Neil Young Inducts Tom Waits - "Make It Rain" & "Rain Dogs" 

The thing about Tom Waits' voice -- sure, it's odd. But he's never off-key. He hits every note he aims for. So, technically, he's a very good singer. I wish more ppl understood this.

If I could only see one musician perform live before I die it would be Tom Waits.

I gave Tom an old photo album. But there were no photos in it. Just newspaper clippings from the 1880's. I left my phone number in it. He called twice. The second time he asked to use the clippings, which were all odd facts collected, on his Orphans packaging. The rest is history.

This guy is walking Art. He sings, he plays, he acts, he writes, he performs, he's magical. A great creator and interpreter of all things.

First time I heard Tom Waits I was driving and had to pull off the road just to absorb what I was hearing. Nobody, absolutely nobody is as unique as this genius. He moves my soul and makes me cry quicker than just about any artist. Only got to see him live once in San Diego. What a gift that was.

I’m ashamed to say after being a disc jockey and lover of music all my life, at 70 years old I have heard of and heard the music of Tom Waits. But I have never really listened to him in all his glory until this point in my life, thank God I didn’t miss this man’s humor, stories, sounds, and lyrics before it was too late. Thank you Tom for letting me in your head and providing me with your magic.

For all his apparent weirdness, I actually think Waits will have the greatest chance of being remembered as a flat out great songwriter as anyone alive today. Right up there with Dylan.

There is an never will be another human being like Tom Waits

My husband got me into Tom Waits about 15 years ago. He suggested the Rain Dogs album, and I just devoured it. I don't think I blinked during 9th and Hennepin. He can spin maginc from thin air, and it's a shame that more people don't know his art.

Tom Waits, the coolest man that ever walked on Earth

I discovered Mr. Waits in 1975 when I just beginning my career as a radio disc jockey. Our music director came in one day and handed me an album saying "here the record company sent this, this guy is really weird I thought you would like it." It was "Nighthawks at the Diner," and like I did. From the first listen I was absolutely hooked. I have been fortunate enough to see Tom live three times and in a play [Demon Wine] when I was living in Los Angeles. I truly believe Mr. Waits is likely the most prolific and brilliant songwriter and producer our United States has ever produced, so far.

"They say that I have no hits, and that I'm difficult to work with...and they say that like it's a bad thing..." . This sentences has kept me alive doing my own work since I can remember hearing it first when I saw this a couple years back. Thanks Tom

Tom Waits wears many hats.He is a performer, a singer, a songwriter and a raconteur. He's the silvery spider in the hoary musical web. He's fearless, peerless and exquisitely mad. No pigeonhole can contain his creations. A true original.

saw him in London in 87, he said he'd been raking leaves in the park all day.

He's a whole galaxy unto himself, I just discovered him and am enjoying every minute

When I was a teenager I went to a friends house, on the stereo was this groaning gravel singing about being dirt in the ground. I thought it was a joke. I had of course heard other “singers” with rough voices before but nothing so extreme. I was convinced I was being put on. Then I heard “In the Coliseum” on my college radio station and was hooked. It wasn’t a joke and I began showing him to everyone who would listen. Over the years I’ve heard many great and terrible things about Tom Waits, like he lives across the street from his family, or he lets his Cadillac choose what songs to keep for an album by what the tape deck eats or not. See it is a joke, a running gag in the guise of art. Now I wonder if he could fix my air conditioning? Tom Waits is a gem hiding in the gravel bed, pretending to be a rock like the rest of us.

Tom Waits is his own Hall of Fame!

Much deserved recognition. You help make the world easier to deal with by being just weird enough to give us all room to fit in!

First time I heard Tom was about winter of 82. I was standing a very slow geology graveyard shift on a drilling rig in northern Canada. My partner had a big box of dubbed cassttes (remember taping your records so you could take them on the road?) and in it was "Nighthawks At The Diner". I'd never even heard of Tom Waits, but my partner had singled it out for me as one to listen to. It was one of those quiet, freezing cold windless and moonless nights, pitch dark with a sky full of stars. I shut the blinds of my geology trailer to block out the rig lights, turned out the lights, smoked a big bat, cracked a beer, put the tape in the slot, pressed play, and spent the next 30 minutes or so in a seedy bar listening to a seedy piano player. That guy can transport you. And "Nighthawks" is one of those albums you remember everything about hearing the first time. And no, I had no business toking and drinking on shift.

