Tom Waits' Rain Dogs: Influences and Musical Genre

• Author / Creator

  Tchir, Stephen P

• This thesis examines the implications of musical genre for American songwriter Tom Waits’ 1985 studio album Rain Dogs. A discussion of recording artists and composers of the twentieth century that influenced Waits at this time serves to identify the multiple styles within which he writes and performs. Descriptive analyses of each of the album’s nineteen tracks highlight salient musical elements to demonstrate how these pieces fit within specific styles. Finally, a music and text analysis demonstrates how Waits’ performance of multiple musical genres, each with their own encoded historical and cultural associations, affects the thematic content and narrative structure of the album.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Genre
  • Influences
  • Waits

• Graduation date

  Fall 2013

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3W669K70

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.