Tom Waits - "Tom Traubert's Blues" (Live on Rockpalast, 1977)

Tom Waits performs "Tom Traubert's Blues" from the album 'Small Change'
Live on Rockpalast, WDR Studio L, Köln, West Germany, April 18, 1977
Official Site: www.tomwaits.com/
Official Store: tomwaitsstore.com/
Facebook: / tomwaits
Twitter: / tomwaits
#tomwaits #smallchange

[@aaronchilds4279]

Tom has been there with me through the toughest struggles of my life; job loss, failed relationships, cancer, losing loved ones. Despite its melancholic tone, his music always seems to offer a glimmer of hope and perseverance. It shines a light into the dark corners and almost seems to say, "I see you. I'm here with you. You are not alone."

[@stuartsundquist4838]

I totally feel the same way. Thank you

[@TonyBurke100]

You get it that's for sure. I was 26 alone in an empty old house and I awoke to this song coming from an old guitar amp while the house was burning. Smoke filled house with flames taller than me and Tom's voice waking me I may have died. No wife, no kids, no job but I got stronger. The cancer came a few years ago but I didn't panic I just cruised through it I'm seventy.

[@89ksokd91]

@@TonyBurke100

[@89ksokd91]

I don't think I could have articulated that sentiment any better. That's exactly what his music does..

[@Bee-hf3fc]

I heard someone say once "I don't think I trust people don't get Tom Waits"

[@Dylanesque]

Tom Waits makes life worth living even when it's not...

[@bobmccormick6194]

Well said it does make it slightly better😉😁😊

[@kaytelopez254]

yes. he does. Music makes my life worth living.

[@raindog0027]

Yes he helped on a depression period

[@heraldeventsandfilms5970]

Very good.

[@TheresiaMariaWeber-ig8rq]

There is no reply!

[@lindagarland5223]

Still love this gut punch of a song, almost 50 years later...❤

[@patriciawarren4296]

❤❤❤❤Tom.Just marry me for God's sake 😂

[@lindagarland5223]

@@patriciawarren4296 me too!

[@lorientico]

...tears come to my eyes now, this one gets me every time..😥 Thank you, mr.Waits

[@joepierce1672]

He is one of the great painters only he uses words. Nothing better than to crawl into a comfortable bed, turn on Tom Waits and watch his music videos play on the inside of my eyelids.

[@SubPablum]

Tom Waits on a rainy night...

[@fenners1]

Some live performances are just moments of pure magic never to be repeated.

[@maggilloyd-davies5217]

Absolutely adore Tom Waits. What talent. He is absolutely amazing. Heard many negative comments about him. Well sorry you have really not been listening.

[@wolffwerz]

❤❤😂😊❤❤❤❤

[@videreecrederecredereevidere]

Thats the problem,most hear the Sound,,maybe a voice,but no text,and when some hear text,they dont really Listen,often isnt mothertongue,and only parts can really Show them the meaning...and the rest is job of Phantasie or wishes..

[@jamesbradshaw3389]

Anyone you hear saying bad things about Tome, send them over to me, and when those negative speaking people again they will be walking around listen to Toms music and that is a personal guarantee from me to you

[@videreecrederecredereevidere]

@@jamesbradshaw3389 😘

[@countblue]

For some reason those chords and the melody are written into my DNA. Its like I have heard this song in a life before this life.

[@napoleonwilson6499]

The song Waltzing Matilda is an old number,four sheets is a tribute. So maybe you did hear it in your previous life

[@countblue]

@@napoleonwilson6499 Yeah I read about that. I learned how to play it. It fits my life a bit.

[@TheresiaMariaWeber-ig8rq]

Innerlife.

[@AureliaPempenic64]

@@napoleonwilson6499 really, it is an old song! A French singer has used it too, but nothing better that Tom's music around the chorus, he is so great

[@videreecrederecredereevidere]

​@@AureliaPempenic64its Australans feel anrhem

[@rtwhitson3]

The Brother withheld NOTHING on this stage...he gave it ALL. I haven't been moved like this in many years. As a blues fan, I don't understand why I didn't discover this many years ago. Thank God for YT.

[@japlangston3472]

Bless you Tom Waits and all those who gave this beautiful performance.

[@r.s.5766]

Long live Mr. Tom Waits 🙏 thank you

[@lface7426]

Whenever I want to think of what I've done in my life... my accomplishments, my failures... I listen to this.... I don't know why or what that means. This is the best version of this song. Thanks for sharing it.

[@t9620]

God bless this Brother of mine that I've never met but always loved. 🙏🎸

[@ememka1986]

Thanks for that, Sir Waits - the last genious of popular music.

