Tom Waits will never be a touring artist, that is just sadly something that his fans will have to come terms with – a truth especially bitter for residents of Waits-starved Britain such as myself and my co-host here at ‘Down in the Hole’. The reluctance to tour makes sense for man with such a private personal life; the constant theatricality of his shows is also no doubt a tough thing to muster all the energy for, especially for a man now at a towering 66 years.

Though ‘Big Time’ is the obvious masterpiece example of Waits’ extraordinary live work, it made more sense (and more fun) to omit that show entirely for this list and to chronicle some of Tom’s performance that may have passed you by. For as charming and intriguing as he is on tape, Waits is often double that on stage, a master showman and performer who is never satisfied with his great songs and always seeking to shuffle and reinterpret them through age and experience.

12. ‘Chicago’ (Letterman, 2012)

‘Just looking at him you can tell it’s going to be good’ so states David Letterman before this masterfully stripped back, slightly halted version. An achievement especially remarkable considering how layered and complex the Bad As Me studio version is. With his trusty plinky plonk piano and a driving runaway train drum track below, Waits shows effortlessly that he, unlike many of his contemporaries, can still kill it within his twilight years.

11. ‘Tom Traubert’s Blues’ (Old Grey Whistle Test, 1977)

This is simply everything you could want from a vintage Waits 1977 live cut. He indulges us by going full on gruff with his voice, taking time to find meaning and resonance in every single haunting lyric; throwing everything his body has at the song. You just can’t help but feel the emotion ooze from every syllable as each verse builds on the groundwork laid by the one prior. The sense becomes one of going on a long, far off journey, Waltzing Matilda if you will.

10. ‘Diamonds On My Windshield’ (PBS Soundstage, 1975)

A beautiful melding of the virtues of Nighthawks at the Diner & The Heart of Saturday Night, and one of my personal favourite Waits tracks. This take gets shot in the arm with way more energy than the album version, with the groove long nurtured before the lyrics even commence. Damn that finger snap too!

The song was one of Waits’ very first and in this early recording he shows that he is already getting the best out of it through years of refining amidst performance. The whole set is interesting because it shows you how Tom, without the context of a single performance, has a real loose relationship with the official lyrics and also has a pool of jokes and phrases that he will go back to ala “pull on your coat about.

9. ‘Ol’ 55′ (VH1 Storytellers, 1999)

Waits earliest hit and debut album opener ‘Ol ‘55’ is sung here 26 years on by a man unrecognisable from the ‘old Tom Frost’ of Closing Time. There is just so much more character and clarity to this grizzled old man now. The song has a new found confidence that comes with years of performance and Tom seems to have truly found the core of what this song is truly about. It’s a real collaborative experience, with Waits being nostalgic about this time that he actually lived.

8. ‘Small Change’ (BBC, 1979)

This whole set is truly a great show, most notably because it also contains a half redeemable version of ‘I Never Talk to Strangers’ sung solely by himself. As is the case with any of Tom’s spoken word tracks, this is a track that was written to be performed live and this one in particular, having hailed from the lands of warped neo-noir, and boasting an actual set of props, glitter rain and environments, allows Tom to enter his most deliciously theatrical mode. The result is a haunting rendition of Waits’ tale of low life crime and tragedy. Keep your ears pealed for an impromptu transition into Shirely Bassey’s ‘Big Spender’

7. ‘Innocent When You Dream (Premio Tenco, Italy, 1986)

This, one of Toms most underrated songs performed in the midst of all of his classic booze-hound tracks, stands out all the clearer as a display of true emotional growth in his songwriting. The more restrained piano and voice that he uses (which isn’t all to different from the album version) emphasise that this less of a performance piece and solely just the way the song is meant to be heard, to be absorbed, nothing more.

