Closing Time (album) - Background

Background

Tom Waits began his musical career in 1970, performing every Monday night at The Troubadour, a venue in Los Angeles, California. Waits' setlist at these series of shows, described as "hootenanny nights", consisted primarily of Bob Dylan covers, although it included songs which would later appear on Closing Time and its successor, The Heart of Saturday Night (1974). Among the songs performed were "Ice Cream Man", "Virginia Avenue", "Ol' '55", "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You", "Shiver Me Timbers" and "Diamonds on my Windshield." Around this time, Waits began working as a doorman at the nearby club, The Heritage, which was a coffee house by day. In November 1970, Waits performed his first paid show at The Heritage, earning $25 for his performance. At a Troubadour performance in summer 1971, Herb Cohen inadvertently spotted Waits and became his manager. Through Cohen's contacts, Waits recorded demos in Los Angeles in late summer 1971 with producer Robert Duffey, later released as The Early Years in two volumes, against Waits' wishes. In order to focus on his career, Waits relocated from San Diego to Los Angeles in early 1972 and performed more frequently at The Troubadour, where David Geffen discovered him performing "Grapefruit Moon." The performance, which "floored" Geffen, led Geffen to negotiate with Waits' manager Cohen, and Waits signed to Asylum Records within a month.