I'm glad that Rod made this song so well known, but the original is the one that does it for me.

Those folks that don't get Tom Waits voice don't really understand what he's getting at. It's not supposed to be traditionally beautiful. He's expressing a world weariness and an emotionally transparent sensibility. It's a hard nosed, blue collar beauty that's damaged but wise and truly poetic.

@garyalee

8 жыл бұрын

I get it and kinda agree with with you but he's not trying to express anything- it's just how he sings ...

@janinesummers3337

8 жыл бұрын

+garyalee no, the voice is affected. Tom Waits has said so himself. His voice is probably not affected anymore, after all these years of doing it, but he did it on purpose in the seventies.

@Modes9

8 жыл бұрын

+bobscomix I don't relate to this approach, or the Boss, but they're both really good at what they do and I can see why there's a fan-base for it.

@julietanaro

8 жыл бұрын

spot on

@scottlemley2666

8 жыл бұрын

+bobscomix Exactly, very well put, Tom is a truly unappreciated genius.

Tom Waits definitely deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

@Head19121

7 жыл бұрын

You'll be pleased to see this! www.rockhall.com/inductees/tom-waits

Tom Waits is the voice of the person living hard times.

nobody can sing a Tom Waits song like Tom Waits . . . he's an original

Tom Waites writes for the broken heated, the marginalised those who are lost. Such inspiration is rare.

@AltheaHekate

26 күн бұрын

Leonard Cohen....❤ The Master adored Tom Waits. Blessed Be; Althea)0(

the most unique and the most original artist ever.

OMG. Gives me the shivers.

Love this song. This version especially. As others have mentioned, Tom is a true original.

his voice is like spitted out from the depth of earth....i love his music...

The older I get, the more I appreciate his music. This song really tugs at my heart especially for sentimental reasons going back 25 years.

As much as I love everything Tom Waits has done, I really love it when he bends his talent into "pop" song formats like he does here. It reminds me that even when people are following a formula they can be original.

I challenge any of you to find another video of someone shaving their armpits... if, like me, armpits do 'something' for you, then you'll get why I totally dig this. And what a song as well. Pure genius. End of.

Back to watch and listen. What a piece of art..... touches me every time... Blessed Be; Althea)0(

the only one who can pull off masculine flamboyant

they are the thorn without the rose,,, best line ever

I swear this is practically the only Tom Waits song that isn't depressing… just shows what a great artist Tom Waits is. He can do both happy songs and sad songs.

@vs0522

10 жыл бұрын

Then you are not familiar with his work. He does magnificent love songs and all kinds of other music that is not depressing.

So beautiful, touches the soul like an arrow...

Tom Waits wrote this song heathen....show some respect to greatness. Bow your freaking head.

Tom was walking down the sidewalk in Sebastopol. I was walking the opposite direction.. We passed and I said, "Hey Tom!" and kept walking but watching backwards in the storefront window. Tom stopped and said, "Hey, do I know you?" "No, but I know you!" "The waitress at The Pine Cone Cafe said you always order the same thing...Eggs+Sausage w/ country spuds, the Cobbler at The Apple Cobble said you always "wait" too long to get your soles replaced, the contractor you hired to floor your house said you were crazy to use old paint stained flooring from a San Francisco artist's studio but said when done...it was bitchen. So yes Tom, I know you!" He gave me his P.O. Box # so I could send some poetry..now Tom knows a touch of me as well. Madman

One of his best. Could listen to this for hours. Thanks.

Genius full of soul Steward made it sound like a pop song

Heartache, Tom Waits, and drink equals comfort.

Rod Stewart can't hold a hat or a candle. Or pick a band (not since 1973). This is the only version. So far.

@BlueBaron3339

7 жыл бұрын

and I am not a fan of pointless vitriol from folks who haven't lived long enough to know much of anything other than mindless rejection of seasoned opinion. Just a wild guess, but I'd bet you weren't yet the horney thought in the zygotes that became the souls that sired you when Stewart was with the Jeff Beck group. Old people know more than you do. That's what happens when you combine biology and time. You've got to earn your bitterness, kid. Or perhaps you just need attention. Congratulations. You've earned two minutes of mine. 🖕🏻

@BlueBaron3339

7 жыл бұрын

Ah, the insult arsenal expands beyond the stinking hole through which he was excreted into the world as his mother screamed. 😃

i love his voice, like he gargles whiskey and gravel, fckn awesome!

