The Tom Waits song Florence Welch wishes she had written: “I just love his use of imagery”
Of all the British bands of the 21st century, few have managed to toe the line between commercial success and critical praise as expertly as Florence and the Machine. The group, led by Florence Welch, have headlined Glastonbury, won countless awards, and secured numerous number one albums.
Florence Welch, proprietor of the machine, is regularly hailed for incredible songwriting abilities and rightly so. The band’s 2009 debut, Lungs, shot the group into the public eye and received a huge amount of success, which has never deteriorated in the years that followed. Her ability to constantly reinvent her sound and incorporate aspects of varying different genres from dance music to art pop have cemented her as one of the most highly regarded songwriters in Britain.
The south London-born singer-songwriter, perhaps unsurprisingly given the emotional weight of her voice, is often compared to other iconic British female artists, such as Kate Bush, Siouxsie Sioux and PJ Harvey. Welch has been very open about her musical influences, telling The Standard in 2012 that Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane is her hero, “She had such an amazing voice; her song ‘White Rabbit’ changed my life”.
Despite these parallels drawn between Welch and her fellow women in music, the vocalist and songwriter once revealed, “I always wanted to sound like a man, like Jeff Buckley or Tom Waits”, whilst talking to Vanity Fair. Waits, in particular, is an artist that Welch clearly has an adoration for. Back in 2011, she said in a social media Q&A that she “would love Tom Waits to cover ‘Shake It Out’”.
Although the American singer never took Welch up on her invitation, she continued to let the world know of her appreciation for his music. When asked by Entertainment Weekly what song she wished she had written, she responded with, you guessed it: Tom Waits and ‘Green Grass’.
“Really, anything by Tom Waits,” she continues, “I wish I was Tom Waits”.
The selected Waits track comes from his 2004 album Real Gone and features his signature gravelly tones and beautifully poetic lyrics. “His songs are so visceral and bloody,” Welch attests, “I just love his use of imagery”. Although her voice has matured somewhat over the years, growing lower on some tracks, it is still an interesting thought to imagine Welch delivering the poetry of ‘Green Grass’.
It has been a number of years since Waits last released any musical material out into the world, but the singer remains active in the world of film, playing a supporting role in the 2021 film Liquorice Pizza. For as long as Waits remains active, the hopes of a collaboration with Florence and/or the Machine remain alive in the hopes of both fans and Welch alike.
