Way down in a POLL: ILM's top 50 Tom Waits tracks

http://open.spotify.com/user/joe2goo/playlist/39FGIPX9whrzf9CxzxvxnQ

i think it's great how much 70s music there's been in the poll. maybe there's stronger consensus on songs from the early albums because people might often know them from various comps, whereas most any Waits fan owns Rain Dogs etc. and has their favorites from it?

My top five are already accounted for.

Ten of the songs on my ballot are still not mentioned. I'm guessing six will wind up in the ILM top ten. I don't know why I think this.

I'm really upset that nothing from 'One From The Heart' has turned up....can't believe anything will be top 10??

I used to think Rain Dogs was my favourite album because it has such great highs, but in more recent evaluation I think Swordfish and even Franks are more consistent on the whole. RD has too many dull genre-exercises and I never liked Waits when he does, say, straight-up country, blues or rock'n'roll so there's a big stretch over the second side where I just tend to switch off or skip. Much more inclined to enjoy the Weillian bierkeller gargoyly stuff on SFT or the bad-trip Gothic Mingus stuff on FWY than load sof the stuff on RD.

10. Innocent When You Dream (78) (Frank's Wild Years, 1987)
102 points, 8 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6KkJ6-Ecxw

Speaking of gargoyly bierkellers, this was my number 6.

Something that isn't made enough of are Waits' production techniques. This is my favourite of his experiments.

9. Burma-Shave (Foreign Affairs, 1977)
105 points, 9 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug7DZG1F6bs

Chap, could we get a recap of 50-10?

Burma Shave is HIGH, especially for a track off Foreign Affairs. I guess as a Brit part of the point of that song is lost on me, but I rather like FA, it's a pretty weird (if disjointed) record.

50. Diamonds on my Windshield
49. Black Wings
48. Anywhere I Lay My Head
47. Swordfishtrombone
46. Hold On
45. Make It Rain
44. All the World is Green
43. I'll Be Gone
42. I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You
41. Trouble's Braids
40. Invitation to the Blues
39. Ol' 55
38= Hang on St Christopher
38= Shore Leave
36. In the Neighborhood
35. What's He Building in There
34. Yesterday is Here
33. Telephone Call From Instanbul
32. Kentucky Avenue
31. Hang Down Your Head
30. Dirt in the Ground
29. Johnsburg, Illinois
28. Tom Traubert's Blues
27. Temptation
26. Cemetery Polka
25. Picture in a Frame
24. Downtown Train
23. Step Right Up
22. Soldier's Things
21. Alice
20. Martha
19. Blue Valentines
18. The Heart of Saturday Night
17. Goin' Out West
16. Train Song
15. I Don't Wanna Grow Up
14. Way Down in the Hole
13. Ruby's Arms
12. The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)
11. Rain Dogs

8. Time (Rain Dogs, 1985)
110 points, 9 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAB4uGGquX4

I'm not that huge a fan of Time myself, it kind of goes on a bit.

Thanks for the recap!

I'm not a big "Time" fan, either.

Yeah, it's kind of superficially weary to my ears; like, I'm not sure I'm quite taken in by its illusion.

Is Time based on something else? It sounds like a 'reclaimed' song. So does 'In The Neighbourhood'. They both sounded immediately familiar on first hearing.

Quite a few of his songs have had that effect on me; he often uses fairly hokey structures, it's the texture and instrumentation that makes them interesting.

Then again he uses quite wacky structures at other times.

7. Singapore (Rain Dogs, 1985)
119 points, 12 votes, 1 first place

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxB4GqYM0T4

xpost hokey's the word - I think it's pretty deliberate most of the time, like when he uses a Christmas or Disney motif it can be quite affecting and nostalgic.

Singapore is so much fun. I love the way he pronounces 'we're all as mad as HATTERS HERE'. My Waits-obsessed friend Mike does a great cover of it.

I love Singapore so much, as I do the next song.

6. Tango Til They're Sore (Rain Dogs, 1985)
123 points, 11 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2Tn8w1w2_Y

another surprise. i do like this one though.

Amazing piano playing on it.

The next one is not from the trilogy, repeat, not from the trilogy.

5. Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis (Blue Valentine, 1978)
133 points, 11 votes, 2 first place

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxVo5mjK4eg

Some mad Blue Valentines love in this poll. It's the only one I have on vinyl, but I find the whole thing a bit corny to be honest.

