Sixteen men on a dead man's chest, and I been drinkin' from a broken cup

Tom Waits has to rank as one of my favourite artists of all time these days. His music ranges from heartbreaking jazz and country ballads, to rowdy blues-rock, to gonzo oddball circus-freak dances, to things that sound like a crime scene from a Raymond Chandler novel. Need Coffee (a sentiment I heartily agree with) has a killer, almost-all-inclusive roundup of Tom Waits' videos: Part One, Part Two.

And here's a couple more:

"God's Away on Business"


Probably his best-known song, "Downtown Train". You've probably heard the Rod Stewart version; Waits' original is pretty much note-for-note identical, but somehow sounds fatalistic instead of sentimental. Go figure.