Tom Waits - News

ANTI- RECORDS ANNOUNCES 50TH ANNIVERSARY VINYL RE-ISSUES OF TOM WAITS’ SORDID AND TENDER TALES OF ‘SMALL CHANGE'

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:08:00 -0700

Featuring some of the most iconic songs from his late seventies catalogue, ‘Small Change’ by Tom Waits turns fifty this year. To celebrate the landmark occasion a new vinyl re-issue of the album will be available on October 2.

Uniquely combining elements of the great American songbook, jazz, beat poetry, vivid storytelling and his own modern sensibility, ‘Small Change’ was the high watermark of Waits’ 70s period, with classic songs like "Tom Traubert's Blues", “Step Right Up" and "The Piano Has Been Drinking". This is also the record where Tom's now iconic voice reached full maturity.

In a 1976 interview following the release of his third album, Waits reflected on the storytelling roots behind his evolving style, tracing his songs back to his days working the door at a local nightclub and eavesdropping in late-night diners:

"I got a job as doorman at a nightclub in L.A., and I listened to all the acts from the door. I heard bluegrass, comics, folk singers, string bands. At the same time, I was picking up people’s conversations in all-night coffee shops—ambulance drivers, cabdrivers, street sweepers. I did research there as an evening curator, and I started writing—gingerly. I thought at some point I’d like to forge it all into something meaningful and give it dignity.”

Here is a much-loved clip of Waits performing "The Piano Has Been Drinking" on Martin Mull's legendary late 70s TV show Fernwood Tonight: https://youtu.be/RKlmBZsVPK8

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Noise11 - Tom Waits Shares New Spoken Word Track ‘The Fly’

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:07:00 -0700

Tom Waits has released ‘The Fly’, his second piece of new original work this year, issuing the spoken word recording to streaming platforms ahead of a limited edition 12-inch vinyl with Massive Attack. The satirical piece continues Waits’ long tradition of blending beat poetry, surreal storytelling and black humour, while the physical release will raise funds for civil rights and community advocacy organisations.

The release marks another rare addition to Waits’ catalogue after an extended period without new original material. Earlier this year he reunited with Massive Attack for ‘Boots On The Ground’, his first newly recorded original music since the 2011 album Bad As Me. While that collaboration introduced Waits back into the recording studio, ‘The Fly’ shifts the focus to one of the defining elements of his career, his spoken word storytelling.

Illustrated with a lyric video created by Casey Waits, the recording centres on an ordinary housefly, with Waits delivering a mix of deadpan observation and sardonic humour. The narrator offers a reluctant admiration for the insect’s brief existence while reminding listeners of its ultimately forgettable fate.

Among the lines is the pointed refrain: “You have no house, well you have mine / You have no real friends, stay away from the wine / House fly go to sleep say goodbye, no one will weep when you die.”

Explaining the inspiration behind the recording, Waits said: “Today, as in all of mankind’s yesterdays, guarantees this type of song will never go out of style. Man’s folly of fiascos is a feast for the flies. Hence, the B side of Massive Attack’s upcoming 12 inch ‘The Fly’ features my appreciation for the winged nuisance.”

Although the recording is available through streaming services, the physical edition takes a different approach. Scheduled for release on 4 September, the 12-inch vinyl pairs Massive Attack’s ‘Boots On The Ground’ with Waits’ ‘The Fly’. The release has been produced using Massive Attack’s environmentally focused EcoSonic manufacturing process, designed to reduce the carbon footprint associated with traditional vinyl production.

The 180-gram pressing will be randomly distributed in red, white or blue vinyl variants. Massive Attack has also confirmed that the record has been priced as a fundraiser, with proceeds donated by the band and Waits together with longtime songwriting partner Kathleen Brennan to organisations supporting civil rights and community advocacy.

Spoken word has been central to Waits’ work for decades. Rather than treating narration as a novelty, he has consistently incorporated dramatic monologues, poetry and theatrical storytelling into his recordings, often blurring the line between music, literature and performance.

One of the earliest examples came with 1975’s Nighthawks At The Diner, where live performances unfolded through extended conversational passages and late-night observations that flowed between songs. His 1983 piece ‘Frank’s Wild Years’, from Swordfishtrombones, introduced the fictional character Frank O’Brien, a narrative that later expanded into both a stage production and an entire concept album.

