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exposure for a fledgling artist by inviting more established acts to record his or her material was a strategy that Geffen had implemented for years, dating back to the days when he managed Laura Nyro. Pop songstress Nyro had, like Waits, been adored by the critics from the outset of her career, but she’d had trouble accessing a broad audience, so Geffen went to work convincing some big-name acts to record her songs. As a result, Laura Nyro songs became hits for such luminaries as The Fifth Dimension (“Blowin’ Away,” “Wedding Bell Blues,” and “Stoned Soul Picnic”), Three Dog Night (“Eli’s Comin’”), Blood, Sweat and Tears (“And When I Die”), and Barbra Streisand (“Stoney End”).
    Now it was Tom Waits’s turn, and Geffen flexed his networking muscles. “I turned Bette Midler on to his music. And a lot of other people. I put The Eagles together with his music. I tried to get Rod Stewart to record one of his songs.” Geffen suggested to The Eagles that they record “Ol’ 55.” In a Hollywood bar one night, Tom ran into an Eagle who told him that the band had heard the song and was thinking of recording it. Waits was flattered. Shortly afterward, he hit the road for about three months. He didn’t hear another thing about it until “Ol’ 55” showed up on The Eagles’ 1974 album
On the Border
. The band also released “Ol’ 55” as a single (the flip side was a tribute to actor James Dean).
    The Eagles’ version of “Ol’ 55” was solid, well recorded, but it was characterized by the band’s Southern California country-rock vibe, and it didn’t approach the depths of Waits’s own recording. For The Eagles, “Ol’ 55” was just a car, but for Waits it was a lifeline. An unimpressed Waits called the
On the Border
version of his ode to the automobile “antiseptic” and then remarked that the only good thing he could think of to say about your average Eagles album was that it kept the dust off the turntable. Soon afterward, Fairport Convention and Matthews Southern Comfort alumnus Ian Matthews gave “Ol’ 55” a shot, as did folk singer Eric Andersen. Tom finally concluded that he much preferred his own version. 18
    In the meantime, Herb Cohen had employed the Geffen strategy and talked Tim Buckley into trying his hand at recording a Tom Waits song. Buckley was himself a respected songwriter with several acclaimed albums under his belt
— Happy Sad
(1969),
Starsailor
(1970) — and a cult following to boot, so some industry insiders were surprised at his decision to include a version of Waits’s “Martha” on his 1974 album
Sefronia
. But the decision turned out to be a wise one. Buckley added his own twist to this gentle, wistful tune without sabotaging Waits’s intentions.
    As his old songs, for better or for worse, took on new life, Waits was moving ahead. He’d taken his act on the road, winning new fans by delivering the goods in person. He’d been writing some new songs.
Closing Time
was launched, and now it was time to record a new album.

3
LOOKING FOR THE HEART OF SATURDAY NIGHT
    In the summer of 1974, Waits hunkered down to work on his follow-up album. It’s conventional wisdom in the music industry that if an artist’s first album is a hit then the second will disappoint; after all, he’s had years to work on the first album but the countdown’s on for the second (in publishing, it’s called the second-novel syndrome). Waits was well aware of this, and he resolved not to fall victim to the sophomore jinx.
    David Geffen wanted to hook Waits up with a new producer and immediately thought of Dayton Burr “Bones” Howe, who had engineered or produced a string of acts, ranging from Elvis Presley to The Association. The tall, gangly Bones — who’d been given his nickname as