There aren't enough days in the year to celebrate his gifts❤

Tom Waits; rogue explorer. Made his own compass and just followed where it pointed. Thanks for the trip pilgrim.

Sarcasm is actually a very accurate gauge on intelligence. This guy is a genius. The finesse at which he picks his words should be the core study of linguistics. hahaha.

Who the hell is playing that magnificent lead guitar on make it rain? I'm obsessed with this version of the song.

Two of my favorites Tom and Neil Thankful for their gifts to us!

Songs are just really interesting things to do with the air. Perfect.

David Letterman, who I hold in very high regard, is a huge Tom Waits fan, and though as a young man, I didnt understand or like Tom Waits, as Ive gotten older, knowing how much Letterman really adores the guy, I chose to make myself listen to him. When I actually listened, his music began to speak to me. For the last year, Ive listened to Tom Waits, for several hours, and sometimes all day long, every single day. I now own every single CD that he's made, and I listen to him everyday. The older I get, the more his music speaks to me.

Tom Waits is a concept entertainer. Found him back in 70’s. Been with me ever since.

This man, Tom Waits, is the epitome of genuine talent and class, and this shit right here is long overdue. The world is full of over hyped talent, phony rock gods, and wannabes. Yet, Tom Waits continues to persevere. Fools will say, "Tom Waits doesn't have that Bruce Springsteen or Madonna type of fame and recognition," but for those of us who have loved Mr. Waits' music for years, or even decades, know that Tom belongs in that upper echelon of Rock & Roll Royalty. Cheers everyone!

Proud deacon in the First Church of Waits.

It was good to see Tom reunited with his old guitarist Marc Ribot. He was on many of Tom’s albums since Rain Dogs in 1985.

Tom Waits has always been a favorite of mine, he’s different and I like that, he’s not copying anyone, he’s a complete original. I love his iconic voice and style, no one else comes close to being like Tom. He lives in Sonoma County, my bff just waited on Tom and his wife, in Cloverdale,she said they were really nice and they are a sweet couple.

It's strange how of all the aspects of Waits to admire Neil didn't mention his lyrics songwriting, which to me is his most enveloping talent.

Tom is in my top 5 favourite songwriters of all time. A true eccentric that maintained artistic integrity throughout his career and managed to re-invent himself along the way. Thank you for all the magnificent music.

First heard of him in 2002. God's away on business I was decades late

He was the best thing to come along in music since Bob Dylan and the Beatles

In a time of one hit wonders its nice to hear music thats unique and timeless. Congratulations Tom

At home we are very wide mix of musical tastes, genres & artists. And while we all have favourites that we think are better than most - or anyone, Tom Waits is the only artist that is simply know as "himself". Anyone else has a name. I have never seen him perform live in person. If we finally get the planet back to where we can all live our lives again, maybe I'll get that chance.

i awoke from a nap on a road trip listening to Bone Machine at 12 years old. My dad was playing it and I thought, the is horrible. Is this a joke? Now I’m 40. I’ve hitchhiked all aver the country. lived on rice and beans. drank from giardiasis infested water, freebased drugs, handmade my own clothes, made my own music instruments from scratch. been in the wrong place at the wrong time. I love tom waits now. hes amazing.

Tom Waits was born 57 years old and toes the line of genius and pure insanity

The biggest regret of my adult life is not driving the 110 miles to see Tom in 2008 when he came to Columbus, OH. I was a young man with no money and couldn't swing the ticket price plus gas money. Every time i see a video like this, I wish I'd pinched a few more pennies back then, and hope I'll get another chance someday.

My beloved and departed son became pure energy with Spirit in November 2019. Tom Waits was his idol as a musician, an actor, and a philosopher. I assure you he was energetically present at this ceremony! CHEERS, Tom Waits!

He is a wonderful artist with a gift for the beauty of the abstract

His genius, quirkiness, humour and individuality just blow me away.

