Tom Waits inducts Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!

Tom Waits was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday.

The colorful songwriter joined a class of Dr. John, Neil Diamond, Alice Cooper, Darlene Love and Leon Russell at induction ceremonies Monday at the Waldorf Astoria.

Tom, 61, performed Make It Rain, Rain Dogs and House Where Nobody Live sin the ceremony. He was joined by Neil Young on Get Behind the Mule and was also accompanied by his son Casey on drums, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos on guitar and accordion, Larry Taylor on bass and Marc Ribot on guitar.

Waits a previous winner of Grammy Awards for his albums Bone Machinen and Mule Variations joked that his rock hall trophy was heavy and wondered if he could have a key-chain version “that I can keep with me in case I hear somebody say, ‘Pete, take the cuffs off him. He’s a Hall of Famer.”‘

He described songs as “just very interesting things to be doing with the air.” and drew laughs from the audience saying, “They say that I have no hits and that I’m difficult to work with. And they say that like it’s a bad thing.”

The work by the inducted artists will be celebrated in perpetuity at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.