Ol '55 refers to his car(1955) riding with lady luck I always thought it referred to items often placed on the dashboard, like a plastic virgin Mary or rabbit foot or horseshoe hanging off the rearview mirror. Check San Diego Serenade or Please Call me Baby for other introductory tracks to this amazing songwriter
Tom’s voice is truly one of the most unique and wonderful that I’ve ever heard. My dad introduced him to me when I was little, he and I would sit in his man cave and listen to him for hours. He is an incredible storyteller and his lyrics paint pictures in my head. If I could recommend your next Tom Waits song it would be Never Talk to Strangers with Bette Midler. It’s a lovely duet!
I'm a huge Tom Waits fan. His lyrics are always sharp and smart and poetic, and sometimes they will break your heart. Step Right Up, Jitterbug Boy, I Never Talk To Strangers, and Martha are all great places to start if you want to hear more. Lyrics! 🙂
Tom Waits is one of those one of a kind songwriters and performers. Totally unique. Diving into good catalogue is entering another world. And it's one that you will never want to leave. And in case nobody's mentioned it yet, ol' 55 is a car.
Tom Waits is a great songwriter. His early albums are my favorites - Closing Time, Heart of Saturday Night, Nighthawks at the Diner, and Heartattack and Vine. Great songs there, He wrote Jersey Girl, which Springsteen covered so beautifully, but I still prefer Tom’s version. Raindogs, Swordfishtrombones, and Frank’s Wild Years are also spectacular, in my opinion. He’s one of a kind.
Tom makes me happy...oh a few mentioned the eagles cover but be careful they tend to copyright strike reaction channels, anyway Tom is incredible and gets better and stranger as his career went on it gets very leftfield but his songwriting is always on a different level
Thanks Mugs, many love him but many not so much. Me I love him. Yes Mugs he made up the word "licketysplitly" haha. No, Old 55 was his Buick Roadmaster top of the line, and he is traveling away on the freeway, in front leading the parade. He was on the Johnny Carson show and David Letterman. Tom sounds a lot smoother in this song, he usually sounds like Joe Cocker and my friend he is really a genius, very funny.
This is really early Tom. His voice (and style) went through major chances over time, but he's always been a great lyricist. He's a great storyteller (e.g. Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis), but he also writes song that are like emotional sound paintings (i.e. Tom Traubert's Blues, Time). He sings country, folk, blues, showtunes, gospel, lounge, etc. etc. etc.
Ol '55 refers to his 1955 model car. This song was released in 1973, I think. It was on his first album, a fantastic collection of songs called Closing Time
He said it was about a friend who woke him up early one morning..I got a date with this underage girl, I'm running late, my car is out of gas, and the transmission is going out and the only gear I have left is the reverse. "How can I help" He gave him 20 dollars,watched him back onto the freeway, and drive backwards 20 miles to the girls house in a ol' 55 Oldsmobile...
This is perfection. Simplicity turned complicated in a few words. Not a lot of brilliant lyricists left today. He's one of the last great song writers. This is the end of a Saturday night, driving home after drinking too much , being with a woman, watching the sunrise as you drive. Hope, poetry, and a love you so much to matter but probably doesn't. It's just you and the morning sun.
Daniel Durchholz said of his voice: "it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car".
Pretty sure an "Old '55", is a car from 1955. Good song. I'd say that "Small Change" is my absolute favorite album from Tom Waits, if you enjoy gritty story telling, you'll love that. Glad you're listening, enjoy your channel. Keep 'em coming.
Its funny you mentioned it sounding better acoustic, I think theres an alternative version of this song on the Early Years complication album without all of the strings and the extra effects and I remember liking it better. Either way its a great song about leaving a ladies' house early in the morning and watching the sun come up while your driving.
The Eagles rendition is fantastic because they harmonize so beautifully. The vocals have so much depth. Tom Waits is a great singer/songwriter but the Eagles version is a nice rendition.
How about some more music by YES the greatest progressive rock group. How about 'Roundabout" "Close to the Edge" or "Awaken", "The Gates of Delirium". "Turn of the Century", "That, That Is"... Loads of good ones.
