tom waits - ol' 55 (studio-1973) now, eagles' cover of this is pretty great ...

[mr_lebowski]

but sometimes you feel like the original ...

[Upthevibe]

1. God I LOVE that song....

It's only been in recent years that I discovered it wasn't an original Eagles song. The first time I ever heard it was on their wonderful album On The Border. And they really did a great Rendition -but I agree, the original by the writer is excellent as well.

[mr_lebowski]

2. It is indeed great ... :) (nt)

[pecosbob]

3. I find listening to Tom Waits a lot like reading Charles Bukowski

[sop]

4. I can listen to Ol' 55 and Looking for the Heart of Saturday Night over and over, for hours.

Waits didn't like The Eagles cover of Ol' 55:

“I frankly was not that particularly crazy about their rendition of it. The song is about 5 years old, it’s one of the first songs I wrote so I felt like it was kind of flattering that somebody wanted to do your song but at the same time I thought their version was a little antiseptic.”

“Naw – I don’t like the Eagles. They’re about as exciting as watching paint dry. Their albums are good for keeping the dust off your turntable and that’s about all.”

[cemaphonic]

5. That whole album is great

I just learned the guitar solo in Old Shoes & Picture Postcards.

Even without the signature weirdness of Waits' later style, he's just a damn good songwriter and singer.