small change

This raspy bohemian jazzcat channelled Satchmo and Beefheart while nursing a "Bad Liver and a Broken Heart" in a seedy whiskey-soaked atmosphere where even "The Piano Has Been Drinking". Piano man Tom Waits recorded live in the studio at Wally Heider Recording Studio in Hollywood with the jazz trio of Lew Tabackin on tenor sax, bassist Jim Hughart on upright bass, and Shelly Manne on drums. Bones Howe's production provides a romantic sheen with lush orchestration to complement the mature themes. Released on Asylum Records, 'Small Change' peaked at number eighty nine on the US album chart; but it remains one of Waits' most enduring classics. He says, "Well, gee. I'd say there's probably more songs off that record that I continued to play on the road, and that endured. Some songs you may write and record but you never sing them again. Others you sing em every night and try and figure out what they mean. 'Tom Traubert's Blues' was certainly one of those songs I continued to sing, and in fact, close my show with."





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'Tom Traubert's Blues' borrows from an Australian folksong where the "Waltzing Matilda" is a wobbling bag of stolen goods slung over the bag of a travelling man. Here it works as a metaphor for alcoholic self destruction. He wrote it about a drunken evening in Copenhagen.

"Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did

I got what I paid for now

See you tomorrow; hey, Frank, can I borrow

A couple of bucks from you to go

Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda?

You'll go waltzing Matilda with me"

The beatnick vibe of 'Step Right Up' has Waits playing the part of a snake oil salesmen rolls through a barrage of cliched sales gimmicks for the ultimate pitch that addresses consumerism and how "the large print giveth, and the small print taketh away." The Frito-Lay company ripped the song off for a commercial and Waits sued them and won.

"Step right up, step right up, step right up,

Everyone's a winner, bargains galore

That's right, you too can be the proud owner

Of the quality goes in before the name goes on

One-tenth of a dollar, one-tenth of a dollar, we got service after sales

You need perfume? we got perfume, how 'bout an engagement ring?

Something for the little lady, something for the little lady,

Something for the little lady, hmm

Three for a dollar

We got a year-end clearance, we got a white sale

And a smoke-damaged furniture, you can drive it away today

Act now, act now, and receive as our gift, our gift to you

They come in all colors, one size fits all

No muss, no fuss, no spills, you're tired of kitchen drudgery

Everything must go, going out of business, going out of business

Going out of business sale

Fifty percent off original retail price, skip the middle man

Don't settle for less

How do we do it? how do we do it? volume, volume, turn up the volume

Now you've heard it advertised, don't hesitate"

'Invitation to the Blues' plays out like a movie starring James Cagney and Rita Hayworth, where a drifter gets designs on a waitress.

"Cause there's a Continental Trailways leaving local bus tonight, good evening

You can have my seat, I'm sticking round here for a while

Get me a room at the Squire, the filling station's hiring,

And I can eat here every night, what the hell have I got to lose?

Got a crazy sensation, go or stay? now I gotta choose,

And I'll accept your invitation to the blues"

'Small Change' describes the careless aftermath of another tragic gypsy.

"And his headstone's a gumball machine,

No more chewing gum or baseball cards or overcoats or dreams

Someone's hosing down the sidewalk, and he's only in his teens, 'cause

Cause Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eight"

'Small Change' 
full album:


All songs written and composed by Tom Waits.

Side one
1. "Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)"   6:39
2. "Step Right Up"   5:43
3. "Jitterbug Boy (Sharing a Curbstone with Chuck E. Weiss, Robert Marchese, Paul Body and The Mug and Artie)"   3:44
4. "I Wish I Was in New Orleans (In the Ninth Ward)"   4:53
5. "The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (An Evening with Pete King)"   3:40
Side two
1. "Invitation to the Blues"   5:24
2. "Pasties and a G-String (At the Two O'Clock Club)"   2:32
3. "Bad Liver and a Broken Heart (In Lowell)"   4:50
4. "The One That Got Away"   4:07
5. "Small Change (Got Rained on with His Own .38)"   5:07
6. "I Can't Wait to Get Off Work (And See My Baby on Montgomery Avenue)"   3:17