Known covers:
Life Imitates Art. Steve Glotzer. September 12, 2000. The Orchard

Notes:

⁽¹⁾ Jay S. Jacobs: "Diamonds on My Windshield" was scribbled on the back of a tour itinerary in a single spontaneous burst, and it recalls Tom's days of shuffling between San Diego and Los Angeles, stopping regularly for a cup of coffee, a bathroom break, or a car repair. Pulling out this scrap of paper in the studio, Tom began to wrestle with his jotted lyrics, but "Diamonds" just wouldn't click. Finally, the session musicians caught a vibe that Tom liked. The bassist, Jim Hughart, hit on a cool bass line, and the drummer, who that day was Jim Gordon, pulled out the brushes and delivered a hot shuffle beat. Gordon, a brilliant studio musician, was once a member of Eric Clapton's supergroup, Derek and the Dominoes; he cowrote the rock anthem "Layla" with Clapton. Years later, in a fit of dementia, he killed his mother, and he was forced to spend his later years in a mental hospital. But that day at Wally Heider Recording the atmosphere was unclouded by specters of tragedy. Waits, Hughart, and Gordon nailed "Diamonds on My Windshield" on the first take. (Source: Wild Years, The Music and Myth of Tom Waits. Jay S. Jacobs, 2000)
- Tom Waits: (introducing Diamonds On My Windshield, Folkscene, 1974): "This is about driving in the rain. I used to make that track from San Diego to Los Angeles a lot, usually with several pit stops on the way with engine trouble. So this is about driving in the rain, circa 1973, so slip me some crimson, Jimson." (Source: Folkscene 1974, with Howard and Roz Larman (KPFK-FM 90.7) audio tape. Date: Los Angeles/ USA. July 23, 1974 (June 10?))
- Tom Waits: On Diamonds On My Windshield (WAMU Radio, 1975): "I didn't really know what to do with that piece cause it was written out just as some spontaneous verse that I had written on the back of an itinerary and I didn't know what the hell to do with it. So we went in the studio and I tried singing it, tried doing it a-capella - nothing worked. Jim Hughart was playing the upright bass with me for that session just started playing a modal bass line and I just started talking and Jim Gordon started playing a cool 12 bar shuffle on brushes and we just winged it in one take and we had it and I like the way it came out. I'm gonna do more of that on this 3rd album that I'm thinking about right now and writing for out here. I bring a tape recorder with me and when I get back to the hotel I talk to myself and I'm working on some spoken word pieces that I want to do with accompaniment. I call it Metropolitan Doubletalk and I'm going to be doing more of that on this forthcoming album. It's called Nighthawk Postcards From Easy Street so I'm going to explore some more of that kind of thing." (Source: WAMU Radio Interview, audio tape. Date: Washington, DC. April 18, 1975)
- Tom Waits (introducing Diamonds On My Windshield, 1976): "Well, let's see here eh... I eh... ehm. I'm gonna do a thing about cars eh. This is kind of a, sort of a mutational eh sub cultural eh automotive eh Southern California fascination with the internal combustion engine. Maybe we do something here eh.. [starts snapping fingers] This is about a eh... I don't know eh, it seemed like getting my drivers license when I was a kid, was like ehm... You know eh, certainly a major event, you know eh. I mean it was almost as important as puberty. You know eh, so eh... Well the first car I ever had I bought for $125 from a guy eh who was leaving town, and he had to let it go and it was like eh, real sentimental to him, you know eh? It was a Buick Roadmaster and eh he said: "Well, turn it over." [imitates starting engine trouble]. Well I said: "Well, I give you $100 for it." Huh, huh... And eh, so this is a little bit of eh... little piece here about driving in the rain... No wipers, and a glove compartment full of moving violations. You know? Huh, huh..." (Source: WNEW FM: Vin Scelsa's Idiot's Delight Date: Recorded MediaSound Studios NYC. December 14, 1976. Aired December 18, 1976 on WNEW-FM. Rebroadcast March 24, 1996 WNEW-FM)

⁽²⁾ Duster: American car produced by Chrystler (Plymouth Duster, Plymouth Valiant Duster)

⁽³⁾ Change one's tune:
- phr. [late 16C+] to alter one's opinions or statements, esp. to go back on what one has previously said [musical imagery] (Source: "Cassell's Dictionary Of Slang". Jonathon Green. Cassel & Co., 1998. ISBN: 0-304-35167-9).
- Also mentioned in Drunk On The Moon, 1974: "Don't try and change my tune."

⁽⁴⁾ Cueball, cue-ball n.: A man or a boy who has just had a close or crew haircut. Army and student use. Because of the resemblance between a white billiard cue ball and a closely cropped head. Archaic (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner) 

⁽⁵⁾ Oceanside, it ends the ride with San Clemente coming up: Driving from San Diego along the Interstate (I-5 freeway) in the Los Angeles direction. "The I-5 freeway has replaced the notorious old US-101 highway, a three-lane road whose center passing lane was so dangerous it earned the name "blood alley", the site of more fatalities per mile than any other stretch of road in the state." The I-5 freeway was completed in 1960 and was the last major section of US-101 to be signed on a new alignment south of Los Angeles.

⁽⁶⁾ Desperado n.: A person who borrows or gambles larger sums than he will be able to pay; one whose standard of living is sensationally more costly than his income warrants (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner) 

⁽⁷⁾ Fly-by-night
- n.: One who defrauds his creditors by decamping at night-time. (Source: "The First Hypertext Edition of The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable", E. Cobham Brewer. © 1997-99 Bibliomania.com Ltd)
- [late 19C+] anyone dubious, crooked, criminal, esp. of a businessman who takes one's money but fails to provide any or at least adequate recompense