Perhaps his best known spoken word recording remains ‘What’s He Building?’, featured on the Grammy-winning 1999 album Mule Variations. Built around unsettling percussion and ambient sounds, the track presents the increasingly paranoid thoughts of a neighbour convinced something sinister is unfolding next door. It has become one of the most frequently cited examples of Waits’ ability to construct vivid cinematic scenes using little more than voice, rhythm and atmosphere.

His 2006 box set Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards further explored that territory, particularly on the Bastards disc, which collected spoken performances, experimental pieces and literary readings including Charles Bukowski’s poem ‘Nirvana’. Outside his studio albums, Waits has also recorded standalone poetry readings, including Seeds On Hard Ground, reinforcing his reputation as an artist whose storytelling extends well beyond conventional songwriting.

With ‘The Fly’, Waits returns to that familiar territory, using humour and absurdity to examine everyday subjects through an unmistakable narrative voice. While the recording may centre on one of the world’s least celebrated creatures, it also reflects the style that has distinguished Waits throughout his career: finding poetry, satire and humanity in unexpected places.

The charity vinyl edition featuring Massive Attack’s ‘Boots On The Ground’ and Waits’ ‘The Fly’ is scheduled for release on 4 September.

“The Fly,” a new spoken-word track by Tom Waits, out now

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:07:00 -0700

The new track arrives alongside an accompanying lyric video illustrated by Casey Waits, which features the fly and his guy. Waits wields his whipsaw humor in this satirical ode to the common housefly. Listen Now.

“Today, as in all of mankind’s yesterdays, guarantees this type of song will never go out of style. Man’s folly of fiascos is a feast for the flies.” - Tom Waits

The track is the B-side to “Boots On The Ground,” Wait’s collaboration with Massive Attack and his first new music since 2011’s Bad As Me. Both songs arrive September 4 on an eco-conscious vinyl, with process supporting civil rights and community advocacy organizations. Visit the Tom Waits Store to pre-order your copy.

Extract from "The Fly"

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:04:00 -0700

Catch “The Fly,” the exclusive Waits B-side to Boots On The Ground, Waits’ collaboration with Massive Attack featuring Waits’s trademark droll and sardonic spoken word.

Waits and Brennan are donating proceeds from the vinyl sales to local organizations funding essential mental health resources for veterans and vital legal advocacy for immigrant communities; NAMI and VIDAS.

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Tom Waits x Massive Attack - Boots On The Ground

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:04:00 -0700

Sadly for all, this song is never more urgent and timely. The song chronicles the madness and rabid abandonment of mankind to the commands of "The Masters of War”, as Dylan put it. It marks Massive Attack's first new music since 2020 and Waits’s first new recording since the 2011 album, Bad As Me.

Listen & Pre-Order

The song is available today on streaming platforms and will be followed by a 12" vinyl release. The 12” edition features "Boots on the Ground" on Side A, with an exclusively Waits B-side titled "The Fly” - a track featuring Waits’s trademark droll and sardonic spoken word.

Massive Attack is embracing an eco-conscious vinyl pressing and packaging process for this record to leave a smaller carbon footprint. This ‘EcoSonic’ edition will be 180g vinyl in colors, red, white, and blue, and will be packed at random.

"One day many years ago, I accepted an invitation from Massive Attack to collaborate. Their long release delay never worried me. Today, as in all of mankind's yesterdays, guarantees this type of song will never go out of style. Man's folly of fiascos is a feast for the flies. Hence, the B-side of Massive Attack’s upcoming 12 inch "The Fly" features my appreciation for the winged nuisance." – Tom Waits

Tom Waits and Anton Corbijn Re-Issue Award-Winning Photo Book 'WAITS/CORBIJN '77-'11'

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 00:10:00 -0700

Originally released in 2013, WAITS/CORBIJN ‘77-’11 is now back in print and will be re-issued in a smaller 8.1 x 11.4 inch format. This stunning, award-winning visual odyssey encapsulates the essence of Tom Waits’ enigmatic persona and Anton Corbijn's distinctive photographic style. The book is scheduled for a December 9  release in the US and an October 21 release date in Europe.

Spanning over three decades, this extraordinary book showcases the enduring collaboration between a legendary musician and a renowned Dutch photographer—a creative symbiosis that has produced some of the most memorable images in rock and roll history. In those first black and white photographs of Tom Waits taken by a young Anton Corbijn in Holland in 1977 are the seeds of these two intertwined careers, feeding off each other.

Structured chronologically, it traces Waits’ evolution as an artist alongside Corbijn’s development as a photographer whose starkly evocative images capture Waits in a multitude of settings, from gritty urban landscapes to intimate studio sessions. Waits’ own photography, collected here for the first time under the title “Curiosities,” gives a visual handle to the artistic intelligence millions of fans know only through his music.

