tom is played way to much on RP

TW is a piece of work. That voice, bruised and wounded by smoke and whiskey (I imagine) - like broken glass being ground, - masks the beauty of the imagery...wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did, I've got what I paid for now...it's a battered old suitcase and a hotel someplace, and an old wound that will never heal

Tom is a writer who illicits images of a gritty, and bare world I'm too scared to visit. But when he takes me there, it's a blast.

Whenever I see raindrops at night on my windshield, I tell my wife they're diamonds and become wistful for a steel train in the rain.

By and large I like Tom Waits. Quite a bit.
But I hate Hate HATE his cover of this song.
Several years ago, I saw Jim Schwall sing it solo, acoustic guitar on his lap, as the final farewell to Tom Peterson. (If any of you are from Madison, WI, and ever saw a show at Brave Hearts Theatre, you'll know just why the man deserved the send-off we gave him.)
Anyway, Schwall's version will always be the definitive version of this song. It was spare, heartfelt, beautiful, and all of us were speechless and crying by the end.
Tom Waits is murdering it....

I like his version of this song. He made it his own and it sounds fresh to me.

No... NOOOOO... NOOONONONONOOOOOOOOOOOO

Hate it guts, sorry. Does NOTHING for me. Lyrics aside... I cannot listen to them while his voice grates on my nerves so hard it hurts....

OMG too much, please stop it....

To be specific in my complaints: I think Waits's lyrics are beautiful and evocative. But, as much as I like the man's vocal stylings, his singing voice is absolutely horrid for a ballad like "Waltzing Matilda". It completely destroys it for me. So much so that I wish he had never recorded it.

number6 wrote:You could not be more wrong. See below.

Are you freaking kidding me?! This song is more than 100 years old!
Bone up on your music history, my friend.
http://www.nla.gov.au/epubs/waltzingmatilda/

Tom Traubert's Blues
(Four sheets to the wind in Copenhagen)

Wasted and wounded, it ain’t what the moon did
I got what I paid for now
See you tomorrow, hey Frank, can I borrow
A couple of bucks from you?
To go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You’ll go waltzing Matilda with me

I’m an innocent victim of a blinded alley
And I’m tired of all these soldiers here
No one speaks English, and everything’s broken
And my Stacys are soaking wet
To go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You’ll go waltzing Matilda with me

Now the dogs are barking and the taxi cabs parking
A lot they can do for me
I begged you to stab me, you tore my shirt open
And I’m down on my knees tonight
Old Bushmills I staggered, you buried the dagger
In your silhouette window light
To go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You’ll go waltzing Matilda with me

Now I’ve lost my St. Christopher, now that I’ve kissed her
And the one-armed bandit knows
And the maverick Chinamen, and the cold-blooded signs
And the girls down by the strip-tease shows go
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You’ll go waltzing Matilda with me

No, I don’t want your sympathy, the fugitives say
That the streets aren’t for dreaming now
And manslaughter dragnets, and the ghosts that sell memories
They want a piece of the action anyhow
Go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You’ll go waltzing Matilda with me

And you can ask any sailor, and the keys from the jailer
And the old men in wheelchairs know
That Matilda’s the defendant, she killed about a hundred
And she follows wherever you may go
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You’ll go waltzing Matilda with me

And it’s a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace
And a wound that will never heal
No prima donna, the perfume is on
An old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey
And goodnight to the street sweepers, the night watchmen, flame keepers
And goodnight, Matilda, too

Written by: Tom Waits
Published by: Fifth Floor Music (ASCAP), © 1976 & Warner Bros. Music Ltd, 1976
Official release: "Small Change", Elektra/ Asylum Records, 1976 &
"Bounced Checks", WEA/ Asylum Records, 1981 &
"Asylum Years", WEA International Inc., 1986
Arrangement and lyrics published in "Tom Waits - Anthology" (Amsco Publications, 1988/ Nuova Carisch, 2000)

Might be Waits' most famous song. Covered by artists like: Rod Steward, The Pogues, The Dubliners, Rolf Harris, John McDermott and Dave Gannet. Featured on the Basquiat soundtrack (Polygram, 1996). A tune easily recognized and easy to sing along. It's 1976, Waits at the crowning moment of his" beatnik-glory-meets-Hollywood-noir period". But "Tom Traubert's Blues" stands out from his other more jazzy tunes. Waits himself must have had special feelings for the song, because in the 1970's and 1980's he used to close his shows with this song, giving his audience some food for thought on their way home. And unlike most of his other songs, he kept it unchanged for over 20 years. It's finished, nothing to add, it doesn't get any better.

It's the opening track on the album "Small Change", recorded from July 15 to July 20 1976 at the Wally Heider Studios in Hollywood and released in September 1976 by Asylum Records. Most of the songs were written in May 1976 in London after his European debut at: "Ronnie Scott's Club", Soho/ London. It is said Waits stayed there for about two weeks after which he continued to tour Europe.

Q (1988): "When did you first see yourself as a songwriter?"
Tom Waits: "Actually, even after I had made records. I didn't feel completely confident in the craft until maybe Small Change. When I first put a story to music. I fell I was learning and getting the confidence to keep doing it. "Tom Traubert's Blues" "Small Change" and "I Wish I Was in New Orleans" gave me some confidence." (Source: "Tom's Wild Years" Interview Magazine (USA), by Francis Thumm. October, 1988)

It's often stated the song is inspired by the Australian hymn "Waltzing Matilda" (written by A.B. "Banjo" Paterson). So it's tempting to assume both songs deal with the same subject-matter. But this is not the case. The only thing similar in both songs is the chorus. There has been a lot of discussion about the origin and copyrights of this Australian version. For more info on "Waltzing Matilda" go to this site by Roger Clarke. Or try this WaltzingMatilda.com.

Waltzing Matilda:
'Banjo' (A.B.) Paterson, c. 1890
There are differing versions, but this one seems to be the most sung (9)

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me

Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me

Down came a jumbuck to dri-ink at that billabong
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee
And he sang as he stuffed that jumbuck in his tucker-bag
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me

Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred
Up Jumped the troopers, one, two, three
"Who's

Did not Tom Waits write it?

By and large I like Tom Waits. Quite a bit.
But I hate Hate HATE his cover of this song.
Several years ago, I saw Jim Schwall sing it solo, acoustic guitar on his lap, as the final farewell to Tom Peterson. (If any of you are from Madison, WI, and ever saw a show at Brave Hearts Theatre, you'll know just why the man deserved the send-off we gave him.)
Anyway, Schwall's version will always be the definitive version of this song. It was spare, heartfelt, beautiful, and all of us were speechless and crying by the end.
Tom Waits is murdering it....