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Tom Waits — Clap Hands
Album: Rain Dogs
Avg rating:
7.2

Your rating:
Total ratings: 2272









Released: 1985
Length: 3:40
Plays (last 30 days): 2
Sane, sane, they're all insane, fireman's blind, the conductor is lame
A Cincinnati jacket and a sad-luck dame
Hanging out the window with a bottle full of rain
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands

Said roar, roar, the thunder and the roar
Son of a bitch is never coming back here no more
The moon in the window and a bird on the pole
We can always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands

Said steam, steam, a hundred bad dreams
Going up to Harlem with a pistol in his jeans
A fifty-dollar bill inside a palladin's hat
And nobody's sure where Mr. Knickerbocker's at

Roar, roar, the thunder and the roar
Son of a bitch is never coming back here no more
Moon in the window and a bird on the pole
Can always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands

I said steam, steam, a hundred bad dreams
Going up to Harlem with a pistol in his jeans
A fifty-dollar bill inside a palladin's hat
And nobody's sure where Mr. Knickerbocker's at

Shine, shine, a Roosevelt dime
All the way to Baltimore and running out of time
Salvation Army seemed to wind up in the hole
They all went to heaven in a little row boat
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands
Comments (276)add comment
7 at first listen but there's all kinds of room to grow
EDIT:  after hearing that guitar solo = 8
LOVE that guitar solo!
 sfoster66 wrote:

I've never quite figured out why he wanted to create music that was so very unapproachable and uninviting.  I know it was a choice...but why?...


Tom Waits is highly respected by many musicians and music lovers as someone who is a phenomenal lyricist and a uniquely original songwriter. He manages to incorporate unusual instruments and vocals into percussive rhythms and melodies that create completely original soundscapes that are a joy to listen to. At least that's my take on it. 
This is one of my favorite Tom Waits songs. I didn't even know it was in RP's rotation. So good. 
Juju
 zidoo.Bob wrote:

Bbbvcfc

Bbb
 xkolibuul wrote:

Either you get Tom Waits or you don't. The most elemental rule of American music. Sublime. kindermanltd wrote:


Bbbvcfc
Hhhhhhnnnnn
Hhhhhh
 zidoo.Bob wrote:

👋 uyyghvb Nnnn

Juju
 zidoo.Bob wrote:

👋 hello

👋 uyyghvb Nnnn
 zidoo.Bob wrote:

👋 hello

👋 uyyghvb
 xkolibuul wrote:

Either you get Tom Waits or you don't. The most elemental rule of American music. Sublime. kindermanltd wrote:


👋 hello
 zidoo.Bob wrote:

❤️ love


Anb
❤️ love
From the intro I thought this song was going to be Geoffrey Oryema "The River".
 vandal wrote:


bump


The good people we miss.
 Cynaera wrote:

Only thing I've heard from Tom Waits lately is "Old '55." I really like this song, though - it's creepy and riveting. Okay, seguéing into "Plena For My Grundle" by Garage A Trois? Talk about shifting gears! Gawd, I love RadioParadise... *sighs contentedly*



bump
 B4D3neaker3 wrote:


I sense a theme. First Bongo Bong with no bongos, now Clap Hands with no clapping. What's next? While My Guitar Gently Weeps played on flute?

NO, Heartattack and Vine by John Hammond, go figure . . .


..or maybe Nickelback - 'Rockstar' - with NO GUITAR SOLO ??
 garrettb wrote:

I have a feeling life would be a lot better if I liked Tom Waits' music.
Unfortunately I just can't get in to it :(




I do like it, esp. this period in his musical career & life is good!

(i know i've done that before, but i just had to do it again )
I have a feeling life would be a lot better if I liked Tom Waits' music.
Unfortunately I just can't get in to it :(


I sense a theme. First Bongo Bong with no bongos, now Clap Hands with no clapping. What's next? While My Guitar Gently Weeps played on flute?

NO, Heartattack and Vine by John Hammond, go figure . . .
 rbrise wrote:


If you have to ask you wouldn't understand

But...I want to? 

https://theaestheticist.com/a-...
 smartn1 wrote:


I like it. I like most of his stuff.

Hmmm...okay...thx...maybe you would enjoy reading this...I think it applies.

https://theaestheticist.com/a-...
I sense a theme. First Bongo Bong with no bongos, now Clap Hands with no clapping. What's next? While My Guitar Gently Weeps played on flute? 
 sfoster66 wrote:

I've never quite figured out why he wanted to create music that was so very unapproachable and uninviting.  I know it was a choice...but why?...