Having Tom as your dad must be kinda psychedelic He's a cheeky chappie :3

Mr. Waits' work has been improving the quality of my life since discovering his music at age 15... and for 21 years now, continues to help light a path that once felt impossible to navigate. I don't think I'm alone when I express how greatly I appreciate all of the unseen or forgotten content made available on here recently... in addition to the whole official creative lot, of course!

my earliest memory of tom was in the car with my dad, he had heartattack and vine on cd. i must’ve been about 4, and that was the album i always wanted to listen to for some reason. safe to say it stood me in good stead for when i’d eventually become immersed in his music later in my life. pre genius

The kind of guy that is so intelligent he doesn't need your approval to do what he does. He is on that planet to enjoy the possibities.

I love this man and his music so much it hurts. Couldn't be any more deserving of this award. Congratulations Mr Waits 👏👏👏👏👏

One of the best that ever will be.

Wow, his voice is just as sweat and beautiful as it was in his youth!

I started following Tom in 1989 when he was already an established artist. And he never let me down. It's like a friend who lives far away, but always remembers me. And he continues to rock as usual. Tom Waits interviews and testimonials will never be frivolous, boring or commonplace. It doesn't say what the system wants to hear. On the contrary . Maybe I'll never meet him, but he's still a great friend.

He's been my #1 fave artist since I was 14 and I'm 49 now. All his work is strongly etched in my brain until I die!

Anybody else get three or four phases of goosebumps while watching this video? Well deserved maestro, Waits.

Tom Waits puts into perspective how ridiculous our society really is 💘 Love his voice

Is that Marc Ribot on guitar? His unique, biting Telecaster sound helped propel Waits' music for me into the realm of dark magic.

Two of my favorites, Neil andTom:)

great tom waits !!!

This has got to be the greatest acceptance speeches EVER.I put it up there with Bill Withers acceptance speech and Steve Wakeman from YES when they were inducted. God bless NEIL YOUNG and especially TOM WAITS.

Power, soul, passion. Street smarts. Tom, I love you, and thank you.

I remember being in an after school Blues and Jazz Band that my music teacher David Parker used to bring us out on a trip every year. In 2011, we went to Cleveland. My teacher set it up so we would spend the day at the Hall of Fame and actually play it. What great times... I still have the visitors tags i'll never forget that, watching this induction video in the basement. Setting up in the middle of the day, maybe 5 people heard us play, didn't matter, loved it.

Absolute legend.

"this has been very encouraging" lmao wow he is just the coolest

Tom takes all types of music styles and blends them together, and it's a beautiful thing!

For Tom Waits, a song is one of the things he uses to build a story. The song is a part of the whole thing

One of the lyrical master of "Wit n Humour" , everyone moves but _Tom Waits._

Thank you Tom...for all the inspiration, the example, the 'weirdess'....for what is Art!

Can nobody sing a love song the way mr.tom waits can much love señor.:

I'm glad we have the real Tom Waits. Otherwise, we'd have to invent him, and that would be well nigh impossible.

My husband loved it when I told him about an interview with Tom, he said he overheard his two oldest kids, telling his younger son never ever let their dad help him with homework, because when he was “helping his older sons w homework, Tom made up a complete Country, and he elaborated about this country, haha 😂

This man is pure talent n lovely pain

I only have two known cross connections between Waits that I know of...seeing Dr. John at a certain meeting(he was inducted the same night) and performing in front of a man who knew Tom when he lived in NY - Tom has been my biggest inspiration since I found out about him after a man told me I reminded him of Waits in 2008. One of my first songs was written in 2006 and it was inspired by a nightmare I had as a child, featuring the music I heard in that dream as well- and that of course was the song that reminded him of Waits...- I guess my third connection to Waits - then the 4th would be I met Mark Ribot, because of my friend who now runs a boutique guitar shop on Long Island. The last connection would be some of our mutual musical influences- for example, Leadbelly whom taught me about singing with soul, Hank Williams in his hopeless love sick song writing, Sinatra as I found that old cassette while picking neighborhood trash and played it night after night until I learned every song note for note while delivering Thai in an old beat up Honda- I'd been singing for years but never knew how until Sinatra, and of course Wait's looms over all of them in my mind and embodies all of them. I consider Louie Armstrong a secondary influence, many early American folk singers as well and many more- but these are my main influences. Tom Waits is also a life influence for me. That he glorifies and lifts up those who are broken- and reminds us that you can't always fit those broken pieces back together, so why not create a new world all together for the broken? Just a quick and random comment, directed at the man who has influenced me greatly over the last decade and a half....praying to God I get to see this man perform live before our time expires here

Neil the younger inducts Tom the older? What a great opportunity. Tell us all about it Neil. I met Neil at a talent show in Lauderdale. We smoked a number and he picked a song on the banjo uke. Unforgettable, and never ending. Tom is the best, but Neil is pretty good too.

