发信人: chevy()
整理人: KGB(1999-05-22 03:33:27), 站内信件
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b. 7 December 1949, Pomona, California, USA. A gifted lyricist,
composer and raconteur, Tom Waits began performing in the late 60s,
inspired by a spell working as a doorman in a San Diego nightclub.
Here he saw a miscellany of acts - string bands, comedians, C&W
singers - and by absorbing portions of an attendant down-market
patois, developed his nascent songwriting talent. Having appeared
at the Los Angeles' Troubador 'Amateur Hoot Nights', Waits was
signed by manager Herb Cohen who in turn secured a recording deal
with Asylum Records. Tom Waits revealed a still-unfocused performer,
as yet unable to draw together the folk, blues and singer/songwriter
elements vying for prominence. It did contain 'Ol' 55', later covered
by the Eagles, and 'Martha', a poignant melodrama of a now-middle-aged
man telephoning his first love from 40 years previously. The Heart
Of Saturday Night was an altogether more accomplished set in which
the artist blended characterizations drawn from diners, truckers
and waitresses, sung in a razor-edged, rasping voice, and infused
with beatnik prepossessions. Waits's ability to paint blue-collar
American life is encapsulated in its haunting, melodic title track.
Nighthawks At The Diner , an in-concert set, and Small Change , closed
the performer's first era, where the dividing line between life and
art grew increasingly blurred as Waits inhabited the flophouse life
he sang about. Foreign Affairs unveiled a widening perspective and
while the influence of 'Beat' writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg
still inhabited his work - as celebrated in 'Jack And Neal/California
Here I Come' - a duet with Bette Midler , 'I Never Talk To Strangers',
provided the impetus for his film soundtrack to One From The Heart .
Blue Valentine was marked by its balance between lyrical ballads and
up-front R&B, a contrast maintained on Heartattack And Vine . A
tough combo prevailed on half of its content.
Elsewhere, the composer's gift for emotive melody flourished on 'Jerse
y
Girl', later covered by Bruce Springsteen . The album marked the end
of Waits's term with both Cohen and Asylum; in 1983 he opted for Islan
d
Records and signalled a new musical direction with the radical Swordfi
shtrombones .
Exotic instruments, sound textures and offbeat rhythms marked a conten
t
which owed more to Captain Beefheart and composer Harry Partch than
dowdy motel rooms. Waits came close to having a hit single in 1983
with the evocative 'In The Neighbourhood', complete with a stunning
sepia video. Waits also emphasized his interest in cinema with acting
roles in Rumble Fish, Down By Law and Ironweed, in the process complet
ing
the exemplary Rain Dogs , which featured support from Keith Richard(s)
on 'Big
Black Mariah'. It also included 'Downtown Train', another in a series
of romantic vignettes and later a hit for Rod Stewart . Waits' next
release, Frank's Wild Years, comprised material drawn from a play
written with his wife Kathleen Brennan and based on a song from
Swordfishtrombones . Big Time , meanwhile, was the soundtrack to a
concert film, since which the artist's recording career has been
distinctly low-key. He continued his cinematic career with roles in
Candy Mountain and Cold Feet and in 1989 Waits made his theatrical
debut in Demon Wine. Bone Machine in 1992 was for many his finest
album, although this perplexing genius still is only a cult figure.
He entered into litigation in 1993 with his objection to the use of
his 'Heartattack And Vine', with Screamin' Jay Hawkins'voice for a
Levi's television advertisement. A grovelling public apology was
made via the national music press from Levi's in 1995. Similarly he
won his case against his previous music publisher for other songs
licensed for television advertising, notably 'Ruby's Arms' and 'Openin
g
Montage/Once Upon A Town'.
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