'Shindig'
There's a lady plays her fav'rite records/On the jukebox ev'ry day/All day long she plays the same old songs/And she believes the things that they say/She sings along with all the saddest songs/And she believes the stories are real/She lets the music dictate the way that she feels.
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.
I heard the S-K news earlier. It's very very sad-making.