I like it. I like most of his stuff.
 sfoster66 wrote:

I've never quite figured out why he wanted to create music that was so very unapproachable and uninviting.  I know it was a choice...but why?...




        
"And nobody's sure where Mr. Knickerbocker's at"
Diedrich Knickerbocker was a fake person created by Washington Irving (of Sleepy Hollow fame) who was reported missing as a kind of publicity stunt.
 sfoster66 wrote:

I've never quite figured out why he wanted to create music that was so very unapproachable and uninviting.  I know it was a choice...but why?...


Suppose he wasn't thinking that and his style just came naturally. And no one else was doing it so it seemed like a good idea at the time. Everything new is unprecedented... until someone does it.
 sfoster66 wrote:

I've never quite figured out why he wanted to create music that was so very unapproachable and uninviting.  I know it was a choice...but why?...



If you have to ask you wouldn't understand
I've never quite figured out why he wanted to create music that was so very unapproachable and uninviting.  I know it was a choice...but why?...
Three, Six, Nine...
 xkolibuul wrote:

Either you get Tom Waits or you don't. The most elemental rule of American music. Sublime. 



Why you either get him or you don't?

It's not black/white - there's hundreds of grey boxes between the two.

And why 'American music - surely this applies to all music/musicians.
 xkolibuul wrote:

Either you get Tom Waits or you don't. The most elemental rule of American music. Sublime. kindermanltd wrote:



I get what you say but why does it have to be all or nothing? I love a lot of his work and don't like probably an equal amount. Nuance is ok
 AbileneTexas wrote:

Not my cup of tea

But my kinda cuppa Night Train*...

*Night Train...One of many bum wines like Ripple or Mad Dog 20/20...

Tho' I seriously doubt any of them are served in cups...They're more

direct from the hip bottle kinda drinks...

Tony in NJ

W.A.S.T.E.



Any idea what this is about?
It takes a rare talent to produce a truly unique sound like this.
Awesome, a 9 from me.
This song is just so exactly what it is.
10
A unique sound - I love it!
Big Tom Waits fan. More please!!!
I had a good friend back in the eighties who used to try to "turn me on" to Tom Waits, this album and others, but I just couldn't really get there at the time. Over the years I've figured out that Waits is one of those artists like Neil Young, Miles Davis, Coltrane, Joni Mitchell, who have work that I really really like and then other stuff that I just can't stand. I guess that speaks to their willingness to push boundaries and my...limits.
All that said, I really like this song and it motivates me to go find this album and listen to the whole thing again after all these years.  :-)
Not my cup of tea
Whoa, love the segue from Fever Ray to this.
That album cover creeps me out.
So evocative, textured and atmospheric
I can almost smell and feel this song
Nice Tom
Sweet!
 On_The_Beach wrote:

Sometimes Tom sounds eerily similar to the Captain.
Hmmm, have you ever seen them in the same place at the same time?

 
"Once you've heard Beefheart," said Tom Waits, "it's hard to wash him out of your clothes. It stains, like coffee or blood."  
 On_The_Beach wrote:

https://misfitmuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/dancing-skeletons.gif%3Fw%3D549

 
love this song, and really love your dancing bones boys On_The_Beach!!!
 NickDanger wrote:
Captain Beefheart could give it a run, too.
 
Sometimes Tom sounds eerily similar to the Captain.
Hmmm, have you ever seen them in the same place at the same time?
I love the percussive instrumentation in this song.
 Old_Pat wrote:
this could only be done by Tom Waits  or Dr John.

 
Captain Beefheart could give it a run, too.
 CaroBella wrote:
Tom Waits, like beer, is an acquired taste. I've loved his music since I heard Burma Shave, back in the 70's.  I had to laugh the first I heard this song, it shows Wait's sly sense of humor.  The last line of the song is lifted straight from an old song of Shirley Ellis called "The Clapping Song".  Fun Song. :o)
 
Wait a minute - beer is an acquired taste?  I guess I forgot about that acquisition.
 
