Tom Waits’ two favourite movie themes
Tom Waits isn’t just one of music’s favourite left-fielders. As well as delivering a lengthy discography of albums that have explored the lengths and depths of the rock terrain, from piano ballads to glitchy, off-kilter experimental cuts, Waits also has a long list of acting credits. Straddling both the music and film worlds, his love for film soundtracks feels like the perfect bridge between his two passions.
Really, it wouldn’t be surprising if there were people who only knew Waits as an actor, unaware of his whole musical legacy. More likely, there will undoubtedly be people who know Waits’ face without knowing his name. As an actor, he’s worked with prominent names like Francis Ford Coppola, Jim Jarmusch, Paul Thomas Anderson and more. He’s starred alongside A-list actors like Sylvester Stallone, Colin Farrel, Liam Neeson and hoards more, regularly found popping up in major features.
“I do some acting,” he told Pitchfork. “And there’s a difference between ‘I do some acting’ and ‘I’m an actor’,” he clarified, talking about how the entertainment world can often be quite small-minded or limiting. As he always wanted to balance music with his myriad other projects, he kept acting as a more casual side fling. “People don’t really trust people to do two things well. If they’re going to spend money, they want to get the guy who’s the best at what he does,” he said.
But clearly, the two sides of the coin spin in a perfect motion for Waits. It seems that one feeds into the other, as in a list of his all-time favourite songs, two film score themes cropped up. Alongside tracks from major musical legends like Frank Sinatra, The Doors, Bob Dylan and Nick Cave, he considers these two soundtrack pieces to be deserving of a place among the best and most beloved music ever made, or at least the pieces of music he holds dearest.
The first is ‘Theme from Once Upon A Time In America’, the title score from the epic four-hour-long crime drama from Sergio Leone. Starring Robert De Niro and James Woods, it’s the sort of film that directors, ever since its release in 1984, have been referencing as a vital inspiration. It especially feels tied to Francis Ford Coppola, who Waits worked with on The Outsiders, as both Coppola and Leone created classic gangster flicks.
The second comes in the form of ‘Theme from Rawhide’, picked from the classic 1951 western movie. While cowboy films and gangster films certainly sit on two very different ends of the spectrum, both themes are rich with drama and suspense. They tell a story in the music, much like Waits’ own work does. Clearly, this cinematic or even theatrical flair is something he’s always loved and something he takes from his movie work into his musical experimentation.
It could be said that Waits, in his own way, also writes scores or ‘themes’ for his albums. His instrumental work seems to act in the same way, as it captures the energy of the album and translates it into sounds. So, while he always says he merely does “some acting”, he’s definitely taken a lot from his time in front of the camera.
