Great Album Series: Tom Waits - Small Change

Tom Waits
Small Change
Asylum Records (1976)
jazz, pop, blues, rock, beat poetry

It was tough to choose one Tom Waits album, (and I’m sure one day, we’ll get an album from another period), and picking just one from his Asylum Record years was a little daunting. It could have just as easily been Blue Valentine (1978), Heartattack and Vine (1980), and was almost Foreign Affairs (1977). But something directed me back to 76’s Small Change. It’s a perfect example of his albums of the period, and seems to be more personal, tackling more of his own demons. Tom Waits is a bit of an acquired taste. I get a bit of flack from people who don’t get him, and I can understand where most of them are coming from. His voice is unique to say the least (my girlfriend likes to say that he sounds like a Muppet). What I think people miss (or choose to ignore), is the total package that is Tom Waits. He is a voice of the lower class, the disenfranchised, the common man (and woman). He has respect and complete sincerity for his characters, no matter how low, down and out. This is also reflected in his voice. As mentioned before, his singing is not beautiful. It’s a raspy, whisky soaked voice that perfectly compliments his street-life stories. His style is both blues man and beat poet.

By the time Small Change was released, Waits was receiving praise and success, and he was constantly touring. The touring took its toll, he began developing a serious drinking problem, in his words: “I was sick through the whole period. It was starting to wear on me, the touring. I’d traveled quite a bit, living in hotels, eating bad food, drinking a lot- too much. There’s a lifestyle that’s there before you arrive and you’re introduced to it. It’s unavoidable”.

To read more about Small Change and other albums, please check out The Great Album Series at www.birdstootiredtofly.com