Rod's version was glossy and well-produced...Tom's version is gritty and more honest and yearning...I'll take honesty and yearning every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Tom is cooooooooooooool, like always

meravigliosa canzone e voce superba

Bom se reparar, no clipe e nas situações. E que guitarra de fundo magica

Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like 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." quote from wikipedia describes his voice well i think

how can you not like this, the real thing.

will i see you tonight? great bar right there. tom waits is an under appreciated genius

@julietanaro

8 жыл бұрын

agreed

Oh man wish I had said that out loud.. so true, many a good song ruined. big love xxx

Cool and talented - reminds me me times in teenage youth when we belived in world and future success - a poetry of a college boy...who just had a drink with friends....absolutely good to remember....but how limited we were back then...and how little we knew about world and human relations back then.....still it is a mans dream....women however do not understand it....

And this is way better than the Rod Stewart version

love this great song......

I love his vocals and the guitar tunes.

linda música!!

love this version...

This is the only... only and best song I've ever heard

*Beautiful song and very good video. Tom Waits is a giant of the music !*

A great thrill! You can't go wrong with this!

Incredibly talented man here, prolific writer with so much depth to his lyrics and his voice is just out of this world original. LOVE IT!

For those who are appreciating the guitar work on this song, it is done by the great GE Smith.

One of my favorites!

I agree, complete classic. Thanks for posting.

I always wondered how much whiskey I'd have to drink to get a voice like Toms.

Tom always had his own style

Tom Waits canta como um lobisomem alcoolizado e ensandecido... Sensacional.

The best version of this song

I prefer this version to Rod Stewards and one of the reasons is Marc Ribot's guitar work. This is raw and beautiful.

I love Tom He was brilliant in Paradise Alley by far Stallones best ever movie In my opinion

Oh please! We all know Tom is the drunk sounding one. Even those of us who approve of him.

geniale Stimme *****

It is so great!!

Muy buena calidad de imagen. Gracias genio!

superb!

Soooo Awesome!!! Love this song and video!!

the woman at the end with the big eyes smoking is beautiful

This guy makes everyone on the entire planet look "uncool"...so, go on with all you ordinary people! (Include myself, by the way)

His romanticism of the tired industrial east is clear as moonshine. Not bad for a Pamona boy.

Rod Stewart did a fine cover of this; but this version; unpolished, seeds and stems included is far better - Stewart's is melancholy, but this one is pure heartbreak. And don't be knocking Wait's Voice - You want pristine vocal chords, listen to Celine Dion - many can sing; few can perform a song so effectively.

@creekandseminole

9 жыл бұрын

Well said.

@katiatoporkova1592

9 жыл бұрын

Had the luckiest chance of my life to see The Man on stage. He is a total woodoo. Magic great breathtaking genious. Love forever.

@darling_danke_schoen

9 жыл бұрын

Katia Toporkova Chicago theater, '99… unforgettable! Legend.

@robertomarcello9526

8 жыл бұрын

+Paul Stroili Sono pienamante daccordo con te.

Nice!!

I really hated this song till I found out Tom sung it first... Listened.. and finally got it..

Wonderful, emotionally and sensibility song !!! Simple and lovely word. Mohamed HAIDARA Marathon of Nouadibou director

Some of them, yeah.

When I see you tonight Nonda on the down town train take me with you!!!!

this is the real "downtown train" the booth are the cover "rod stewart" and also later!

Guy a freakin genius but he sounds like a constipated Cookie Monster.

@lisaburgess7103

7 жыл бұрын

walter kersting omg that is so funny can't stop laughing

i miss my black and white beauty

That was the real life raging bull Jake Lamotta trying hit Waits with that pan of water.

Tom Waites songs are smokey downtown bar rooms at 3 a.m.with a shot of whiskey and a beer on the bar falling in love for one night with a half drunk woman

Like the Mary Chapin Carpenter version as well

On a downtown train!!! Check out Lucid Rivers

some get that this is IT some Don't

amazing song! Kudos to RS for picking a great tune to cover and recognizing Waits' genius but I have to say the original is much better. just my opinion.

@iamdamosuzuki_

8 жыл бұрын

I actually think Bob Seger's cover is better than Rod Stewarts. It's more faithful to the original.

Simple and brilliant songs are so often ruined by bad production. This is a lesson to everyone that less is more and let the song expand. For the wrong way to do it see Rod Stewart.

