Album · Tom Waits
Closing Time by Tom Waits
Closing Time is an album by Tom Waits, released in 1973. 4 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 35 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Martha”, on 26 lists with a best position of #18.
Closing Time, Tom Waits' debut, came out on Asylum on March 6, 1973, and it's the sound of a young songwriter newly landed in Los Angeles, nursing a drink at the piano after everybody else has gone home. Jerry Yester, once of the Lovin' Spoonful, produced and arranged it, and though Waits pictured a jazzy, piano-led record, what came out leans more toward folk, with blues and jazz smoke curling around the edges and that gravelly voice already sounding older than the man.
It didn't chart and barely registered overseas, but the songs travelled. The Eagles, his labelmates, covered the lone single, "Ol' '55", and Tim Buckley and Bette Midler picked up others. "Martha" is the one the countdown voters have held on to, and the album has since gone gold in the UK and gathered a devoted cult following.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Closing Time on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martha | 26 | #18 | – | 1999–2025 | |
| 2 | Ol' 55 | 6 | #70 | – | 2001–2024 | |
| 3 | I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You | 2 | #222 | – | 2004–2007 | |
| 4 | Grapefruit Moon | 1 | #1195 | – | 2020 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.