| Diamonds On My Windshield (Looking For) (Tom Waits 1974) | |
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Well these diamonds on my windshield And these tears from heaven Well I'm pulling into town on the Interstate I got a steel train in the rain And the wind bites my cheek through the wing And it's these late nights and this freeway flying It always makes me sing There's a Duster tryin' to change my tune He's pulling up fast on the right Rolling restlessly by a twenty-four hour moon And a Wisconsin hiker with a cue-ball head He's wishing he was home in a Wiscosin bed But there's fifteen feet of snow in the East Colder then a welldigger's ass And it's colder than a welldigger's ass Oceanside it ends the ride with San Clemente coming up Those Sunday desperadoes slip by and cruise with a dry back And the orange drive-in the neon billin' And the theatre's fillin' to the brim With slave girls and a hot spurn bucket full of sin Metropolitan area with interchanging and connections Fly-by-nights from Riverside And out of state plates running a little late But the sailors jockey for the fast lane |
So 101 don't miss it There's rolling hills and concrete fields And the broken line's on your mind The eights go east and the fives go north And the merging nexus back and forth You see your sign, cross the line, signalling with a blink And the radio's gone off the air Gives you time to think And you hear the rumble As you fumble for a cigarette And blazing through this midnight jungle You remember someone that you met And one more block; the engine talks Whispers 'home at last' Whispers 'home at last' Whispers 'home at last' Whispers 'home at last' Whispers 'home at last' And the diamonds on my windshield And these tears from heaven Well I'm pulling into town on the Interstate I got me a steel train in the rain And the wind bites my cheek through the wing Late nights and freeway flying Always makes me sing It always makes me sing (Hey look here Jack) |
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| The Heart Of Saturday Night (Tom Waits 1974) | |
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Well you gassed her up, behind the wheel With your arm around your sweet one in your Oldsmobile Barrelin' down the boulevard You're looking for the heart of Saturday night You get paid on Friday, pockets are jinglin' And you see the lights you get all tinglin' 'Cause you're cruisin' with a six And you're looking for the heart of Saturday night Then you comb your hair, shave your face Tryin' to wipe out every trace All the other days in the week you know that this'll be the Saturday You're reachin' your peak Stoppin' on the red, you're goin' on the green 'Cause tonight'll be like nothin' you've ever seen And you're barrelin' down the boulevard Lookin' for the heart of Saturday night Tell me is it the crack of the poolballs, neon buzzin? Telephone's ringin', it's your second cousin Is it the barmaid that's smilin' from the corner of her eye? Magic of the melancholy tear in your eye Makes it kind of quiver down in the core 'Cause you're dreamin' of them Saturdays that came before And now you're stumblin' You're stumblin' onto the heart of Saturday night You gassed her up and you're behind the wheel With your arm around your sweet one in your Oldsmobile Barrellin' down the boulevard You're lookin' for the heart of Saturday night Is the crack of the poolballs, neon buzzin? Telephone's ringin', it's your second cousin And the barmaid is smilin' from the corner of her eye Magic of the melancholy tear in your eye Makes it kind of special down in the core And you're dreamin' of them Saturdays that came before It's found you stumblin' Stumblin' onto the heart of Saturday night And you're stumblin' Stumblin onto the heart of Saturday night |
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| Martha (Tom Waits 1973) | |
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Operator, number please, it's been so many years She remember my old voice while I fight the tears? Hello, hello there, is this Martha? This is old Tom Frost And I am calling long distance, don't worry about the cost 'Cause it's been forty years or more, now Martha please recall Meet me out for coffee, where we'll talk about it all And those were days of roses, poetry and prose And Martha all I had was you and all you had was me There was no tomorrows, we'd packed away our sorrows And we saved them for a rainy day And I feel so much older now and you're much older too How's the husband? How's your kids? You know that I got married too? Lucky that you found someone to make you feel secure 'Cause we were all so young and foolish, now we are mature And those were days of roses, poetry and prose And Martha all I had was you and all you had was me There was no tomorrow, we'd packed away our sorrows And we saved them for a rainy day And I was always so impulsive, I guess that I still am And all that really mattered then was that I was a man I guess that our being together was never meant to be And Martha, Martha, I love you can't you see? And those were days of roses, poetry and prose And Martha all I had was you and all you had was me There was no tomorrows, we'd packed away our sorrows And we saved them for a rainy day And I remember quiet evenings trembling close to you |
