtrack composer. This part of life was very significant for Waits’s career, mainly because he met Kathleen Brennan, his life-long songwriting and life partner. He was assigned work at a film One From the Heart. Tom Waits was nominated for an Academy Award for Original Music Score. He contributed to many other movies, either by his acting, or by compositions. Perhaps the most significant appearance in he made was in Jim Jarmusch’s movie Down By Law.

The role he plays in this movie suited Waits down to the ground. Jarmusch selected Waits for this role, because he knew his work and reputation very well and he knew that he was going to be perfect for this role. On the other hand, Waits’s

29 appearance in the movie strengthened and confirmed Waits’s myth. Waits was very careful with accepting offered roles. For instance, he turned down the offer to appear in very popular US cop series Starsky and Hutch. They wanted him to play a satanic cult leader, but he was somehow offended by that and refused (Carroll, 29).

Conclusion

The main role of Tom Waits in the society, the main thing it needs him for, is giving the reports from the other side. However, these reports must have a certain value, they must be authentic. In order to bring us the reports from the edge of the society,

Tom Waits stylizes himself in a “rabble-rouser”, the speaker for all lowlifes. His main channel is the media and music with all its features. He accomplished a very difficult task – he reported stories from other side of the society and with his image and persona he entered the mainstream, but without being absorbed by it, but rather by creating an independent category for him.

His artist persona is a remarkable one. There were strong influences in his life which he has not hesitated to use. His early work, approximately until around 1980 is characterized by moods and characters. The figures in his songs are lonely, broken- hearted people very often with no chance of good living. After 1980, Waits’s work tends to be based more on imagination and dreams. However, the author still sympathizes with the lowlifes he used to sing about and he still includes them in his songs. When his wife, Kathleen Brennan, joined his creative process, their mutual work was getting deeper and more esoteric.

Considering Waits as a musician in the mainstream, he is very different from his peers and from many other musicians. He does not really like other people covering his songs and he openly criticizes musicians who endorse major American products. He filed several lawsuits against companies that tried to misuse his music and in most of these cases, he was successful. However, media played very significant role in developing his myth and persona. The performances he gave have a lasting effect and together with his lifelong work, appearances in movies and musical contributions won

Tom Waits an unfaltering position of an acclaimed artist who does things only his own way and speaks any damn way he pleases.

Works cited and consulted:

Abbing, Hans. Why are Artists Poor? The Exceptional Economy of the Arts.

Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP, 2002. Print.

Brackett, Donald. The Pathology of the Singer-Songwriter. Westport: Praeger

Publishers, 2008. Print.

Broyles, Michael. Mavericks and Other Traditions in American Music. Yale: Yale UP,

2004. Print.

Carroll, Cath. Tom Waits. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2000. Print.

Canfield, Kevin. “Better Waits Than Never.” In These Times. 8 November 2004. Web.

20 May 2011.

Carter, Betsy with Peter S. Greenberg. “Sweet and Sour.” Newsweek. 14 June 1976.

Web. 13 March 2011.

Dutton, Denis. “Authenticity in Art.” The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics. p. 358 – 380.

New York: OUP, 2003.

Etzkorn, Peter K. “Social Context of Songwriting in the United States.”

Ethnomusicology 7.2 (1963): 96-106. JSTOR. Web. 11 December 2010.

Gill, Andy. “The Riddler.” Uncut. December 2011: 44 – 55.

Goffmann, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Edinburgh: U of

Edinburgh, 1956. Print.

Hoskyns, Barney. Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits. London: Faber and Faber

Ltd., 2010. Print.

Humphries, Patrick. The Many Lives of Tom Waits. London: Omnibus Press, 2008.

Print.

Jacobs, Jay S. Wild Years: The Music and Myth of Tom Waits. Toronto: ECW Press,

2006. Print.

Kessel, Corinne. The Words and Music of Tom Waits. Westport: Praeger Publishers,

2009. Print.

Montandon, Mac. The Tom Waits Reader: Innocent When You Dream. New York:

Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2005. Print.

Postman, Neil. Modern Reformation. An Interview with Neil Postman. September 1997.

Web. 30 October 2011.

Schaff, Adam. Language and Cognition. New York: McGrav-Hill, 1966. Print.

Smay, David. Swordfishtrombones. London: Continuum, 2008. Print.

