"i've seen it all. i've seen it all through the yellow windows of the evening train."

tom waits is the bum prophet on the corner, shouting obscenities with disregard. he is the man shuffling by with a heavy weight in his heart. he is the dark figure of obscure menace. he gives you an unsettling stare and laughs. he is the nowhere man weary of everywhere. he is in the grungy diners and mildewed motel rooms. he makes a noise you can't ignore. he is an american institution, self-mythologizing and willfully crumbling.

tom waits is a relatively recent influence, but then again so is dylan. i only started listening to dylan seriously maybe 2 summers ago, and now he is in my top 3. but tom waits confronts you. he forces you to have an opinion on his music, and it's usually one of the two basic extremes: love him or hate him. for my part--and in my small way--i love tom waits.

the music that tom waits makes itself has two extremes. one is a soft, melodic, piano-based style; the other is a harsh, percussive sound. granted, even waits' singing voice brings one word to mind: gravel. given this, even his most lilting piano song (a la "Tom Traubert's Blues")
has a phlegmy sound that will make some think "clear your damn throat" and others will love.

waits is a fantastic lyricist. he can be a drunken jester or the most mean-spirited blue collar bastard. take these two songs, both set in a bar or saloon, and compare them:

the piano has been drinking /as the bouncer is a sumo wrestler /cream puff casper milk toast /and the owner is mental midget /with the iq of a fence post / cuz the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking /and you can't find your waitress /with a geiger counter /and she hates you and her friends /and you can't get service without her /and the box office is drooling
and the barstools are on fire
"the piano has been drinking(not me)"

i get lost in the window / and i hide in the stairway and i hang in the curtain and i sleep in your hat / and noone brings anything small into a bar around here / they all start out with bad directions / and the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear / one for every year he's away, she said / such a crumbling beauty / ahh, there's nothing wrong with her a hundred dollars won't fix / she has that razor sadness....
"9th & Hennepin"

he can take you anywhere. and although his lyrics are amazing, it's his sound that affects you most. he drums on dressers. he sings through megaphones. he can only speak over dissonance and haunt you.

he reveals that hidden side of ourselves, walking into the darkness with only the light of his cigarette. and if you're a fan, light up and follow.