| Back in the Crowd | |
| Cover: | Tom Waits - Back in the Crowd single.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Tom Waits |
| Album: | Bad as Me |
| Genre: | Rock, Latin |
| Label: | ANTI-, Epitaph[1] |
| Producer: | Tom Waits, Kathleen Brennan |
| Prev Title: | Bad as Me |
| Prev Year: | 2011 |
"Back in the Crowd" is a song by American rock musician Tom Waits. It is the second single and seventh track from Waits' seventeenth studio album, Bad as Me.[2] [3] Written and produced by Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan, the song was released on September 27, 2011 as a digital download via iTunes and Spotify.
"Back in the Crowd" is a guitar-driven Latin-influenced midtempo ballad.[4] It features guitar work from Los Lobos guitarist and vocalist David Hidalgo and longtime collaborator Marc Ribot.[5]
Tom Waits described the song as "an old fashioned jukebox tune for a slow dance with your girl (or guy)."[6]
Upon its release, the song received mainly positive reviews. Thom Jurek of Allmusic described the song as "the wasted lover's plea in the West Texas mariachi."[7] Filter magazine wrote: "the song is obviously short and oftentimes tinged with bittersweetness", also adding that "Waits' deep croon evokes the sadness found in the song's mellow melody and lyrics."[8] Luke Larsen of Paste magazine praised the song, reporting that "the song sort of just casually shows up and then disappears, but its mood is infectious."[9] Katie Hasty of Hitfix described the song as a "The Southwestern, nylon-string-enhanced loner ballad" and "a trending bawler," also further explaining that "she just slow-danced by herself and had a good cry."[10] Michael Roffman of Consequence of Sound indicated that "the song doesn’t sound like a track that’s on an album titled Bad as Me", while commenting that it is "most likely something your grandparents danced to after the war."[11]