I like both versions a lot.. but there's something about THIS version that is more.. emotional I guess... not sure.

his voice reminds me of Bruce Springsteen

@wiisalute

8 жыл бұрын

***** its very gruff. that kind of voice.

@Modes9

8 жыл бұрын

+wiisalute It's the voice and the emphasis on telling a good story.

@CPD0123a

8 жыл бұрын

+wiisalute You should research him sometime. Quite a fascinating story. He grew up on skid row, and did ALL the drugs. He made his living as a musician while doing so, and eventually managed to climb up due to his skill. That's why so many of his songs are about being down in the dumps, downtrodden, drunk, stoned, etc, and why his voice is so screwed up and gruff. First time I ever heard Waltzing Matilda, I was in the car with my dad, listening to our local public radio station. The picture in my head was a 60-something year old black guy like Bing Crosby, not a scrawny white guy. But, he's never forgotten about his roots, and helps out down on skid row the best he can. 100% grade-A genuine great guy!

@wiisalute

8 жыл бұрын

is it actually true that Heath ledger's joker was inspired by Waits?

@CPD0123a

8 жыл бұрын

***** Huh. I learned that from my dad. He must've gotten bad info. CURSES! Still, an amazing singer/songwriter.

c'mon, tom waits version is incomparable with all the covers.

Although I like Tom Waits heads and tails above Rod Stewart...I still enjoyed Rod's version. Bob Seger and Patty Smyth did okay too.

In all actuality, Heath Ledger drew his inspiration for The Joker's voice from Tom Waits...

It's like Tom Waits is the good twin, and Lemmy Kilmister is the evil one.

Another original made much better by others (Rod Stewart). Like that tripe Wet Wet Wet took to number one for about 5 years!

2:22 - Ridiculously pointy bra! This album was released in '85. "Blonde Ambition" came out in 1990. Jussayin;.

@johnleemcmulln2168

8 жыл бұрын

+Jenn K madonna reference? madonna bashing? fuck madonna! she didnt invent pointy tits! i hate myself

@jennk6313

8 жыл бұрын

John Lee McMullen No. But I did kind of assume that she'd invented ones *that* pointy. I guess I was wrong.

@johnleemcmulln2168

8 жыл бұрын

Jenn K idk then

didnt know larry david played piano!!!

a true fucking genious Bruce springsteen cant even shine toms shoes

@jaggeraswell

8 жыл бұрын

+Peter Stern Funny that. Tom thinks that highly of Bruce that he allows him to add lyrics to Jersey Girl

@peteshutup

2 жыл бұрын

A verse that has a absolutely no business being there... You don't add a hat to the Mona Lisa

Shining like a new dime? Drunk?

rods is the best

@falungong371

9 жыл бұрын

Good joke.

@danielcrossley7633

9 жыл бұрын

your mums a good joke

looks like Kaurismäki stuff

Here's the guitar solo tabs for this track. tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/t/tom_waits/downtown_train_solo_tab.htm

Never checked out the lyrics before. I thought it was romantic, but it's kind of about a stalker?

Bob Seger stayed much closer to the original than Rod Stewart did.

Who is that on lead? Sounds like Lou Reed doing his best Robbie Robertson impression. Or vice-versa.

@williehackitt1

7 жыл бұрын

Keith Richards

@william20100

7 жыл бұрын

marc ribot

Today they call it stalking.

@riberadelplata3159

7 жыл бұрын

stupid world

is that jake lamotta 1:17

@comix5281

8 жыл бұрын

+Shaun Maguire Nope

There is certainly a lot of RS bashing, just listened to both , I like RS version more polished. I understand TW voice has a certain roughness that people like, But cant we just agree they are both talented people ??

@landmers

8 жыл бұрын

+Jeff T Yeah - Is it not okay to like both versions? TW is just a beautiful song writer. RS did a good job covering his song. Let's just like both for what they are: Two different versions of a beautiful set of lyrics.

@johnleemcmulln2168

8 жыл бұрын

+Jeff T what the fuck does r s stand for?

@stevemack4643

7 жыл бұрын

Real Shitty?

Who sang this on last episode of HIMYM?

@ToLiveistoDie

10 жыл бұрын

Everything but the girl

@wizinjsh

10 жыл бұрын

chris herbig Great, BIG, FAT thanks ;)

@ToLiveistoDie

10 жыл бұрын

:)

the original and still the best version of 'Downtown train'! Too bad the only exposure to this song is from cookie-cutter, mainstream classic rock stations.

The stalker song