‘Take One Last Look’, Tom Waits Pays Tribute to David Letterman With a Beautiful Heartfelt Song

On the May 14th episode of the Late Show with David Letterman, longtime guest Tom Waits paid a touching tribute to the retiring host with the quiet, heartfelt song “Take One Last Look“, accompanied only by his acoustic guitar, an accordion played by Gabriel Donohue, and a standup bass played by Larry Taylor.

Let’s look forward to the lights that are new
The world’s a ribbon of road for you
All towns have churches and tire shops
They put up speed limit signs and they hire cops
I love to see the wind in your hair
All we ever need we can get anywhere

And take one last look at the place that you are leaving
Take one last look
Oh, take one last look at the place that you are leaving
Take one last look

The two men and guest George Clooney also had an interesting discussion about salad lines, gluten, and retirement.

Waits had been a frequent guest of Letterman’s at least 10 times, beginning in 1983. Here’s his first first appearance on December 21, 1983.