[@thisisnari_]

such a captivating performance, completely mesmerized

[@robertguatelli9178]

I think anyone who loves this song as much as I do has lived one or more of the scenarios he sings about here. A masterpiece. Dylan can't touch this one.

[@budzis66]

Thank God I/we, are alive the same time as Tom Waits!

[@elhorrendo7026]

THE BEST VERSION OF waltzing Matilda, ever! Can we make this our national anthem Australia? The old version of this is our unofficial one. Tom's version should be the official one. And then I'd actually Know all the words to the Australian national anthem and even care about them. IDK & IDC the current one.

[@rolandhicks1874]

You are hilarious. But, I am stoned

[@solardog81]

This song has been mine for like 40 years. Thanks, man.

[@rickartdefoix1298]

A unique, very creative and original icon. An already Legend of our times. This Dawn Poet (as read he was once called) may move you from laughter into melancholy as if you were a leaf blown by the four winds. From The Part You Throw Away to Who Are You or Better Off Without A Wife, Waits remains one of the most touching songwriters I've ever heard. His rythm bases are part of the very innovative work he develops. Just hear Downtown Train or Rain Dogs or some other any pal will recommend you, and tell me if you aren't yet under his spell. His sketches of mislead or common lives may feel you closer or reconcile with the human kind. Clever Music for clever people, don't doubt it. Much more than a Cult Artist. Hats off to the Great Tom Waits. And thank you for your tunes, Tom. Already standards to me, many of them. ❤️🎶👍🤗😇✔️

[@lizjenkins7371]

You said it all thank you ❤️

[@mmegraham]

And don't forget Kathleen Brennan, since the 1980's!

[@rogerlarsen-uf3pu]

A legend in many lifetimes. Great song writer and performer

[@rickguerrero2282]

Funny how such a gruff voice coming from such an odd man can create the sweetest music to my old ears! Bravo, Mr. Waits.

[@billlenz5197]

Never forget the night in Harry Hopes, Carey Illinois many years ago Waits announced “ wrote this song Waltzing Matilda - Gilbert and Sullivan stole the name” and launched into Tom Traubert’s Blues. Been in love ever since…

[@raquelllandolphi4056]

Thank you Tom. This song has gotten me through many lonely nights .

[@Mark.H.9192]

I hope your lonely nights are over. Hugs!

[@robale202]

Love how he says on the Sydney '79 show introducing this - "Hope you don't mind, I kind of borrowed your national anthem"

[@cathleen537]

Thank you, Tom. You take me places I've not known before. You give expression to feelings I have been unable to express. Some of your songs are so intense that it seems they enter every pore of my soul. Your music will always be with me, and when my life in this world is over, well, I'll take your music with me. This 66 year old woman tips her hat and offers a bow of gratitude to the Great Tom Waits.

[@mcdaid..]

Beautiful, tribute, think we all go waltzing mantilla, in our unconscious mind , spent last 2 months in hospital , induced coma , legs straped and padded boxing gloves on this song was on replay all the way in my mind , Tom sure did rescue me from the eye of death, so glad he did, when my inlaws found me I could hear everything but could do nothing, got brain damage now , but so glad they broke in to house, just thought I wanted to share this with someone else, sorry if I up set you

[@michaelpage2151]

Bless you sweetheart. Thinking of you and wishing you well. X

[@nashvilletexas]

From your mouth to God's ears....couldn't have said it more perfectly myself....john

[@juliev940]

Beautiful! You nailed Tom's music.

[@VLRuud]

Brings me back to the brown cafe I used to attend 40 years ago. I could listen to this for months.

[@louarmstrong6128]

I have

[@carolzuvich1235]

@@louarmstrong6128 me too! He helped me thro my daughter's death. Amazing, spectacular man!!

[@louarmstrong6128]

@@carolzuvich1235 he helped me thru my wife's death..... Waltzing Matilda tore me up... but it helped

[@louarmstrong6128]

@@carolzuvich1235 if I were President I would give him the Congressional Medal of Honor ....his music really touches me

[@0otee]

Special sounding singer Tom Waits🌹 Beautiful song🌻🎶💫🌞

[@peterjohnson617]

Sad enough to bring a tear to a glass eye......Thanks Tom.....

[@mallydraycott1870]

A true one off,there's no one else like Tom.It's what makes his music so special.