6. ‘Pasties and a G-String/Tango ’till They’re Sore’ (Montreal Jazz Festival, 1981)

Waits goes batshit insane here gives us his most experimental and possibly fullest jazz howl. Whereas on the album it feels like Tom could possibly be a performer with a band at the strip joints he sings about, this time it is just him and a barking drum that he pounds relentlessly. The minimalist way the song is unleashed on the audience somehow makes the worlds seediest song even grimier and more unpleasant, making it feel like Tom is taking us an even more low class joint this time around.

Then to top it off (and I couldn’t not include this one), Tom indulges his fans by giving us a truly hyper charged version of the Tango from One From The Hearts “Instrumental Montage”. Several aficionado fans in the audience truly and rightly lose their shit when he starts hammering those romantic, curvaceous keys as extends the woefully short track into the proper powerhouse it always should have been. It would’ve been nice to have seen some “Circus Girl” in there too though.

5. ‘Take It With Me’ (Netherlands, 1999)

The really rough hand held footage and questionable audio doesn’t stop this rarely seen song from totally transcending and sweeping me off my feet with its raw emotion. From the moment that unforgettable piano lick rolls out its clear that Tom has the audience exactly where he wants them. He doesn’t need to scream ‘Telephone Call from Istanbul’ to prove that he is a master of stage presence. Oh to be at the concert.

4. All The World Is Green (Letterman, 2002)

Just as it’s difficult not to just include a list of just Tom’s spoken word pieces, it’s equally challenging not to just include all of Tom’s Letterman performances. What makes this one stand out? Firstly, I want to give some air time for the painfully underrated ‘Blood Money’, and secondly, it’s one of the few live performances that showcases Tom’s saccharine relationship with the marimba, in fact the bad as a whole is something sublime. As live performances go its one of the most reflective of what is on the vinyl, but its also a showcase of Tom being able to sell an album and show off his chops as a musician despite never picking the most commercial tracks to perform.

3. ‘What’s He Building In There?’ (VH1 Storytellers, 1999)

From different intentions of certain phrases to toying around with a small voice recorder, Tom is really having fun with this one. The audioscapes are incredible for a live show and has the feel like it is being made up on the spot. In contrast to many of the other songs on this list Waits actually has the audience in a true silence, you could hear a pin drop, only adding towards adding to the menace of the song.

2. ‘Cemetery Polka’ (Live On The Tube, 1985)

To anyone who has already heard our tenth episode of ‘Down In The Hole’ Rain Dogs, then the inclusion of this track is really no surprise. Stating off with some wonderfully asymmetrical harmonium to lull us into a false sense of security Tom literally unleashes hell in one immediate burst . There’s also a wonderfully Waitsian bout of showmanship in his physicality, flailing his arms and contorting both his voice and body into the most abstract of shapes. And if that wasn’t enough, Waits adds a series of breakdowns that allow the song to enter undiscovered realms of unseen madness, inserting random “Shore Leave” like whistles, cries of pain and muffled growls that only go to show how truly demented and disturbing his motley crew family is. The drumming and soundscape percussion are also true standouts on this track, giving the song real oomph and making you feel that the impending doom really is getting closer and closer.

1.’Step Right Up’ (Palace Theatre, Paris, 1979)

This final performance was one I just happened to stumble across during a pretty standard Youtube binge, and I’m very glad I did! Firstly he takes a song that I honestly didn’t think could get any better and does just that. The bass is much funkier this time around allowing him to play around with the lyrics a little more, the subtle keyboards in the back reaffirming the playful nuances of the original. This is one of, if not the prime example of Tom’s Gospel-esque ability to whip the crowd into a phenomenal frenzy. He really is selling them snake oil here and they want more and more. By the end of the groove they are hollering, howling and hooting as much as he ever does. It truly is ecstasy in the form of Tom Waits.

‘Down in the Hole’ is a fortnightly Tom Waits podcast exploring the entire ouevre of the American singer songwriter, album by album. It is hosted by Sam Whiles (@sidwidle1) and Tom Kwei (@tomkweipoet):

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