Waits/Corbijn ’77-‘11
Photographs by Anton Corbijn
Curiosities by Tom Waits
Texts by Jim Jarmusch and Robert Christgau  
Limited edition of 6.600 w/slipcase
272 pages, 226 color and duotone plates

20.5 x 29 cm, 8.1 x 11.4 in
ISBN 978-3-7913-9325-4

Waits/Corbijn ’77-‘11 is now available for pre-order

Seeds On Hard Ground, 3rd Edition

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 00:09:00 -0700

Tom Waits is releasing a third print edition of his poem, Seeds On Hard Ground, originally released in 2011 to raise awareness and funds for homeless services. The poem is a long lyrical ballad in the voices of those who walked, fell or were pushed to the margins of our communities. All proceeds from this printing will be donated to the following charities:
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)

• Redwood Empire Foodbank

• The Caritas Village Project - Catholic Charities

• The Society of St. Vincent De Paul

The new chapbook edition underscores the persistence of this condition. Waits appears in a recent episode of the Italian documentary series, The Human Factor, where his poem "Seeds on Hard Ground" provides a throughline to the stories of unhoused Americans living on the fringes of society.

Seeds On Hard Ground, 3rd Edition, will be limited to 2000 copies.
Purchase Seeds On Hard Ground

Watch Tom Waits on The Human Factor

Nighthawks At The Diner 50th Anniversary Re-Issue

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 00:08:00 -0700

This October marks the 50th anniversary of Tom Waits’ 1975 album ‘Nighthawks at the Diner.’ Taking its title from Edward Hopper’s painting, the record captures the singular spirit of Waits’ early live performances; intimate, theatrical evenings where inventive songwriting mingled with storytelling and sharp-witted asides.

Recorded over four sessions at Los Angeles’s Record Plant with a small invited audience, ‘Nighthawks’ stands as a rare artifact of this formative period, crystallizing the persona that would bridge ‘The Heart Of Saturday Night’ and his early opus, ‘Small Change,’ as well as feature some of his most iconic songs of the era like, “Eggs And Sausage,” “Warm Beer And Cold Women,” and the epic, rambling “Spare Parts.”

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On Not Saying Farewell to Our Friend Robert Wilson

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:08:00 -0700

On Not Saying Farewell to Our Friend Robert Wilson

Over 40 years of loving Bob and still he astounds…. his vodka paintbrush of absurdity,
vaudeville, heartbreak and forgiveness and imagination of the infinite is still wet and
painting backdrops backwards behind the Mirror into the wee hours of the morning of his opening night! We will always be suspended in his orbit……

No one could paint like Bob with light…he collaborated with great lighting designers who patiently, arduously, took his elaborately detailed visions and precise instructions into the days that became nights….he found all the things that live between the membrane and the weathervane…..

Bob was among the artists who see, feel, hear, and sense the world in a way that
most don’t experience it and want that experience to be shared and to connect others also immersed and suspended between the breaths of Life.

Bob set course for the unseen portals of his imagination and gathered brave, adventurous, devoted, gifted, and brilliant artists, and crews and devotees and opened many hearts and eyes. Bob had to be valiant, dictatorial, curious, ever listening, wily, playful, deluded, strategic, flirtatious, fallible, political, and willing to protect and persevere against all doubters, critics, compass navigators, naysayers well intentioned or not.

Bob was an absolute amethyst of an actor…. a space floating astronaut and,
to paraphrase Lewis Carroll’s Queen in ALICE, he regularly dreamed 6 impossible
things before breakfast to stage, to paint, to costume, to build, draw, perform, choreograph, film, design…….to light into Life and darkness.

He could make his mind as still as the surface of an evening summer lake then
shift into scribbling dance — epileptic, musical, static and trancelike…
He trusted and confided in his Muses and created a field of concentration
calm as a stoic monolithic rock rising out of rollicking sea.

To get Bob, first, you must believe in the dandelion floatness in the smokey pale light horizon beyond the proscenium…. then smooth out the blanket of time and pour a bottle of ink on the emptiness and call its shape the title of your new show!