They got the right man to make a speech Neil Young like Tom Waits never sells out

Tom Waits sings and writes for those of us who have been broken! You feel like he knows what it's is, to have slowly backed away from hell!! Your music has saved me many times!! Thank you brother!!

Tom Waits effortlessly making powerful statements with only few words... To his wife : her incandescent light kept me alive and breathing 🥺 To his kids : they've taught me everything I know 👌 To his peers : Thank you. This has been very...encouraging 😂

I have a great treasure! I have the vinil"Hertattack and vine "! I think, Tom Waits, is... GENIOUS! You will live forever, Tom! Thanks!

One of our great musical mad men!

Currently I'm thinking about my early experience with a woman who totally admired the story's Tom Waits sang ...I'm exploring Brenda all over again.

Коппола снимал его в половине своих фильмов и не всегда указывал в титрах, говорил, что "таких людей надо знать в лицо"!

My sweet late husband and I fell in love to the music of Tom Waits . I was disappointed when he wouldn't come to our wedding .

One of the glorious things about being around while Tom's around is that we get to see and hear what unfolds from him as it unfolds into eternity so we can all also feel a little immortal. Thank you, Tom, I'm not sure even you could find the words to describe what your work means to me, thank you.

I've been into Waits since 1976 when I was a musician at Walt Disney World and one of the guys I played with put on one of his songs. Instantly hooked for life. I went to a concert of his in 1978/9 in a small club in West Hartford Ct called The Hard Rock Cafe, half a dive with a stage really. It was a split bill with Waits and Leon Redbone. The BEST concert I have ever attended. It was half raining and cold outside before the show and I got there early with my friends so we were at the front of the line. The place had a double wide glass door and about 45 minutes before the doors opened, he walks past the doors and looks at everybody outside. A couple of minutes later he comes from the other direction. A few minutes after that he goes by with a closed unbrella, then a few minutes later with the umbrella open. We are all loving this and its really making it less miserable to be in the rain but then this noise starts from the back of the line. It's T.W. no umbrella, no jacket, just his tee shirt and vest talking with everyone in the line. Best memory ever...

Such a unique and creative soul - fiercely creative.

Even Neil thought it was ironic the RRHF was the entity to hold him up ....Great blues musician.

