Phoebe Bridgers

Listen to Phoebe Bridgers reimagine Tom Waits' "Day After Tomorrow"

Phoebe Bridgers has released a cover of Tom Waits’ “Day After Tomorrow.” The new track continues her annual tradition of dropping appropriately themed music just in time for Christmas.

The new song features an all-star cast to help Bridgers in her reimagining of Waits’ song. Mumford & Sons‘ Marcus Mumford, Kaitlyn Dever and Mady Dever, Z Berg, Blake Mills, Annie Stela, Ethan Gruska, bandmate Emily Kohavi and collaborator Harrison Whitford.

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Waits released “Day After Tomorrow” on his 2004 album Real Gone. The track is one of Waits’ more explicitly political numbers, speaking to the context surrounding 9/11 and the U.S. response. The track is energetic while retaining the spirit of Waits’ distinctive sound, his voice capturing the anger and confusion of that era.

Bridgers’ rendition moderates the harsher edges of Waits’ music. However, the song showcases a natural synergy between Bridgers and Waits, who often use rolling guitar parts to create layers of motion and contrast in their music. Her rendition lifts the song up, both in tone and feeling, transforming it into a meditation on the injustices and pain that affect so many people across the world.

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Bridgers is no stranger to imaginative Christmas covers. She has released a string of covers annually since 2017. She began the tradition in 2017 with a rendition of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” following that with a cover of McCarthy Trenching’s “Christmas Song” featuring Jackson Browne. 2019 saw her spin on Simon & Garfunkel’s “7 O’Clock News/Silent Night” featuring Fiona Apple and the National’s Matt Berninger. In 2020, she released a cover of country icon Merle Haggard’s “If We Make It Through December.” The full collection was released that year as the If We Make It Through December EP.

Proceeds from “Day After Tomorrow” benefit The International Institute of Los Angeles’ Local Integration and Family Empowerment division. The organization provides skills and other resources for refugees, immigrants and survivors of human trafficking who reside in Southern California.