Always attune, to a finger, a face, a chin, a leg, a tear, a gesture, a shape, an ear, a
a branch, a child under the table, the stalk of blooming cactus…..or an unplanned sneeze that turns on the Christmas lights as you the say the word….SCHLEP! His actors ever game and skillful would, upon Bob’s suggestions and their imaginations, would turn their bodies into the letter G or throw up their arms like the wings of a crow and open their mouths in a silent scream…. Bob s-l-o-w-e-d everything down, the actors moved as if underwater….the audience experienced a flower blooming in real time.
Robert Wilson. Bob. Beloved Bob. Biscuits and Gravy Bob, Elegant Bob.

And…with his down-home heart and pure prisms of light mind and a wild and wicked Texas cackle ripping up yellow lightning in a black sky desert…Forever Bob….

Tom and Kathleen

"The Last Ride"

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 00:02:00 -0800

Tom Waits performs & reads poetry in the new documentary about homelessness in the American South.

Created by the Italian public television channel RAI3, ‘The Human Factor’ is a series of eight 46-minute investigative journalism episodes that reveal how human rights are violated by authoritarian regimes, autocracies or even within democratic nations, where the most vulnerable and the minorities often face oppression.

Ultima Fermata - “The Last Ride” - is the final episode in the eight-part series and an immersive journey among the "last" on earth: U.S. citizens that experience homelessness who are victims of a system without safety nets and forced to live in extremely marginalized conditions. In “The Last Ride”, their stories are accompanied by the unmistakable voice of Tom Waits. With performances on acoustic guitar and piano as well as reading from his poem Seeds On Hard Ground, Waits provides a throughline to the landscape of faces and stories portrayed in the documentary.

Airing today in Italy, “The Last Ride” will be available worldwide tomorrow at the link below.

Watch “The Last Ride"

Below are three charity groups mentioned in the documentary and links to their websites with more info on how to support them.

The Beat: A Warming Shelter Based in Madison, TN
Shepherds of the Gulf: Homeless Camper Assistance in Biloxi, MS
Shower to the People: Shower and Laundry Services for the Homeless in Nashville, TN

“The Last Ride”: Written and directed by Angelo Loy, Martino Mazzonis and Luigi Montebello for Il Fattore Umano - RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana

Photo credit for Tom’s photo: Luigi Montebello and Davide Rinaldi

‘The Heart of Saturday Night’ 50th Anniversary

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 00:10:00 -0700

In honor of The Heart Of Saturday Night’s 50th Anniversary, ANTI- is reissuing the album in two limited edition vinyl colors:
Slightly Gold – (Limited to 800 copies - SOLD OUT)

Mailing list subscribers get first listen on new releases and first dibs on merchandise which is often in limited editions in the Tom Waits Webstore. Subscribe here.

Raspberry Beret – Available at local record stores now, limited to 3,500 copies.

Fifty years ago a young and aspiring Tom Waits released ‘The Heart of Saturday Night’, his attempt to immerse himself in the romance of longing for adventure trouble, mystery of love and lust, and the after- hours clubs where jazz, blues, lounge, piano bar crooners would gather and play for and with each other in their search for the ruby eye of the heart that only shone on a Saturday night.

He imagined a concept album with a small bebop jazz ensemble, filled with the literary influences of the two Jacks - Kerouac and London - along with classic American songbook songwriters and the language and sound of the piano played in intimate clubs for and with musicians who had finished their regular Saturday night engagements. In searching for the voice for these characters, he evoked Sinatra’s ‘In the Wee Small Hours’ and was inspired to mold his fingers to the keyboard by the bold, improvisational and unique Thelonius Monk.

Photo by Scott Smith

Mule Variations (25th Anniversary)

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 00:08:00 -0700

In celebration of Mule Variations' and ANTI- Records' 25th Anniversary, the GRAMMY Award winning album is being re-issued on 180g Silver Vinyl.
The 1999 release of his thirteenth studio album Mule Variations offers the most complete picture of his artistry while also marking the beginning of the indie label ANTI- Records. On this album, edgy stomps, humor and experimentation are interspersed with some of the most beautiful and personal songs he’s ever written.
Order Here.

Get Behind The Mule (Spiritual)

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 00:08:00 -0700

Tom Waits – Get Behind The Mule (Spiritual)

In celebration of Mule Variations’ 25th anniversary this year, today a previously unheard rendition of the song “Get Behind The Mule” has been released. In this alternate take of the album's iconic track, Waits' gospel moans resonate with raw emotion, accompanied only by a gritty Wurlitzer. This stripped-down rendition amplifies the dark narrative of murder and perseverance, with the lyrics even slightly altered, rendering it with an even starker intensity than the original LP version.

Stream: https://tomwaits.ffm.to/gbtms

Ah, the blessings of the cursed.

