Martha (track)
by Tom Waits
Martha appears on the following album(s) by Tom Waits:
- Closing Time (track #6) (this album) (1973)
- The Asylum Years (track #3) (compilation) (1986)
- Anthology Of Tom Waits (track #5) (compilation) (1985)
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Martha ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
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Showing latest 5 ratings for this track. | Show all 143 ratings for this track.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Track ratings | Avg. track rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01/30/2026 16:11 |  HoldenM | 8,504 | 91/100 | |
| 12/31/2025 14:57 | Exist-en-ciel | 97,719 | 71/100 | |
| 06/17/2025 13:50 |  Repo | 5,881 | 84/100 | |
| 05/19/2025 18:36 | villagegreen831 | 353 | 83/100 | |
| 05/08/2025 02:42 |  AAL2014 | 36,524 | 76/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some tracks can have several thousand ratings)
This track is rated in the top 1% of all tracks on BestEverAlbums.com. This track has a Bayesian average rating of 87.9/100, a mean average of 87.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 88.7/100. The standard deviation for this track is 12.7.
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Martha comments
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The centrepiece of the Closing time album. Martha sees Tom Waits effortlessly slip into the character of a man well beyond his very own years to bring us something heartfelt and warm but undeniably sad and tinged with regret and loneliness. It's a beautiful song and is without doubt the best track on his debut LP and Waits' first masterpiece. Many more were to follow of course but i'm not sure if any of them ever had quite the emotional impact that this excellent song has. A perfect song.
buzzdainer 08/26/2016 18:52 | #173537
This song is one side of a long-distance phone conversation between "old Tom Frost" and his one-time lover, Martha. It's a lovely and incredibly sad story of the role of memory and nostalgia as we get older, and the enduring power of love. Just Tom Waits and his piano, climaxing with the haunting lines, "Martha / Martha / I love you, can't you see?"
Some of the most beautiful lyrics I've heard on a debut album.
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