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| The Ghost Of Saturday Night (After Hours At Napoleone's Pizza House) (Tom Waits 1974) | |
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A cab combs the snake tryin' to rake in that last night's fare And a solitary sailor Who spends the facts of his life like small change on strangers Paws his inside P-coat pocket for a welcome twenty-five cents And the last bent butt from a package of Kents As he dreams of a waitress with Maxwell House eyes And marmalade thighs with scrambled yellow hair Her rhinestone-studded moniker says, "Irene" As she wipes the wisps of dishwater blonde from her eyes And the Texaco beacon burns on The steel-belted attendant with a 'Ring and Valve Special' Cryin' "Fill'er up and check that oil" "You know it could be the distributor and it could be your coil." The early mornin' final edition's on the stands And that town cryer's cryin' there with nickels in his hands Pigs in a blanket sixty-nine cents Eggs-roll 'em over and a package of Kents Adam and Eve on a log, you can sink 'em damn straight Hash browns, hash browns, you know I can't be late And the early dawn cracks out a carpet of diamond Across a cash crop car lot filled with twilight Coupe Devilles Leaving the town in a-keeping Of the one who is sweeping Up the ghost of Saturday night |
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| Grapefruit Moon (Tom Waits 1973) | |
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Grapefruit moon, one star shining, shining down on me Heard that tune and now I'm pining, honey can't you see? 'Cause every time I hear that melody, well something breaks inside And grapefruit moon, one star shining, can't turn back the tide Never had no destinations, could not get across You became my inspiration, oh but what a cost And every time I hear that melody, something breaks inside And grapefruit moon, one star shining, is more than I can hide Now I'm smoking cigarettes and I strive for purity And I slip just like the stars into obscurity But every time I hear that melody, puts me up a tree And grapefruit moon, one star shining, is all that I can see |
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| Small Change (Got Rained On With His Own .38) (Tom Waits 1976) | |
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Small change got rained on with his own .38 And nobody flinched down by the arcade And the marquise weren't weeping They went stark-raving mad And the cabbies were the only ones That really had it made And his cold trousers were twisted And the sirens high and shrill And crumpled in his fist was a five-dollar bill And the naked mannikins with their Cheshire grins And the raconteurs And roustabouts said buddy Come on in Cause, cause the dreams ain't broken down here now Now, they're walking with a limp Now that small change got rained on with his own .38 And nobody flinched down by the arcade And the burglar alarm's been disconnected And the newsmen start to rattle And the cops are tellin' jokes About some whore house in Seattle And the fire hydrants plead the 5th Amendment And the furniture's bargains galore But the blood is by the jukebox On an old linoleum floor And what a hot rain on 42nd Street And now the umbrellas ain't got a chance And the newsboy's a lunatic With stains on his pants Cause, cause small change got rained on with his own .38 And no one's gone over to close his eyes And there's a racing form in his pocket Circled "Blue Boots" in the 3rd And the cashier at the clothing store He didn't say a word as the Siren tears the night in half And someone lost his wallet Well it's surveillance of assailants If that's whatchawannacallit And the whores hike up their skirts And fish for drug-store prophylactics With their mouths cut just like Razor blades and their eyes are like stilettos And her radiator's steaming And her teeth are in a wreck Now she won't let you kiss her But what the hell do you expect And the Gypsies are tragic and if you Wanna to buy perfume, well They'll bark you down like Carneys... sell you Christmas cards in June But, but small change got rained on with his own .38 And his headstone's A gumball machine No more chewing gum Or baseball cards or overcoats or dreams and someone is hosing down the sidewalk and he's only in his teens Cause, cause small change got rained on with his own .38 And a fistful of dollars can't change that And someone copped his watch fob And someone got his ring And the newsboy got his porkpie Stetson hat And the tuberculosis old men At the Nelson wheeze and cough And someone will head south Until this whole thing cools off cause Small change got rained on with his own .38 Yea small change got rained on with his own .38 |
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| Burma Shave (Tom Waits 1977) | |