Love Tom. Fine song writer. Different. Passing the test of time and doing his own thing.  Now I'll do my thing and tap the PSD. 
this could only be done by Tom Waits  or Dr John.
Tom Waits, like beer, is an acquired taste. I've loved his music since I heard Burma Shave, back in the 70's.  I had to laugh the first I heard this song, it shows Wait's sly sense of humor.  The last line of the song is lifted straight from an old song of Shirley Ellis called "The Clapping Song".  Fun Song. :o)
One of a kind, the Pogues played this album and Swordfishtrombones constantly when they were on tour, love it, love it, love it
 fredriley wrote:

Waits sounds like a drunk hobo with a 2-pack-a-day habit, deliberately so I'm sure as he's an astounding street poet. There's only one image goes through my mind when I hear Waits, and that's of an ancient white down-and-out in a dirty mac clutching a bottle and sleeping on park benches. He's the songwriting equivalent of the crime writer James Ellroy who had a down-and-out background.
 
Yes, Fred. Charles Bukowski with a New Orleans Zip Code.
{#Clap}

Sorry!
someone was gonna do it,
just happened to be me!
I thought this was Lil' Wayne singing an acoustic song. {#Roflol}
Truly EPIC segue out of Fever Ray into Clap Hands. Well done, Bill!

I personally find this song creepy, between the xylophon in the background, the sad / haunted voice and the artwork... brr. I don't like listening to that though I see there is a concept of some sort. So "2" instead of "1". I guess the song is good in its own category ;)


 orangecraig wrote:
Check out John Hammond's album 9reviewed by Rolling Stone below)that covered all of Tom Waits material and produced by Tom!
Excellent!
The idea of having veteran blues man John Hammond perform an album of songs written and produced by Tom Waits turns out to be every bit as pleasing to the ears as it appears on paper … What makes Wicked Grin such a splendidly nontraditional-blues album is spelled out in Waits' and Hammond's different approaches to ‘Murder In The Red Barn.' On 1992's Bone Machine, Waits bore down on the song like a man in possession of a terrible secret. When John Hammond sings it here, it's like that secret has been handed down for generations." - Rolling Stone, review of Wicked Grin 

 
That album cover is creepin me out
Check out John Hammond's album 9reviewed by Rolling Stone below)that covered all of Tom Waits material and produced by Tom!
Excellent!
The idea of having veteran blues man John Hammond perform an album of songs written and produced by Tom Waits turns out to be every bit as pleasing to the ears as it appears on paper … What makes Wicked Grin such a splendidly nontraditional-blues album is spelled out in Waits' and Hammond's different approaches to ‘Murder In The Red Barn.' On 1992's Bone Machine, Waits bore down on the song like a man in possession of a terrible secret. When John Hammond sings it here, it's like that secret has been handed down for generations." - Rolling Stone, review of Wicked Grin 
 doktorpsilo wrote:
The lumbering xylophone in the background makes me think this is Dr. John.

 
There is a definite and intentional New Orleans flavor on much of this album.
Never heared this before. Another point for the genius Tom!
 jamelch wrote:
Love this whole album.  I always see dancing skeletons for some reason when I hear this...
 
https://misfitmuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/dancing-skeletons.gif%3Fw%3D549
The lumbering xylophone in the background makes me think this is Dr. John.
Love this whole album.  I always see dancing skeletons for some reason when I hear this...
UgLy
 oldfart48 wrote:
 calypsus_1 wrote:

Tom Waits-christmas card by *trev-solo
Trevor Grove ©2008-2010 *trev-solo

This Christmas card wasn't from a Hooker in Minneapolis, but....whaddya gonna do, right?

This is very similar to the other Waits piece I did, but I wanted to have some fun and make a nice Christmas card last year. (yeah, not many of my friends understood how Waits, a dead tree, and a fire-engulfed hand were good subjects for Christmas...but those people are just ridiculous, aren' t they? :D)

Anyway, this was done up in watercolors and colored pencils. about 7X 5 inches or so. If you guys want me to put it up as a print, I'll do that. I have a lot of plans for more Waits pieces that wouldn't fall into this vibe, so hopefully I'll get around to them this year. I want something that feels straight out of Big Time and Frank's Wild Years...

So enjoy the picture!

"There's got to be more than flesh and bone, All that you love is all you own"-Tom Waits
Trev




 " THERE IS NO DEVIL,"   Just Tom......GREAT likeness, thanks



  That is a beautiful painting, I would love to have a print of that.


 fredriley wrote:

You've got weird thought processes. Waits sounds like a drunk hobo with a 2-pack-a-day habit, deliberately so I'm sure as he's an astounding street poet. There's only one image goes through my mind when I hear Waits, and that's of an ancient white down-and-out in a dirty mac clutching a bottle and sleeping on park benches. He's the songwriting equivalent of the crime writer James Ellroy who had a down-and-out background.