Used to truly love neil young. then came the joe rogan incident- where he showed favor to censorship, so I divided him into the revolutionary lyrical banshee rocker that he really is, and this tragic man, suffered such a loss as he did, and yet his intro of tom is way surreal, very spot on and deep. I love this about the video. It is Make It Rain that taps into my life experience, (along with many of tom's songs I have to confess, Black Wings may just have been the song that I am), and the way his voice shudders with grit and gravel, defiance of what so many think of as beautiful- and it is. It matters not that neil is a neighbor. I never ran across the man. I did meet tom after eating a whole sheet of mr. natural circa '76, 3,ooo miles away in the castle party in hopeless valley, nj, a state of insanity, to be sure. i was scaring the mass of the other party people, mostly cutout cardboards of souls keeping it light, tawdry and just posers of the deeper seek of why we uh-trip on the sky.there were these 3 ladies, took care of me, and eventually took me to one of the turrets where a nam vet with one arm was drawing political cartoons, making his due on them too. tom was there and we all were making song as we went along, and sharing the vet's art supplies in having just plain fun. he was a junkyard dog with no taste for fan style admiration- so we got along right away. next album he released was "small change'. I knew many of rock and roll fame, tom being beyond that classification. told me i freak folks out coz of my "black wings'. that has stayed with me since well before he mentioned. we all had a 3 day howl in that castle party. i have partied with so many now of music and hollywood fame, some sport stars too and too many damn warlords and politicos. i attract them somehow; not like here, where I am withheld so severely, in the life, we do not make friends, kith, kin and soul relations, -so much as just to recognize one another. i have loved it here in ca., now just a smear of all the rot and rust that has become a plague of sorts. still love this place and wish i could save it. so now, with my most beloved in a tainted loss, -underground, gone to ground- it is to Make it Rain that i feel so deep in my bones, i bleed from the marrow to my scattered, yet amused soul. like magnets at a distance we attract and repel. so i adore these pieces of our lives here on line in the cold bitter sweet wine of our pasts. like regenerated discards of chaos, i exist a blue zeus amused, abused and bruised, i will make out when i take out my assassins. until then and that is in motion too, so make the rain, let it rain, let the mountains kiss the sea, mudslide final ride for the tragic many who get caught between. "they sharpen their knives of my mistakes" and that turns on them that have and those that shall. tom is obviously a connected soul. that moves me, so i write this here. just an exorcism as i know too few who care. "if 6 turned out to be 9" i don't mind. and yes, the weather is fine. Perched under an avalanche reaching for an almond, we jump off the cliff clutching our nuclear umbrellas. so it all makes sense in the scheme of things, deeper in the rip tides of goya's painted dreams, with such good writing a word,a phrase paints a million visions. tom does this for me, oft times about me. diss it or embrace it may be about you too. have faith, i am the changeling tyger blue. s'all i have to say for now, and say so as truth. thank you for reading me, i appreciate you. best regards to all of us, beyond the world's feuds and all of fuss, i love us all... ~RaVen DaWn~ riding on... the fringes.

"This has been very encouraging."

Talk about a national treasure.

Imagine being a spawn of Waits. Truly inheriting pure greatness. Hope they shine in whatever it is they do.

Austin, 1970’s. Came out. Simple set. Streetlight, 1/2 a 57 tbird. One spot light. Just an amazing memory. Pasties and a gstring etc. Wild and wonderful

Tom Waits created a magical world where I always seek and find refuge. He is the best friend I've never met.... My life would be considerably bleaket without Tom Waits. My son once described his music as "music for funny old men wearing old hats" and I find that to be a pretty good description. I never try to explain his music to others and I never tell them that I think his voice is beautiful. If people don't get it; it's their loss !!

I met Tom Waits when I was an extra on Rumble Fish. I had no idea who he was at the time. A co-worker I worked with at my restaurant job said if I got the chance to talk to him, to please ask him to come to the restaurant where we worked and the drinks were on him. So, when I met him, I told him that. He was a very quiet, unassuming guy and seemed to appreciate the offer and said he'd try to come by. I don't think he ever did. But I became curious about him and started listening to his music from that point on. And I am now one of his biggest fans. If I met him again, I'm sure I would make a huge fool of myself, gushing over him and such.

Thanks for being so authentic 👏🌹

Absolutely love 💕 this amazing artist!

when I try to explain him to people I just say he's your favorite artist's favorite artist

What an artist. Master of the Rain Dogs. This one is my favorite albums of all.

Great version of Rain Dogs! 😍

Best acceptance speech ever! Great show with the great Marc Ribot on guitar.

His rain dogs saved my sanity surviving in Phoenix in 92 when I was going out with the gun street girl. Moved May that year to Sac and then to SF and she called me, was going out with a guy with the same first name as me, said she thought about me and had always figured we would have Blond babies. She called me again a while later and I asked how her boyfriend Matt was, she said "Oh, someone shot him in the head" just like that. Last I heard, about 28 years ago, she was living with the Harley dealer in Cave Creek. Hope he's still alive Julie ann

God I hope he tours again.

I discovered Tom Waits in high school when I was 15 or 16 in 2007. I was a huge fan of Bad Religion in my early teens (still am) and Waits was signed to Epitaph records, the label Brett Gurrewitz created to release Bad Religion's music. I'm 30 now, and still listening to Waits. I don't think he's ever toured since I first discovered his music, but there's no one I've ever wanted to see perform more. I devoured all his records, interviews, and films as a teen (as only someone with that much free time can). Thanks Tom.