Wheely wrote:

Earwicker wrote:As far as I am aware he sued the company for using his song, not someone ripping off his voice .....

Actually......http://www.keeslau.com/TomWaitsSupplement/Copyright/copyrightwaitsfrito.htm

Exactly, it was the Cheetos Cat character, not a song. Thank you sir or madam.

I just saw the Daily Show video. I love how people here said something about "I didn't like how they cut him off" or something.

Um... do you know how television works? They don't have the option to arbitrarily add a minute or five to the end of a show if one of the performers wants to play too long. That isn't how it works. They didn't cut him off. He played too long.

Hey bigc, I love your argument that because he has played various styles with various instrumentations over the course of 30 years, that means he can't be written off as crap. Like, just because he's so different, that somehow means he can't be crap to anyone? By that logic, how much longer is it before the Beastie Boys are given this same accolade? Just another few years, right?

scott wrote:Hey, Tom Waits sang on a Primus song! PRIMUS!!! He was Tommy The Cat!!!

You mean like stating a fact as though it were an insightful observation?

bigc wrote:Care to cobble together an actual comment on his music instead of his 'persona' that you so objectively define?

B.O.R.I.N.G.

There's the occasional neat guitar line here and there. I forget which record, because I fell asleep.

And I feel the same way about Nick Cave.

Hey bigc, I love your argument that because he has played various styles with various instrumentations over the course of 30 years, that means he can't be written off as crap. Like, just because he's so different, that somehow means he can't be crap to anyone? By that logic, how much longer is it before the Beastie Boys are given this same accolade? Just another few years, right?

That's not my argument at all.

I mean to say that a man who has amassed such a body of work shouldn't be written off period. You can say it's crap because you dont' like how it sounds, but not because you perceive him as some sort of 'ripoff' (still waiting for some justification for that) or charlatan.

The Beastie Boys is a good example in a lot of ways. I can't stand them...they annoy me and their rhymes are elementary school poetry, but they have been at it for a long time and have a large and loyal following, so out of respect for that I would say 'CRAP'...but it's just something I don't get. I won't get into an arrogant tirade about who they ripped off, who they're trying to emulate, how they present themselves and how I think they crafted their public persona.

Angus Jung wrote:Sorry, kids. Your guy, besides being a charlatan, just isn't that great.

Did some ex-girlfriend of yours fuck a Tom Waits fan behind your back or something? Or maybe your current girlfriend?

I really don't see why such venom.
Why is he a charlatan?
Because he writes songs with stories and characters that aren't him (that's the only thing I can think of)?

If you think anyone who does that is a charlatan you must have a very small record collection.

If it's because you think he is pretending to be Louis Armstrong well I must say you're just fucking wrong.

sunlore wrote:

bigc wrote:Care to cobble together an actual comment on his music instead of his 'persona' that you so objectively define?

B.O.R.I.N.G.

There's the occasional neat guitar line here and there. I forget which record, because I fell asleep.

And I feel the same way about Nick Cave.

Thank you.

bigc wrote:Care to cobble together an actual comment on his music instead of his 'persona' that you so objectively define?

For me, there is an overriding schlocky theatricality that suffuses Tom Waits's songs, and his performances of them. And it's been there throughout.

The post-Kathleen Brennan weird avant Marc Ribot stuff- it sounds contrived and cutesy to me. There's no spook there. You can throw it in after "All Things Considered" and have yourself a quirky old time.

He's like a Broadway musical version of both the drunken sentimental vagabond dude and the weird avant-dude. Both dudes. It just isn't my thing.

And I really think "Innocent When You Dream" would sound perfect over the closing credits of "Lion King 5."

Earwicker wrote:Did some ex-girlfriend of yours fuck a Tom Waits fan behind your back or something? Or maybe your current girlfriend?

My long-time significant other did have a long talk with Tom Waits once, back when she lived in L.A.

They were both browsing the bins in Aron's Records. Waits told her, "You gotta check out Julie London. 'Smoking In Bed,' that's the record. You gotta get that.'"

He was right. That's a really good record.

Angus Jung wrote:

bigc wrote:Care to cobble together an actual comment on his music instead of his 'persona' that you so objectively define?

For me, there is an overriding schlocky theatricality that suffuses Tom Waits's songs, and his performances of them. And it's been there throughout.

The post-Kathleen Brennan weird avant Marc Ribot stuff- it sounds contrived and cutesy to me. There's no spook there. You can throw it in after "All Things Considered" and have yourself a quirky old time.

He's like a Broadway musical version of both the drunken sentimental vagabond dude and the weird avant-dude. Both dudes. It just isn't my thing.

And I really think "Innocent When You Dream" would sound perfect over the closing credits of "Lion King 5."

And thank you too. Perfectly reasonable.