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Tom Waits (birth name: Thomas Alan Waits; Dec. 7, 1949, Pomona, CA, USA; married to musician Kathleen Brennan).My first experience with the music of Tom Waits was perhaps when I realised the song "Jersey Girl" wasn't a song by Bruce Springsteen, although he made a fine version of it on his Live/1975-85 5 lp box from 1986. Around 1987 or '88, I heard Frank's Wild Years (1987), which I kinda liked, although I found it... 'strange'. I then bought the album Swordfishtrombones (1983) upon hearing "In the Neighborhood" and "16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought-Six", and it literally opened up a new world of music for me, and made me dig into his older stuff, which I didn't like as much, at the time, but I enjoyed Heartattack and Vine (1980) on which you may find "Jersey Girl" - and I must say, Bruce: you do it well... but the original with Tom is simply better. In 1991, Jim Jarmusch made the wonderful movie Night on Earth featuring the amazing Roberto Benigni, and Jarmusch had Tom Waits making a likewise astonishing soundtrack, which I immediately bought after watching the film. That album is... essential. It's not only a wonderful soundtrack, it's also one of those rare soundtracks you can actually listen to without watching the movie. Waits then went on and did the appraised Bone Machine (1992) and The Black Rider (1993), and I didn't like any of the two, so once again, I turned to his older stuff, and this time I found it a wonderful discovery. I think, I went backwards, album by album, until finding his debut album, which is just another jewel in music history. Although, I rate it really high, I think his 5 best albums ever are Small Change (1976), Heartattack and Vine, Swordfishtrombones, Night on Earth, and Bad as Me (2011). Having said that, he has made a dozen or so albums that I rate 4 or above.
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