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 00:12:00 -0800

Ah, the blessings of the cursed.

Shane McGowan’s torrid and mighty voice is mud and roses punched out with swaggering stagger, ancient longing that is blasted all to hell. A Bard’s bard, may he cast his spell upon us all forevermore. “Let him go boys, let him go down in the mud where the rivers all run dry…”

Love and condolences to Pogues, Victoria, family and all who loved Shane,
Tom and Kathleen

Photo: Andrew Catlin

Tom Waits Joins Iggy Pop for a Two Hour Radio Special

Tue, 21 Nov 2023 00:11:00 -0800

This will be a treat of a listen 🎧 Tom Waits is going to co-host an Iggy Confidential episode!

Echoing their famous joint appearance in Jim Jarmusch’s ‘Coffee and Cigarettes’, the two-hour programme will see the pair pump the Confidential Jukebox full of nickels and dimes and spin some of their favourite tracks to one another.

Listen to Iggy Confidential on Sunday 3rd December from 4pm (UK Time) on BBC Sounds

The Island Years: Remastered for release on vinyl, CD, and digital

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 00:07:00 -0700

Tom Waits' entire metaphoric & groundbreaking mid-period Island Records studio catalog newly remastered from original tapes and prepped for release on vinyl, CD and digital for the first time.

Personally overseen by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, Waits spectacular middle-period albums–released on Island Records between 1983 and 1993—have been newly remastered from the original tapes and will be reissued on vinyl and CD this fall via Island/UMe. All remastered albums are available to stream today

Pre-order & listen now!

Celebrate 50 Years of Tom Waits

Fri, 02 Jun 2023 00:06:00 -0700

Celebrate 50 years of Tom Waits’ highly influential debut album ‘Closing Time’ originally released in 1973. To commemorate the occasion, a limited-edition anniversary double LP package is out today featuring your choice of black or clear 180g vinyl, cut at 45 RPM with half speed mastering by London’s Abbey Road Studios, and packaged in a gatefold jacket specially created with premium board and black poly-lined inner sleeves.
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Ol' 55 (Live on VH1 Story Tellers, 1999)

Thu, 13 Apr 2023 00:04:00 -0700

Tom Waits – Ol' 55 (Live on VH1 Story Tellers, 1999)

From the album 'Closing Time'

Aired April 1, 1999

Watch The Full Performance: https://youtu.be/k5b-DZRfqpA

Listen To Closing Time: https://tomwaits.ffm.to/closingtime

More Than Flesh and Bone

Wed, 22 Mar 2023 00:03:00 -0700

From artist David Frazer comes 'More Than Flesh and Bone,' a Handmade Book interpreting the songs “The Last Rose of Summer”, “Take It With Me” and “The Briar and The Rose” by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan. Strictly limited edition of 30, each signed by Tom Waits and David Frazer.

"All my other books portrayed a hopeless lonely bloke dreaming of the time he once had a girlfriend. This one celebrates a couple who stayed together, through the thick and the thin."

Book bound by hand. Original Linocut cover. 26 Wood Engravings, 1 linocut and typeset, all printed by hand, by the Artist. Each book contains a loose engraving signed by the artist.

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Tom Waits At The Troubadour

Fri, 17 Mar 2023 00:03:00 -0700

Tom Waits on playing The Troubadour: “That was the big place to play. They'd put a big picture of you in the window. In those days, if you sold out at the Troubadour, that was it. People weren't playing sports facilities. At the Troubadour, they announce your name and picked you up with a spotlight at the cigarette machine, and they'd walk you to the stage with the light. It was the coolest. The owner, Doug Weston, would go out on-stage naked and recite The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. He'd have guys on acid who wanted to tell stories. It was like Ed Sullivan, without Ed. Anyone could get up. It was very thrilling, though, because you would find people who'd hitchhiked from Kansas to this spot for their 20 minutes.”

• 1973 - Tom Waits On Stage at The Troubadour. Photo by Kim Gottlieb.
• 1976 - Paul Body, Robert Marchese (in Waits' Cadillac) and Chuck E. Weiss in front of the Troubadour, courtesy of Robert Marchese, as printed in “Lowside Of The Road: A Life Of Tom Waits" by Barney Hoskyns.
• 1977 - Tom strangles Chuck outside the Troubadour while. Paul Body watches. Source: "Another Fein Mess/ Other Fein Messes" by Art Fein. March, 2003.
• 2023 - The Troubadour celebrating the 50th anniversary of ‘Closing Time’