Waits, Tom. Closing Time. Los Angeles: Asylum, 1973. CD.

---. The Heart of Saturday Night. Los Angeles: Asylum, 1974. CD.

---. Mike Douglas Show. Interview by Mike Douglas. 19 November 1976. Web. 30

October 2011. .

---. Swordfishtrombones. New York: Island Records, 1983. CD.

---. Rain Dogs. New York: Island Records, 1985. CD.

---. Franks Wild Years. New York: Island Records, 1987. CD.

---. The Black Rider. New York: Island Records, 1993. CD.

---. Mojo Magazine. Interview by Barney Hoskyns. April 1999. Web. 22 October 2011.

---. Mule Variations. Los Angeles: ANTI- Records, 1999. CD.

---. The Late Show With David Letterman. Interview by David Letterman. 08 May 2002.

Web. 12 February 2011. .

---. Blood Money. Los Angeles: ANTI- Records, 2002. CD.

---. Real Gone. Los Angeles: ANTI- Records, 2004. CD.

---. The Early Years: The Lyrics of Tom Waits. London: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.,

2007. Print.

---. Slate: Browbeat. “Tom Waits on His Grandma’s Pistol, His New Record, and Keith

Richards.” 25 October 2011. Web. 11 November 2011.

Résumé (English)

This thesis deals with the role of the songwriter Tom Waits in the mainstream culture. Although his music can be considered alternative from many points of view,

Tom Waits is classified as a mainstream artist, mainly because of the fact that he contributed very much to it. Even though his songs reached the large public spectrum predominantly through cover versions of other, usually pop musicians, Tom Waits acquired very good critical recognition and a cult status. He showed the world that he is a true artist who reached the success by his diligence, continuous development and by opening to constant experimentation. Since 1973 he published twenty two albums, acted in many films and contributed his music to various soundtracks. He is also very famous for his legendary interviews where he surprised many TV presenters by his quick-wits and wise answers.

Similarly to other artists who reached the status of a cult, Tom Waits used certain degree of self-stylization. Although he comes from a middle-class background, this songwriter has always been attracted by lives of people moving on the edge of the society, or behind it. That is why he ventured to the edge as well, to give us the reports about what was happening there, about things we would not hear otherwise. His music captures the melancholy of people living on the rim of society, but that is not all it captures. His late work is based more on images and dreams than on moods and characters depictions. Thanks to his unusual attitude to his musical work, Tom Waits gained undeniable position on the edge of the mainstream and for almost 40 years he was able to maintain this position successfully.

Resumé (Czech)

Tato práce se zabývá úlohou amerického písničkáře Toma Waitse v kultuře středního proudu. Přestože jeho hudba se dá chápat z mnoha pohledů jako alternativní,

Tom Waits se řadí mezi umělce středního proudu zejména díky tomu, že pro něj sám byl velkým přínosem. Přestože jeho skladby se do širokého povědomí dostaly převážně prostřednictvím jiných, popových autorů, kteří je převzali, Tomu Waitsovi se podařilo dosáhnout velkého uznání a kultovního statusu. Ukázal světu, že je opravdovým umělcem, který se dobral k úspěchu vlastní pílí, neustálým vývojem a otevřeností novým experimentům. Od roku 1973 vydal již 22 alb, hrál v mnoha filmech a přispěl svou hudbou do různých soundtracků. Proslul mimo jiné také svými interview, kde svými bleskovými a vtipnými reakcemi překvapil nejednoho ostříleného televizního moderátora.

Stejně jako ostatní umělci, kteří dosáhli tak kultovního statusu, i u Toma Waitse je patrná jistá sebe-stylizace. Přestože pochází ze střední třídy, tohoto písničkáře vždy přitahoval život lidí, kteří se pohybovali na okraji společnosti, nebo za ním. Proto se i on vydal na hranu společnosti, aby nám mohl podat zprávy o tom, co se tam děje, o věcech, které bychom mnozí nemohli jinak poznat. Jeho hudba zachycuje melancholii lidí žijících na okraji, ale nejen to. V jeho pozdější tvorbě převládají obrazy a sny nad náladami a vylíčenými postavami. Díky velice neobvyklému přístupu ke svojí tvorbě se

Tom Waits nesmazatelně umístil na okraji středního proudu a za posledních více než 30 let se mu podařilo svou pozici udržet.