If you reckon he's trying to sound black, perhaps you could give examples of black dudes who sound like that? I'm damned if I can think of any.

 
Well said, fred. A lot of Tom's music reminds me of a character from some early Bruce Springsteen whose life took a wrong turn, got mugged in an alley and crawled into a bottle to die. William Kennedy's "Ironweed" is sorta like a Waits song--I'm guessing since I haven't read the book or seen the movie. 

Tom's not trying to sound black. His stuff is about the downside and dark side of American life, when things are awful but too boring to be tragic.  
 calypsus_1 wrote:

Tom Waits-christmas card by *trev-solo
Trevor Grove ©2008-2010 *trev-solo

This Christmas card wasn't from a Hooker in Minneapolis, but....whaddya gonna do, right?

This is very similar to the other Waits piece I did, but I wanted to have some fun and make a nice Christmas card last year. (yeah, not many of my friends understood how Waits, a dead tree, and a fire-engulfed hand were good subjects for Christmas...but those people are just ridiculous, aren' t they? :D)

Anyway, this was done up in watercolors and colored pencils. about 7X 5 inches or so. If you guys want me to put it up as a print, I'll do that. I have a lot of plans for more Waits pieces that wouldn't fall into this vibe, so hopefully I'll get around to them this year. I want something that feels straight out of Big Time and Frank's Wild Years...

So enjoy the picture!

"There's got to be more than flesh and bone, All that you love is all you own"-Tom Waits
Trev




 " THERE IS NO DEVIL,"   Just Tom......GREAT likeness, thanks


there needs to be an 11 at times like this...
 Baby_M wrote:
...but I don't hear anyone clapping....

 

As Elmore would say “Hooptedoodle.”
Give this guitar solo a serious listen, because it's a serious guitar solo.  (I love weird music ...)
Love this! Thank you so much for playing Tom Waits, RP!!!!
 Cynaera wrote:
I seriously think that I need to buy a few of Tom Waits' CDs - this one, for sure - just because whenever things start looking a little TOO good in my life, I need the uneasiness of a song I can't readily understand to remind me of how very good I actually have it. {#Mrgreen}

 

Miss you so much, Cynaera...

everybody in my church loves this song...
 
Everyone in the commune loves this song!  {#Daisy}
Ooooh, reminds me of a boyfriend. That wild roller-coaster life-changing relationship lasted two weeks; I remember it not with bitterness or regret but whatever the equivalent is of drinking the dregs of the coffee pot. With grounds in your cup.

Obviously, there was some great music in there, too.

He dropped me for a woman he later married ... they're still married, twenty years later. Somehow that makes me feel better about it all. *smile*
If this isn't a 10, nothing is.
I'm really happy to hear on RP something from brilliant Rain Dogs album. 9.
Gamalang....I like it.
 terrapin52 wrote:
Yep.  Just what I thought.  It's a white guy trying to sound black.
 
You've got weird thought processes. Waits sounds like a drunk hobo with a 2-pack-a-day habit, deliberately so I'm sure as he's an astounding street poet. There's only one image goes through my mind when I hear Waits, and that's of an ancient white down-and-out in a dirty mac clutching a bottle and sleeping on park benches. He's the songwriting equivalent of the crime writer James Ellroy who had a down-and-out background.

If you reckon he's trying to sound black, perhaps you could give examples of black dudes who sound like that? I'm damned if I can think of any.
...but I don't hear anyone clapping....
 secretsauce wrote:

OK, tell us. What's a Cincinnati jacket?
 
Cincinnati jacket
You asked...

yes 10
 secretsauce wrote:
OK, tell us. What's a Cincinnati jacket?
 
There's a hood that crumples into the high collar.

Everybody in my trailer park puts the pipe down for a second when I blast this one out of my boom box!
If Howlin' Wolf and Marge Simpson had a child out of wedlock, I think he'd sound a lot like ol' Tom here.
I don't know how...
but this one actually doesn't suck

go figure.
That guitar solo by Ribot is off the hook!!!!!!!!
 fingerpin wrote:

Had to google "A Cincinnati jacket" and I live here. Who knew?
Great song by the way. {#Devil_pimp}

 
OK, tell us. What's a Cincinnati jacket?
 alcal74 wrote:
TOO MUCH TOM WAITS. It seems every time I start up RP it's the gravelly voice of this hobo I hear.
 
