Album · Tom Waits
Heartattack and Vine by Tom Waits
Heartattack and Vine is an album by Tom Waits, released in 1980. 1 song from it has charted on rock radio countdowns, with 9 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Jersey Girl”, on 9 lists with a best position of #514.
Heartattack and Vine, Tom Waits' seventh studio album, came out on September 9, 1980, the last he'd make for Asylum, and it finds the barroom balladeer rolling up his sleeves. Bones Howe produced, and alongside the late-night ballads there's a new grit: bluesy rock stomps, that deep, gravelly voice growling through songs about the lowlifes and the lost.
The songs got around. Bruce Springsteen took "Jersey Girl" into his live shows, with Waits joining him onstage to sing it on August 24, 1981, and Springsteen put it on Live/1975-85. "On the Nickel" was written for Ralph Waite's film of the same name, Jean-Luc Godard used "Ruby's Arms" in First Name: Carmen, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins recorded the title track. By the end of 1980 Waits had married Kathleen Brennan, parted with his manager and his label and moved to New York, and the stranger, more experimental records were just around the corner.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Heartattack and Vine on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jersey Girl | 9 | #514 | – | 2004–2026 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.