Tom Verlaine of Television, Dead at 73

Patti Smith eulogized that there was no one like him

Tom Verlaine by Paul Bachmann is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Tom Verlaine couldn’t sing for shit.

That sentiment is neither disparaging nor is it mine — Verlaine said it himself in multiple interviews over the years. If anything, that statement was modestly candid and wholly self-deprecating, as he was known to be. Tom was a serious musician who tried not to take himself too seriously, at least not all the time.

Verlaine knew that his strength as a musician was primarily as a guitarist and songwriter and that he was a singer merely out of necessity — no one else’s voice could have sold his songs.

It was his voice, quirky and distinctive, imperfect and exclusive, that possessed the imperfect perfect fit for what it was he did best.

And so, it went that he wrote and played and sang his songs until, sadly, he passed away last week after a brief illness at the age of 73.

Tom Verlaine, born Thomas Joseph Miller in December 1949, came from humble beginnings in New Jersey. In the late 60s, afte…