Covers Project: “Downtown Train”
It’s my birthday, so I’m indulging and featuring a track by one of my favorite musicians, Tom Waits, despite the fact that no one else on our staff can stand him.
“Downtown Train” appeared on Waits’ seminal Rain Dogs album in 1985 and was an outlier for the middle of Waits’ avant-garde phase. Instead of the odd instrumentation and fractured structures of most of his junkyard-era songs, this is a return to his folk-jazz troubadour role, with a straight-forward pop sound and lyrics that are both aching and romantic:
Outside another yellow moon
Punched a hole in the nighttime
I climb through the window and down to the street
I’m shining like a new dime
Tom Waits – “Downtown Train”
As with many of Waits’ songs, the covers are better known than the original. In addition to dozens of covers by smaller acts, “Downtown Train” was covered by a number of better-known artists.
In 1987, both Patty Smyth (note: not Patti Smith) and Mary Chapin Carpenter recorded versions. Chapin’s folk/country version appeared on her 1987 debut album, Hometown Girl, while Smyth’s appeared on her solo debut, Never Enough.
The best known version was Rod Stewart’s 1989 take. His gauzy, lite-rock version far surpassed sales of Waits’ original on its way to a #3 Billboard spot (also reached #1 in the mainstream rock, adult contemporary and Canadian charts). Bob Seger was also rumored to have recorded a version in 1989, but never released it because Stewart had beaten him to it.
Electro-pop duo Everything but the Girl released an acoustic version on their aptly named 1992 album Acoustic.
MP3s:
Tom Waits – “Downtown Train”Rod Stewart – “Downtown Train” [f. Jeff Beck]
Patty Smyth – “Downtown Train”
Mary Chapin Carpenter – “Downtown Train”
Everything but the Girl – “Downtown Train”
Everyone else on the staff hates him? Hmmm….. You know I’ve always admired his more traditional records (ie: Closing Time, Heart of Saturday Night) but stayed away from his stranger efforts with the exception of Rain Dogs. This might change soon though…..I’ve been listening to a lot lately and it’s growing on me.
I was exaggerating a little because everyone else really does dislike him and you were always somewhat on the fence.
So happy to hear you’re getting into the stranger stuff. It takes a little getting used to, but it’s brilliant stuff.
[...] Click here to go to SD to check Rod Stewart, and Patty Smyth (of Scandal) both cover Tom Waits’ classic “Downtown Train” [...]
Thanks for the post!
Waits version is far superior, if nothing else because he really ‘feels’ the song. Closest is Everything but the Girl. Stewart’s version is just pop crap.
As for Waits later stuff, I evolved like a lot of others. I started with his bluesy jazz stuff from the ’70’s, and then began to digest, then love the 80’s.
Now, especially after seeing him in concert a few times (my wife converted the first time she saw him in concert), I listen almost exclusively to the new stuff.
Regards, Dave.
The other staffers are missing out!
I’ll have to admit, I’ve always liked Steward version, not really because it’s good, but because it got Waits’ words on the radio.
Thanks for these!