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Licorice tattoo turned a gun metal blue Scrawled across the shoulders of a dying town But the one eyed jacks across the railroad tracks And the scar on its belly pulled a stranger passing through He's a juvenile delinquent never learned how to behave But the cops would never think to look in Burma Shave And the road was like a ribbon the moon was like a bone He didn't seem to be like any guy she'd ever known He kinda looked like Farley Granger with his hair slicked back She says I'm a sucker for a fella in a cowboy hat How far are you going he said depends on what you mean He says I'm only stopping here to get some gasoline I'm guess I'm going thataway just as long as it's paved I guess you'd say I'm on my way to Burma Shave And with her knees up on the glove compartment She took out her barrettes and her hair spilled out like rootbeer And she popped her gum and arched her back Hell Marysville ain't nothing but a wide spot in the road Some night my heart pounds like thunder I don't know why it don't explode cause everyone in this stinking town has got one foot in the grave And I'd rather take my chances out in Burma Shave Presley's what I go by why don't you change the station Count the grain elevators in the rearview mirror She said Mister anywhere you point this thing Has got to beat the hell out of the sting Of going to bed with every dream that dies here every mornin And so drill me a hole with a barber pole And I'm jumping my parole just like a fugitive tonight Why don't you have another swig And pass that car if you're so brave I wanna get there before the sun comes up in Burma Shave And the spider web crack and the Mustang screamed smoke from the tires and the twisted machine Just a nickel's worth of dreams and every wishbone that they saved Lie swindled from them on the way to Burma Shave And the sun hit the derrick and cast a bat wing shadow Up against the car door on the shot gun side And when they pulled her from the wreck you know she Still had on her shades They say that dreams are growing wild just this side of Burma Shave |
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| I Never Talk To Strangers (Tom Waits 1977) | |
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Bartender I'd like a Manhatten please Stop me if you've heard this one I feel as though we've met before Perhaps I and mistaken But it's just that I remind you of someone you used to care about Oh but that was long ago Now tell me do you really think I'd fall for that old line I was not born just yesterday Besides I never talk to strangers anyway Well I ain't a bad guy when you get to know me I just thought there ain't no harm Hey, yeah just try minding your own business bud Who asked you to annoy me with your sad sad repartee Besides I never talk to strangers anyway Your life's a dimestore novel This town is full of guys like you And you're looking for someone to take the place of her You must be reading my mail You're bitter cause he left you That's why you're drinkin in this bar Well only suckers fall in love With perfect strangers It always takes one to know one stranger Maybe we're just wiser now Yeah and been around the block so many times That we don't notice That we're all just perfect strangers As long as we ignore That we all begin as strangers Just before we find We really aren't strangers anymore Ah, you don't look like such a chump Hey baby |
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| Tom Traubert's Blues (Tom Waits 1976) | |
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Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did Got what I paid for now See ya tomorrow, hey Frank can I borrow A couple of bucks from you? To go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda You'll go a waltzing Matilda with me
I'm an innocent victim of a blinded alley
Now the dogs are barking and the taxi cab's parking |
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| Blue Valentines (Tom Waits 1978) | |
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She sends me blue valentines All the way from Philadelphia To mark the anniversary Of someone that I used to be And it feels like there's a warrant out for my arrest Baby you got me checkin' in my rearview mirrror That's why I'm always on the run That's why I change my name I didn't think you'd ever find me here To send me blue valentines Like half forgotten dreams like a pebble in my shoe As I walk these streets And the ghost of your memory Baby is the thistle in the kiss It's the burgler that that can break a roses neck It's the tattooed broken promise I gotta hide beneath my sleeve I'm gonna see you every time I turn my back She sends me blue valentines Though I try to remain at large They're insisting that our love Must have a eulogy Why do I save all of this madness Here in the nightstand drawer There to haunt upon my shoulders Baby I know I'd be luckier to walk around everywhere I go With this blind and broken heart That sleeps beneath my lapel Still these blue valentines To remind me of my cardinal sin I can never wash the guilt Or get these bloodstains off my hands And it takes a whole lot of whiskey To make these nightmares go away And I cut my bleedin' heart out every night And I'm gonna die just a little more on each st. Valentines day Don't you Remember I promised I would write you These blue valentines blue valentines blue valentines |
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| Potter's Field (Tom Waits/Bob Alcivar 1977) | |
