Been a long time since we looked at a cover version, so let's set that right now. I guess Rod must be something of a Waits fan; he's covered two of Tom's songs, both of which were hits for him, but of the two I prefer his cover of “Downtown train”. Now, I prefer Waits' version of course, being a big fan of his, but I have to admit Rod didn't do too bad a job with it. Mind you, he didn't exactly rewrite or rearrange it, and it's fairly much the same song, but sung without Waits' world-weary drawl and his vision of the world seen through the grimy window of a run-down motel. Rod did change a few things, like the phrasing, but stuck more or less to and retained the general spirit of the song. His version is also more polished, more fleshed out whereas Waits' is rawer, stripped-down, sparse but this is the very reason that it works as it does. Here anyway are the two side-by-side for you to compare, and decide which you prefer.