Next time someone tells you that white boys can't sing the blues, lend them a copy. Your Head is one of the most graceful songs ever written after swallowing a cigarette kiosk. Rain Dogs itself is a perfect example of how to make a mainstream album without being a mainstream artist. Rod Stewart has hits with Waits songs. The songwriter's last London appearance saw him croak much of his material through a megaphone.
Waits also has a movie career.
He did the soundtrack for his One From The Heart played a lead in Jim Jarmush's Down By Law and was a wonderfully unhinged Renfield in Interview With The Vampire. He also co-wrote his first play, Frank's Wild Years with his wife Kathleen Brennan. Waits is 50 this year. He has written his own epitaph. The Band's second and greatest album tells the listener more about 1769 than it does about 1969.