Trivia / Tom Waits

• Creator Couple: With Kathleen Brennan, who has contributed to his current and most critically acclaimed style.
• Completely Different Title:
  • Japanese
    • "A Sight for Sore Eyes" from Foreign Affairs -> 想い出に乾杯 (Toast to Memory)
    • "Down, Down, Down" from Swordfishtrombones -> 地獄に落ちた男の歌 - (Song of a Man Who Fell to Hell)
• The Danza: Will occasionally sing from the POV of characters named Tom, e.g., Tom Traubert, Tom Frost from "Martha".
• Fake Russian: It would seem the Russian Dance song from The Black Rider musical wouldn't be worth mentioning as this (especially since Waits almost correctly utters the "one-two-three-four" in Russian there). But the thing is, Waits really doesn't like Russia and repeatedly rejected gig offers from the country, despite a massive following among Russian intellectuals; what's more, the song has been used as one of the themes for the dark and absurd movie about Russian backwater, The Truce (also despite the song not being anything like Russian in its musical style, but rather Gypsy/Balkan).
• No-Hit Wonder: Waits is notable for performing for over 4 decades and through three label changes, but without a single #1 hit on the charts. Even Rod Stewart's cover of "Downtown Train" from Rain Dogs only got to #3. It's not surprising that he has a cult following, though.
• The Shelf of Movie Languishment: According to the Allmusic review, Waits had recorded Swordfishtrombones in 1982, but it appears to have taken him thirteen months to get a record label interested in releasing it.
• Technology Marches On: Those of the cellphone generation may be confused by references to asking an operator for a phone number and a fee for a long distance call from 1973's "Martha."
• What Could Have Been: If not for his breakup with Rickie Lee Jones, he'd never have married Kathleen Brennan, changed his musical style and his works from Swordfishtrombones onward wouldn't have happened.

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