Keith Richards and Tom Waits’ musical collaboration has lasted nearly 40 years. It wasn’t until both artists had established themselves, Richards with The Rolling Stones and Wait navigating the 1970s singer-songwriter movement, that they decided to collaborate.
Richards and Waits first collaborated on Waits’ seminal 1985 album, Rain Dogs, because they shared a love of traditional American musical genres. “There was something in there that I thought he would understand,” Waits later explained. “I chose a couple of songs that I thought he would understand, and he did. He has a great voice and is a wonderful presence in the studio. He’s very spontaneous; he moves like an animal.
Waits quickly reciprocated, appearing as a backing vocalist on The Rolling Stones’ Dirty Work album the following year. Richards and Waits’ bond remained strong. It led to their collaboration on the co-written and duet track ‘That Feel‘ from Waits’ 1992 album, Bone Machine. Richards contributed four songs to Tom Waits’ 17th studio album, Bad As Me, released in 2011. Even after all these years, Richards felt a strong connection to Waits’ music.
Their musical connection is founded on a genuine and warm personal rapport. Waits is described as “a real rhythm man” by Richards, and Waits compares himself to “a frying pan made from one piece of metal.” He can heat it high and it won’t crack, it just changes color.”
However, the first rendezvous appears to have taken place as a result of Waits’ lighthearted joke. “I said, ‘What about Keith Richards'”? Waits later recalled, mentioning Richards as a possible collaborator on Rain Dogs. “I was joking, but someone called him and he said, ‘Yeah’. I said, ‘Now we’re really in trouble…'”
Richards then entered the New York studio, drank some Cutty Sark, and contributed to ‘Blind Love‘, ‘Union Square‘, and ‘Big Black Mariah‘. Waits’ usual explanation was that the guitarist was settling a financial debt. However, as a result of their shared passions for music and sonic exploration, the two developed a genuine, mutual connection.
“Musically, what I noticed about Keith, is he’s really big on detail,” Waits said in the 2015 Netflix documentary Keith Richards: Under the Influence. “And you must be if you are an archaeologist. Do you know how important locality data is? Not only do you want to know where something came from, but also what its principles and properties are. He’s like a London cabbie with knowledge, but he has it in music.”