[@rodinalmondbloom8562]

Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did I've got what I paid for now See ya tomorrow, hey Frank, can I borrow A couple of bucks from you? To go Waltzing Mathilda, Waltzing Mathilda You'll go Waltzing Mathilda with me I'm an innocent victim of a blinded alley And I'm tired of all these soldiers here No one speaks English, and every thing's broken And my Stacys are soaking wet To go Waltzing Mathilda, Waltzing Mathilda You'll go Waltzing Mathilda with me Now the dogs are barking and the taxi cab's parking A lot they can do for me I begged you to stab me, you tore my shirt open And I'm down on my knees tonight Old Bushmills I staggered, you buried the dagger in Your silhouette window light To go Waltzing Mathilda, Waltzing Mathilda You'll go Waltzing Mathilda with me Now I lost my Saint Christopher now that I've kissed her And the one-armed bandit knows And the Maverick Chinamen, and the cold-blooded signs And the girls down by the strip-tease shows go Waltzing Mathilda, Waltzing Mathilda You'll go Waltzing Mathilda with me No, I don't want your sympathy, the fugitives say That the streets aren't for dreaming now Manslaughter dragnets and the ghosts that sell memories They want a piece of the action anyhow go Waltzing Mathilda, Waltzing Mathilda You'll go Waltzing Mathilda with me And you can ask any sailor, and the keys from the jailer And the old men in wheelchairs know That Mathilda's the defendant, she killed about a hundred And she follows wherever you may go Waltzing Mathilda, Waltzing Mathilda You'll go Waltzing Mathilda with me And it's a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace And a wound that will never heal No Prima Donna, the perfume is on An old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey And goodnight to the street sweepers The night watchman flame keepers and goodnight to Mathilda too

[@taphhedrof1045]

Thanks Oliver. Just sang this with Tom using your words.

[@rtwhitson3]

Can't help but wonder if Frank wasn't FZ??? Probably not, but that's how I think. How F'd up am I?

[@Maskofanarchy1]

I have visited this song many times. It always seems to make me feel better

[@wolffwerz]

Deine ölieder singe ich ehh schon seit Jahren du wundervoller mensch❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@ralphdavis9670]

Gets to me every damn time.

[@azidophilus9755]

They fired me(after almost ten years) twice as DJ in a bar in Vienna/Austria 'cause I played songs like this. 🤣😂🤩🥰😎😇🤫😏🤭🤗

[@maggilloyd-davies5217]

How stupid were they.

[@viktorsieprawski7462]

Well done mate! They were not worth it that you worked for them. 😂😄😜👍😅

[@TonyBurke100]

Dick heads!

[@spadoukie]

I'll hire you!

[@leedaluciano9806]

He reminds us there is an exquisite beauty in pain…it hones the soul.

[@kodsato6480]

Amazing, soooo amazing‼️‼️ I bought his CD today😁👍

[@CrazedApe]

This is my favorite song.

[@matthewserkert4401]

I was first introduced to the music of Tom Waits in the fall of 1976, when my freshman college roommate played "Nighthawks at the Diner" on my stereo, in our dorm room. Shortly thereafter, I purchased that album, along with :"Small Change." Many great compositions therein, and a masterful minstrel to present them, fond memories, indeed. Thanks Kenny Payne, from South Philly, for introducing me to Mr. Waits!

[@steffangoodall378]

Breaks my heart... every listen 💔

[@pajero0402]

💔💔💔

[@unclenogbad1509]

Beautiful, melancholy, uplifting. What genius mind writes (or sings) a song like this. Wonderful.

[@dalecooles]

I watched Waits perform this wistful song with his two partners at a small club in Roslyn, Long Island called My Father's Place. A comic duo named Travis Shook and Club Wow opened for them. What a night!

[@chicha7880]

Wow It's like a Gift when you find These beautiful artist. Omy.... now I have something to look forward too... Listening to all his music over the next few months. Thank you

[@anelladambrosio2513]

Bellissima canzone! Bellissima voce! Unica ed inimitabile... 😊🥰😍😘🎶🎶🎶🎶💘❤️💋💯💯💯

[@cheekycupcake5524]

If it weren’t for a documentary I would have never know this beautiful man and his music💕

[@andyh2408]

Tom gives the heaviest meanings to any life

[@beverlyn72]

I love these songs...

[@jtrice6852]

In an NPR interview, Waits told the story of the real Tom Traubert who froze to death sleeping outdoors. A "Matilda" is slang for a hobo bindle or knapsack filled with belongings and traditionally suspended from a stick, that swayed or waltzed side to side when carried over the shoulder.

[@sandrahammond5566]

How interesting! Never 2 old 2 learn!

[@Barrywfa]

Indeed this is correct....In Australia Waltzing Matilda is an Iconic song, originally an Irish thing.....it means free to roam with your pack and yourself.

