Invitation to the Blues (Tom Waits)

Barney Hoskyns, the biographer of Tom Waits, explains: "The graveyard croak of Mr. Waits' gravelly, bellowing baritone is righteous, paint-scraping, unmistakable; it scatters small animals and slaps your synapses to startled attention." Rarely has such hyperbole been such an accurate description. But there is - and there only ever will be - one Tom Waits. This selection is from his 1976 album, "Small Change" - one among many high points in Mr. Waits' early career.