NOT ENOUGH TOM WAITS!!
Bill, keep playing lotsa Tom Waits. Those of us with good taste love it!


TOO MUCH TOM WAITS. It seems every time I start up RP it's the gravelly voice of this hobo I hear.
 Phototrekker wrote:

Just what you thought huh? 

You are just what I think of when I think of South Carolina -  
  
Given the original comment, I was  thinking that SC was an acronym for something quite different.

 terrapin52 wrote:
Yep.  Just what I thought.  It's a white guy trying to sound black.
 
Just what you thought huh? 

You are just what I think of when I think of South Carolina -  
One of my favorite album covers.  Wonderful song.
so nice, so cool .....when it stops.
Irritating.
Yep.  Just what I thought.  It's a white guy trying to sound black.


Raindogs is my favourite album!! Thanks a lot!
Creepy, and not in a good way. I like Waits, but I can do without hearing this one.
I seriously think that I need to buy a few of Tom Waits' CDs - this one, for sure - just because whenever things start looking a little TOO good in my life, I need the uneasiness of a song I can't readily understand to remind me of how very good I actually have it. {#Mrgreen}


Very nice! Thanks for sharing.

 
calypsus_1 wrote:

Tom Waits-christmas card by *trev-solo
Trevor Grove ©2008-2010 *trev-solo

This Christmas card wasn't from a Hooker in Minneapolis, but....whaddya gonna do, right?

This is very similar to the other Waits piece I did, but I wanted to have some fun and make a nice Christmas card last year. (yeah, not many of my friends understood how Waits, a dead tree, and a fire-engulfed hand were good subjects for Christmas...but those people are just ridiculous, aren' t they? :D)

Anyway, this was done up in watercolors and colored pencils. about 7X 5 inches or so. If you guys want me to put it up as a print, I'll do that. I have a lot of plans for more Waits pieces that wouldn't fall into this vibe, so hopefully I'll get around to them this year. I want something that feels straight out of Big Time and Frank's Wild Years...

So enjoy the picture!

"There's got to be more than flesh and bone, All that you love is all you own"-Tom Waits
Trev
 

That's because i'am listening RP - Applause out of munich
Doesn't Beck do this song too?
Let's hear it for Tom.  2010 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee!!

Tom Waits To Enter Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

 exquisite


this was used for the Breaking Bad theme song, right?
You can always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal
Best part of this song is the last note. 
love to hear more Tom Waits!
This is so cool.

Tom Waits-christmas card by *trev-solo
Trevor Grove ©2008-2010 *trev-solo

This Christmas card wasn't from a Hooker in Minneapolis, but....whaddya gonna do, right?

This is very similar to the other Waits piece I did, but I wanted to have some fun and make a nice Christmas card last year. (yeah, not many of my friends understood how Waits, a dead tree, and a fire-engulfed hand were good subjects for Christmas...but those people are just ridiculous, aren' t they? :D)

Anyway, this was done up in watercolors and colored pencils. about 7X 5 inches or so. If you guys want me to put it up as a print, I'll do that. I have a lot of plans for more Waits pieces that wouldn't fall into this vibe, so hopefully I'll get around to them this year. I want something that feels straight out of Big Time and Frank's Wild Years...

So enjoy the picture!

"There's got to be more than flesh and bone, All that you love is all you own"-Tom Waits
Trev



That's all you do when you see him in concert....(clap hands).
"we can always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal."

what a perfect song.

smooooth segue......
One of my all time favorite Tom Waits tunes from one of his best albums.  9.
 mandolin wrote:
...ohmigosh, i can hear it now!..

...it's weird how phonemes and dipthongs can transform so completely based upon expected perception, like an auditory escher piece, but there it is, distinctly enunciated: claire danes...actually, it's almost like a stereogram: you can't see it and can't see it, and then suddenly for an instant it pops into perfect focus, then you lose it again and strain and strain and then suddenly there it is again...
 
Hah!  Claire Danes.  It's certainly a funny mondegreen, and I can kinda see where it comes from, but I don't hear it.  I guess I've just listened to this too many times over the last 20 odd years for it to resolve for me.  The song certainly brings me back though.  I don't listen to a lot of Tom, but for some reason this album just really struck my friends and I at that time. I may have to turn off RP (*gasp*) and listen to the rest of Rain Dogs.