Tom Waits Covers 4

Blues Groove

Downtown - Alex Chilton. The original is on Heartattack and Vine and Alex really knows his way around a shuffle like this. He's an excellent match for Tom's material, even though his voice is much lighter. (These days, anyway. Back with the Box Tops they had him singing in a more Waitsian register.) Just a great feel and vibe to this. From the Step Right Up compilation.

Get Behind the Mule - John Hammond Jr. Hammond is a white guy blues singer who started back in the 60s. Tom produced an entire album of Hammond doing Waits covers, and the arrangement and production offer interesting contrasts with Tom's originals. They've got a similar groove, but are just a wee bit more conventional/commercial in their sound and instrumentation. This song's so hypnotic you could just put it on a loop and listen to it for hours.

Tom Waits Covers 5

Front Porch Breezy Melancholy

Mockin' Bird - tindersticks. An early, befuddled-by-the-vagaries-of-romance, song. Tindersticks underplay it perfectly.

Blue Skies - Floyd Dixon. Veteran R&B/Blues singer Floyd Dixon eases into it. Lazy jazz piano and a sweet, soulful vocal. Has sort of a "What a Wonderful World" vibe, but lyrically goes off in a different direction.

Tom Waits Covers 6

Indie Punk Tom

Red Shoes by the Drugstore - The Wedding Present. The original is from Blue Valentine. Yet another great example of how well Tom's songcraft adapts to other genres. Sounds like a particularly well written Wedding Present song.

Better Off Without A Wife - Pete Shelley. Love this! Total punk rock Waits as done by the Buzzcocks main man. For more punk Tom, check out The Ramones cover of "I Don't Want to Grow Up." (Which I'll post if anybody is lacking it.)

Tom Waits Covers 7

Berlin Cabaret

Strange Weather - Marianne Faithful. Originally Tom was going to write and produce a whole album for her about a Storyville madam. This is all we got. From her excellent album of the same title, produced by Hal Wilner.

The Part You Throw Away - Ute Lemper. On her Punishing Kiss album Ute strayed from her Weimar diet of Weil and Hollander to do contempory songwriters with a similar feel. She also covers Tom's "Purple Avenue."

Marlene Dietrich should've done a whole album of Tom Waits songs.

Tom Waits Covers 8

Finger Poppin' Jazzbo

Jersey Girl - Holly Cole. Super cool and distinctly different arrangement from the original. Holly did a whole album of Tom Waits covers titled Temptation which I like a lot, even if some of the versions are a wee bit reverent. This one is not oversafe and better for it.

Romeo is Bleeding - Dexter Romweber. Rockabilly garage rocker goes for Tom's street romance. Yeah, the movie with Lena Olin and Gary Oldman took its title from this song.

Tom Waits Covers 9

Bruised Grooves

Jockey Full of Bourbon - The Blue Hawaiians. Brings out the exotica inherent in Tom, and his love of Spaghetti Western guitar.

Virginia Avenue - Knoxville Girls. Woozy organ crawl with drunken sailors.

Tom Waits Covers 10

Aggro Rhythms

Heartattack and Vine - Lydia Lunch w/ Nels Cline. Harsh and seductive. Love this version. Lydia gives the lyrics a perfect read, and Nels goes all skronk king on the guitar. Screamin' Jay Hawkins also does a good cover of this.

Pasties and a G-String - Jeffrey Lee Pierce. Gun Club's founder covers Tom as a rap song. Works perfectly because Tom's lyrics are very rhythmic and driving. Andre Williams also does a good, sleezy blues version of this.

Awesome, David! Thanks so much for these. I'm excited to snag the John Hammond Jr. one and the Berlin Cabaret stuff in particular.

I'm excited to snag the John Hammond Jr. one

That whole album, Wicked Grin, is excellent. I found mine used and cheap so it's out there.

and the Berlin Cabaret stuff in particular.

I have a ton of that kind of material (all inspired by my discovery of Mr. Waits) so I can hook you up with some more.

I've got a couple more sets to post (like the Five Blind Boys) and the Tom covers will be done.

If people haven't heard, I thought some people in this thread would be dismayed to hear that Sleater-Kinney are calling it quits.