[@michaelburton1970]

Have you read the story about how he hung out on skid row too?

[@MrDennisSchafer]

I think the knapsack is known as a "tucker bag" which is attached to a stick and thrown over your shoulder... Now you're ready to go "Waltzing Matilda" - Tom Waits nails it! I try to sing along but just can't - tears in my eyes voice cracks

[@petersimons8666]

As an Australian, the 'matilda' as in sometimes, has been proposed in "Watlzing Matilda" should be our national anthem. Many tramped the tucker tracks, looking for work after the 1850sGold Rush. Such a good and really historical pertinent song. Thanks to Tom for this.

[@andyh2408]

Phenomenal song. Always gives chills. Also reminds me of "The Professional" with Jean Reno and Natalie Portman.

[@alexandranielsen8430]

Beautiful ♥

[@seanod7157]

I've always wondered if there is a common thread running through all Waits fans. Does our love for his music say something about us?

[@wolffwerz]

sehr geehrter sir, dank für den tost in der dunkelheit, wir beide wissen es , wir wollen nicht siegen sondern leben, sei herzlich umarmt tom🤣😅😆😁😄😃😀

[@joyrothke7470]

The saddest song in the world

[@garrettbell8701]

Saw him play twice and met him walking around Dublin years ago..pure talent.

[@平山真也-g2e]

nice voice. my best singer is tom. from japan.

[@KOLDBLU3ST33L]

What a treasure. Thanks TW.

[@davidlist7507]

I got to meet him in Boulder, Colorado with a friend in the daytime before he performed the night later which I watched and remember him being kind and friendly, hope he is fine and healthy!!! He sure knows the blues him being a Scorpio as I. Peace and have Happy Hoildays😎

[@sooz9433]

Close your eyes and listen...🎼🖤

[@jinamhall2630]

I was 11 when this was made! He's my #1 to see LIVE!

[@stefanpedersen1915]

This song is about a night out in Copenhagen with the danish folk singer Mathilde Bondo

[@maggilloyd-davies5217]

It's more than that. It was part of the inspiration but not all of it. He did spend some time on skid row getting to know the people. He wasn't on skid row himself. He had a middle class upbringing. His father was a school teacher. He worked all his life at various jobs until he finally found his true vocation. He is pure genius.

[@laurastokes635]

Saw him in this era performing in Seattle bought his early LPs and played incessantly

[@smwrbd]

What year ?

[@laurastokes635]

@@smwrbd about 77 or thereabouts ...maybe a little later So long ago

[@mathildemartinsherdy7701]

He's outstanding!!!

[@pondweedfilms]

Beautifully up lifting.

[@m46273]

I was on my honeymoon, 1989, Ashland, Oregon. Walked into a music store and heard Tom Waits' rendition of the Heigh Ho song from Various Interpretations. I bought that CD off the platter.

[@joaogeraldooliveira3611]

O saxofone parece chorar... incrível, obrigado Tom Waits 👏👏👏

[@antonboludo8886]

Amazing. Thank you.

[@yorkiegeoff1825]

Amazing 🙏

[@mrscotti6743]

You either love him or hate him....I love him.

[@strangersname]

He spoke for the men and women who were shunted aside and forgotten

[@sabyegrp]

Love it, love it .........................................................

[@RDHD2099]

Unforgettable

[@jluther1755]

its Not About comparing Tom to Leonard or Bob or Anyone or Anything else. He's Tom Waits the one and Only genuine article be glad to have lived in his Day. Leonard and Bob are wonderful just nothing like Mr. Tom Waits

[@pierreorhan]

quel talent !

[@thomaswittenbecher]

divine! an genius!

[@akryeguy]

First whiskey I ever bought after my 21st birthday was Bushmills...because I felt like the person who was inside this song. That was November 29th, 1981.

[@cokostwinder6145]

I love his voice.

[@fybob13]

When you're depressed, and you want to wallow in it for a while, he's got your number. Such a great story teller. Bob

[@elleneckstein7407]

Was turned on to him mid 70's, Totally unknown but for a serious cult following. I saw him perform in Phila at the beautiful Academy Of Music, home of the august Phila Orchestra, and he fit right in. His fans turned out as Tom Waits lookalikes...thrift store chic with skinny black ties . . I will never forget it. Waits enriched my life accompanying me through the successes when I could celebrate his comic genius and in the dark days when I could find solace in his wisdom.

[@monicalotti5648]

So good interpreterà.he remeber me a strange yung man in a bar years ago.....hope he is well

[@anniedesmurs6257]

Fabuleux😍❤️

[@mosfet500]

He's priceless!

