"Romeo Is Bleeding" is a song written and performed by Tom Waits

Tom Waits

Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

, and released on his 1978 album, Blue Valentine.

Lyrics

Jay S. Jacobs, in his book Wild years: the music and myth of Tom Waits, describes "Romeo is Bleeding" as depicting "a guy who sticks a shiv into the local sheriff [and] is fatally shot in the chest — a familiar Waits image, with echoes of West Side Story

West Side Story

West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...

". Waits had more overtly referenced West Side Story earlier on the Blue Valentine album, with "Somewhere

Somewhere (song)

"Somewhere" is a song from the 1957 Broadway musical West Side Story which was made into a film in 1961. The music is composed by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and takes a phrase from the slow movement of Beethoven's 'Emperor' Piano Concerto, which forms the start of the...

" as the opening track. According to Waits, the song is based on a real incident in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, and concerns "a Mexican gang leader who was shot and died in a movie house in downtown L.A." The song's lyrics make frequent use of Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

, including phrases such as "Hey Pachuco

Pachuco

Pachucos are Chicano youths who developed their own subculture during the 1930s and 1940s in the Southwestern United States. They wore distinctive clothing and spoke their own dialect of Mexican Spanish, called Caló or Pachuco...

!", "Dáme esa pistola, hombre!" (Give me that pistol, man!), "Hijo de la chingada madre!" (You son of a fucking whore!), and "Vamos a dormir, hombre" (Let's go to sleep, man). Waits also makes a reference to gangster movie-star James Cagney

James Cagney

James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...

, also mentioned in "Invitation to the Blues" from the album Small Change

Small Change

Small Change is an album by Tom Waits, released in 1976 on Asylum Records. It was recorded in July 1976.-Production:Small Change was recorded, direct to 2-track stereo tape, July 15,19,20,21, and 29, 1976 at the Wally Heider Recording Studio, in Hollywood, USA under the production of Bones...

.

Reception

Music critic Adrian Denning wrote that "one song that would, could and SHOULD rank amongst [Waits'] finest moments is the fabulous Jazz swing and late night seedy feel of "Romeo Is Bleeding."" While lukewarm towards Blue Valentine in general, Denning remarked that "Romeo Is Bleeding" "corrects matters somewhat," citing the song's "great vocals and... bass groove." Robert Christgau

Robert Christgau

Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...

 wrote that "Romeo Is Bleeding" was "easily my favorite among his Chandleroid

Raymond Chandler

Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...

 sagas of tragedy outside the law," but added that it is "more effective on the jacket

Album cover

An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...

 than when he [Waits] underlines its emotional resonance in song." Patrick Humphries, in his book The many lives of Tom Waits, was unimpressed, labelling the song a "rewrite" of Waits' 1976 song, "Small Change." The song later lent its name to the film Romeo is Bleeding

Romeo Is Bleeding

Romeo Is Bleeding is a darkly comic 1993 crime film starring Gary Oldman and Lena Olin, directed by Peter Medak. The film's title was taken from a song by Tom Waits....

, directed by Peter Medak

Peter Medak

Peter Medak is a Hungarian-born film director of British and American films.-Early life:He was born in Budapest, Hungary to a Jewish family, but in 1956 fled his native country for England due to the Hungarian Revolution...

 and starring Gary Oldman

Gary Oldman

Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...

.

Cover versions

"Romeo is Bleeding" has been covered by a number of artists, including MC 900 Ft. Jesus

MC 900 Ft. Jesus

MC 900 Ft. Jesus is the stage name of Mark Griffin, a classically trained musician turned rapper and experimental musician born in Dallas, Texas....

 for the tribute album

Tribute album

A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...

 Step Right Up: The Songs of Tom Waits

Step Right Up: The Songs of Tom Waits

Step Right Up: The Songs of Tom Waits is the title of a tribute album to Tom Waits, released in 1995 by Manifesto Records. The songs are performed by various artists.-Track listing:All songs written by Tom Waits.#"Old Shoes" – [06:29] Drugstore...

(1995), and by Dexter Romweber's Infernal Racket for the tribute album

Tribute album

A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...

 New Coat of Paint

New Coat of Paint

New Coat of Paint is the title of a tribute album to Tom Waits, released in 2000 by Manifesto Records. The songs are performed by various artists.-Track listing:All songs written by Tom Waits...

(2000).