Look i promise to check out the Tom Waits version later but man this is cool.  I wonder if Nick Cave liked this guy?

I'm back from checking out the Tom Waits version and sorry but most of you are wrong.  This version is way better.

 Deadwing wrote: 
You MUST shoot it in the head. It's the only way.

 brownbrown wrote: 
Me too.  A shame it had to go.  Although I'm glad they never used John Campbell's version as the theme song.

My theory is that if you are going to cover Tom Waits, your voice should not sound like his. This doesn't work for me.

This gets a 4.3, while Tom Waits consistently averages 7s and 8s. I guess I don't hear the difference. It's all crap to me.

 DoctorHooey wrote: 

Yep.

I MISS "THE WIRE".

Zombie Woof?   hehehehehe

trying to sounds like Tom Waits is not very clever,
John, try it next time with your own voice, thanks....

Uhm, yeah.  Mr. Waits "pretty much owns this song now(?)."  He even gets the royalty check.  HE WROTE IT!

 i4niblind wrote: 

Wow! Another RP find! I saw him way back at a Maine Festival right before he died. He had that National Steel guitar, the crowd didn't seem to notice him too much but I sure did.

 Mugro wrote: 

I was just thinking the same thing

 marci28 wrote: 

Yeah, they had a different version for each season, but oddly not this one.

I am surprised that no one has yet commented that this song (or at least several other versions of it) have been used as the theme music for the HBO series "The Wire."

Good show that.

Not a very good version here, IMO.
EDIT: I guess I didn't read the very first comment!!

Anyway, I would love to hear some of the other versions that the show used of this song. They used a different version each of their five seasons.

YA.  Waits pretty much owns this song now.  Sort of like Jonny Cash owning "Hurt" by NIN.  Great song though.

Pyro wrote: A bit younger and we would not have been subjected to this awful tripe.

Sounds like something off a David Lynch soundtrack. In a good way,7.

Johnny "Slim" Campbell...a local talent who died much too young.

really -- what's the point.

Tom Waits from Big Time. THAT is THE version.

I also started to think it was Waits, but I wasn't sure. Very enjoyable though. Slick cover.

I'm a big Waits fan and it took me a while to warm up to this version. Campbell was a great talent who died long before his time. It's a shame he never received his due.

Podge wrote: a pale imitation of the original, imho. this just sucks. i agree with the previous comments. let's just hear tom's version. nobody should cover tom waits except maybe devo or something. although i did kinda like rod stewart's cover of "downtown train." then again, rod the mod just used it as fodder for his patented "rod stewart treatment." this falls into the same category as that lame "games w/o frontiers" cover that bill has been suffering us through.

RP, are you kidding me with this stuff? I'm disappointed.

Shawneeo wrote: Exactly. This is styled so close to TW that it's uncomfortable. "Tom Waits called and wants his schtick back...."

Why not just play the real thing?

One of my favorite Tom Waits songs... but this version sucks.

loveslave wrote: I surely agree! That one is hilarious and the first time I heard it, at the same time, also a bit frightening. Tom Waits playing the religious, fanatical preacher. Knowing that one, this version doesn't do it for me, at all. Though Campbell has a fine and mighty voice. I uploaded Waits' Big Time version, but it didn't make it.

What a magnificent voice!

Always nice to hear a Tom Waits cover, but personally I prefer the ... uhm, rawness of the version from Big Time. Any chance of that being added to the playlist?

Woo, way gritty for a gospel tune. Cool juxtaposition. - "Heheh, come on down to my hole, I got lotsa nice girls... "

Hey! Yet another version of the song that I know as the theme song to \"the Wire\". Cool!