[@tangibleblockofwisdom6386]

Prettty good rendition of this iteration of Tom Traubert's Blues...

[@Arpa61]

*PL ENG* Był w Warszawie. Jest cudowne nagranie. = He was in Warsaw. There is a wonderful recording.

[@MiguelSanchezMoreno-pb6fd]

Simplemente maravilloso, un poeta inmenso, un regalo a toda la conciencia humana....un ser especial...!!!!

[@ReverendSoupbone]

His live shows in those days were religious experiences. Simply the best.

[@thegenxgamerguy6562]

This was one of two songs that brought me through my summer of 2013, after the most important breakup of my whole life. I'm still grateful that I could listen to this song to find solace in my darkest hour.

[@DJAC63]

I hear you. And I feel you. I hope you are on the way up again. Because I am now right down where you were back in 2013. Siblings in sadness and Tom…

[@willivolos]

The people who don’t know this Legend - living in matrix

[@vascofalcaogomes5296]

BRAVO.

[@thomyoung17]

Saw him twice once at a theatre in Houston and at a smaller venue in Dallas where he made them turn off the AC for his vocals or so I was told either way both amazing shows..no one like Tom

[@smwrbd]

So anyway I saw Tom in Detroit at the Royal Oak Theater and Jerry Jeff Walker opened for him. Strange Universe...

[@hansvanniekerk768]

WALTZING MATILDA (see explanation below) Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did Got what I paid for now See ya tomorrow, hey Frank can I borrow A couple of bucks from you? To go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me I'm an innocent victim of a blinded alley And tired of all these soldiers here No one speaks English and everything's broken And my Stacys are soaking wet To go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me Now the dogs are barking and the taxi cab's parking A lot they can do for me I begged you to stab me, you tore my shirt open And I'm down on my knees tonight Old Bushmill's I staggered, you buried the dagger Your silhouette window light To go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me Now I lost my Saint Christopher now that I've kissed her And the one-armed bandit knows And the maverick Chinaman and the cold-blooded signs And the girls down by the strip-tease shows Go, waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me No, I don't want your sympathy The fugitives say that the streets aren't for dreaming now Manslaughter dragnets and the ghosts that sell memories They want a piece of the action anyhow Go, waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me And you can ask any sailor and the keys from the jailor And the old men in wheelchairs know That Mathilda's the defendant, she killed about a hundred And she follows wherever you may go Waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda You'll go a-waltzing Mathilda with me And it's a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace And a wound that will never heal No prima donna, the perfume is on An old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey And goodnight to the street sweepers The night watchman flame keepers and goodnight, Mathilda too WALTZING MATILDA (from Wikipedia:) The title was Australian slang for travelling on foot (waltzing) with one's belongings in a "matilda" (swag) slung over one's back. The song narrates the story of an itinerant worker, or "swagman", making a drink of billy tea at a bush camp and capturing a stray jumbuck (sheep) to eat. When the jumbuck's owner, a squatter (landowner), and three troopers (mounted policemen) pursue the swagman for theft, he declares "You'll never catch me alive!" and commits suicide by drowning himself in a nearby billabong (watering hole), after which his ghost haunts the site. The original lyric was written in 1895 by Australian poet Banjo Paterson, and were first published as sheet music in 1903. Songteksten voor Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen) © BMG Rights Management

[@TheresiaMariaWeber-ig8rq]

❤️ Vielen herzlichen Dank!!

[@joedrew9418]

Thank you hans

[@lyndelldean]

Thank you very much!

[@louisDeriu]

Like "they" usually says : if It not kills me, it makes me stronger " but God ! Oh what a fight !!! Bravo !!

[@しろくま-n6l]

素敵な曲をありがとう。

[@markgreenwood2257]

Good night flame keepers, good night Tom 🙏

[@totalannihilationtheory1187]

A beautiful homage to syphilis. At least that's what it seems to me.

[@carlosrlio05]

great song..

[@ulrichspengemann-ky6je]

❤❤

[@karstenboyenielsen4576]

The best

[@thomaskeown6897]

There is a short period of my life, way in the past. I dont care to explain it to people who know me well enough to ask me. I tell them to just listen to this song and Street Hassle by Lou Reed. No one has ever asked a second time.

[@stevejaubert2892]

I will always like TW's music. Now websites are a different matter. There is a website Tom Waits Public Group if anyone is listening. That group has a lot of folks who think Tom Waits is their personal walking talking God - one who is an extension of their own biased personal views. Those kind hate it if you disagree with their views and they don't mind letting you know. Its a bit of a club - be forewarned.

[@elletindra]

Brilliant 🌟🫶✨