I'm not being a very good Waits fan am I?

He's had such a variation of styles over the decades that I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who loves everything. I find a lot of his earlier work a bit schmaltzy myself too.

I always feel unfashionable for preferring sad drunk Tom to barking junkyard Tom.

I like Time but I'm never always sure of its position beside Hang Down Your Head, the latter is incredible IMO

Sometimes it makes perfect sense right behind it, sometimes not

I love the live boots of sad drunk Tom but often find the albums a bit too fussy. The tunes, though, are killer. He could write a barroom weeper like nobody else.

4. Cold Cold Ground (Frank's Wild Years, 1987)
156 points, 13 votes, 1 first place

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmrGImjmUZk

The success of Cold Cold Ground has been the surprise of the poll for me. I like it fine, but it's never struck me as a massive standout. It was frontrunner for some time.

Cold Cold Ground was #3 on my ballot. I especially love the arrangement on Big Time. It's my dream to rework it into a tuff reggae rockers track at some point.

The Big Time version is on that Island Best-Of (my intro to Tom) and it's a highlight too.

3. 16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought Six (Swordfishtrombones, 1983)
172 points, 13 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XLdxxJEB80

My first place coming up at number 2...

2. Clap Hands (Rain Dogs, 1985)
178 points, 13 votes, 1 first place

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvMy1xOh6cw

Glad this did well

yes!

I dreamed I was in a club dancing to a ten minute dark house remix of Clap Hands once. It was awesome.

Wow, that one is a huge surprise to me.

And I Love Music's favourite Tom Waits tune by a considerable margin is...

1. Jockey Full of Bourbon (Rain Dogs, 1985)
223 points, 18 votes, 2 first place

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vEBPYfy1GM

Never understood the love for Jockey or 16 Shells. Both are hoary blues songs and I just don't find them interesting. I absolutely love Clap Hands, but it never struck me as a big highlight. Overall, it's been an interesting and varied poll. Great to see that others appreciate Tom for quite different reasons to how I do (IMO).

Anyway, here's my ballot:

Albums
1 Swordfishtrombones
2 Franks Wild Years
3 Rain Dogs
4 Small Change
5 Bone Machine

Tracks
1 Rain Dogs
2 In The Neighborhood
3 Cold Cold Ground
4 Good Old World (Waltz)
5 The Heart Of A Saturday Night
6 Innocent When You Dream (78)
7 The Black Rider
8 Invitation To The Blues
9 Downtown Train
10 Eggs And Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan...
11 I'll Be Gone
12 I Don't Wanna Grow Up
13 Town With No Cheer
14 The Piano Has Been Drinking
15 Hell Broke Luce
16 Don't Go Into That Barn
17 Lucky Day
18 Shore Leave
19 Johnsburg, Illinois
20 I Can't Wait To Get Off Work

I dreamed I was in a club dancing to a ten minute dark house remix of Clap Hands once. It was awesome.

― I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap), Friday, October 18, 2013 5:02 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I will do this after the reggae version of Cold Cold Ground.

I just want to pop in to say that there are a handful of songs that will make me cry if I even think about them, and Time is one of them. It's emotionally powerful! It's not for every day. I did not participate in this poll for a variety of reasons, but mostly because Tom Waits reminds me of a parade of men I've known, even my dad and other people's dads, and I don't have the energy to spare thinking about them. Tom Waits is very (sometimes cartoonishly) masculine!

#1 and #2 are both really fun to dance to, good work ILM.

My number 1 didn't show up!

thanks to Chap for doing this. Thanks Chap!

Rain Dogs? Number 11!

xpost -you're welcome!

Got a few things to do, will come back with the breakdowns in about half an hour.

My #1 was AWOL.

November
Cold Cold Ground
Trouble's Braids
Yesterday Is Here
Clap Hands
The Black Rider
Emotional Weather Report
Sixteen Shells From a Thirty-Ought-Six
The One That Got Away
Singapore
Burma Shave
Alice
The Last Rose of Summer
Diamonds On My Windshield
Eggs and Sausage (In A Cadillac with Susan Michelson)
Temptation
Way Down in the Hole
Ol' 55
Warm Beer and Cold Women
Jockey Full of Bourbon

TOP 5 ALBUMS

Frank's Wild Years
Nighthawks at the Diner
The Black Rider
Swordfishtrombones
Rain Dogs

Thanks for running this chap!