A Little (More) Happy: Mr. Tom Waits Nominated To The R&R Hall Of Fame

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Tom Waits is among our very favorite artists here at GGHQ.

So we were THRILLED to hear this morning that he’d been nominated to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame for possible induction this year.

Waits is a true iconoclast. We love him so.

This is what the RnRHoF had to say about him:

Only one songwriter could be covered by the Ramones (“I Don’t Want to Grow Up”) and the Eagles (“Old 55”). Beginning with his first album in 1973, Tom Waits has carved out a unique place in rock & roll. His music mixes Chicago blues, parlor ballads, beat poetry, pulp fiction parlance and – when you least expected it – heart-breaking tenderness. His enormously influential live shows combine elements of German cabaret, vaudeville and roadhouse rock. After establishing a successful early style as a wry singer-songwriter, Waits went through a dramatic expansion with Swordfishtrombones (1983). Disregarding musical borders and commercial considerations, he set off in wild pursuit of the Muse. Waits has composed film scores, musical theatre and an operetta. He has co-written with Keith Richards and William Burroughs. His songs have been covered by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Solomon Burke, Marianne Faithful, the Neville Brothers, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss and the Blind Boys of Alabama. He has recorded with the Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, the Replacements and Roy Orbison. A tribute to his great influence is how many of his songs have been recorded by artists who usually write their own – including Bruce Springsteen(“Jersey Girl”), Tim Buckley (“Martha”), Johnny Cash (“Down By the Train”), Bob Seger (“16 Shells from a Thirty-Ought Six”), T-Bone Burnett (“Time”), Tori Amos (“Time”), Steve Earle (“Way Down In The Hole”), Elvis Costello (“Innocent When You Dream”) and Rod Stewart (“Downtown Train”).