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Buy me a drink and i'll tell you what i seen And i'll give you a bargain from the edge of a maniac's dream That buys a black widow spider with a riddle in his yarn That's clinging to the furrow of a blindman's brow I'll start talking from the brim of a thimble full of whiskey On a train through the Bronx that will take you just as far As the empty of a bottle to the highway of a scar That stretched across the blacktop of my cheek like that And then ducks beneath the brim of a fugitive's hat And you'll learn why liquor makes a stool pigeon rat on every face That ever left his shadow down on saint marks place Hell i'd double cross my mother if it was whiskey that they paid And so an early bird says nightsticks on the hit parade And he ain't got a prayer and his days are numbered And you'll track him down like a dog Well it's a tough customer you're getting in this trade Cause the nightstick's heart pumps lemonade Well whiskey keeps a blindman talkin alright And i'm the only one who knows just where he stayed last night He was in a wreckin yard in a switchblade storm In a wheelbarrow with nothing but revenge to keep him warm And a half a million dollars in unmarked bills was the nightstick's blanket in a Febuary chill And the buzzards drove a crooked sky beneath a black wing halo He was dealin high chicago in the mud And stackin' the deck against a dragnet's eye A shivering nightstick in a miserable heap With the siren for a lullaby singing him to sleep Bleeding from a buttonhole Torn by a slug fired from the barrel of a two dollar gun That scorched a blister on the grip of a punk by now Is learnin what you have to pay to be a hero anyhow He dressed the hole in his gut with a hundred dollar bandage A king's ransom for a bedspread that don't amount to nothing Just cobweb strings on a busted ukulele And the nightstick leaned on a black shillelagh With the poison of a junkie's broken promise on his lip He staggered in the shadows screaming I ain't never been afraid And he shot out every street light on the promenade Past the frozen ham and eggers at the penny arcade And throwin out handfuls of a blood stained salary They were dead in their tracks at the shootin gallery And they fired off a twenty one gun salute And from the corner of his eye he caught the alabaster orbs From a dime a dance hall girl and stuffed a thousand dollar bill In her blouse and caught the cruel and unusual punishment of her smile And the nightstick winked beneath a rainsoaked brim Ain't no one seen hide nor hair of him see No one but a spade on Rikers island and me And so if you're mad enough to listen to a full of whiskey blindman then you're mad enough to look beyond where bloodhounds dare to go if you want to know just where the nightstick's hidin out You be down at the ferry landin oh let's say bout half past a nightmare When it's twisted on a clock you tell 'em nickels sentcha Whiskey always makes him talk And you ask for captain Charon with the mud on his kicks He's the skipper of the deadline steamer And she sails from the Bronx across the river Styx And a riddle's just a ticket for a dreamer Cause when the weathervane's sleepin and the moon turns his back You crawl on your belly long the railroad tracks And cross your heart and hope to die and stick a needle in your eye Cause he'd cut my bleedin heart out if he found out that I squealed Cause you see a scarecrow is just a hoodlum who marked the cards that he dealed and pulled a gypsy switch Out on the edge of potter's field |
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| Kentucky Avenue (Tom Waits 1978) | |
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Eddie graces buick got 4 bullet holes in the side Charley Delisle sittin' at the top of an avacado tree Mrs Storm'll stab you with a steak knife if you step on her lawn I got a half pack of lucky strikes man so come along with me Lets fill our pockets with macadamia nuts Then go ever to Bobby Goodmansons And jump off the roof Hilda plays strip poker And her mamas across the street Joey Navinsky says she put her tongue in his mouth Dicky Faulkners got a switchblade And some gooseneck risers That eucalyptus is a hunchback There's a wind up from the south So let me tie you up with kite string I'll show you the scabs on my knee Watch out for the broken glass, put your shoes and socks on and come along with me Lets follow that fire truck I think your house is burning down Then go down to the hobo jungle and kill some rattle Snakes with a trowel We'll break all the windows in the ol' Anderson place and steal a bunch of boysenberrys And swear 'em on our face I'll get a dollar from my mamas purse Buy that scull and crossbones ring And you can wear it round your neck on an old piece of string Then we'll spit on Ronnie Arnold Flip him the bird Slash the tires on the school bus Now don't say a word I'll take a rusty nail and scratch your initials in my arm And I'll show you how to sneak up on the roof of the drugstore I'll Take the spokes from your wheelchair And a magpies wings And I'll tie em to your shoulders and your feet I'll steal a hacksaw from my dad Cut the braces off your legs And we'll bury them tonight out in the cornfield Just put a church key in your pocket We'll hop that freight train in the hall We'll slide all the way down the drain To new orleans in the fall |
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| Somewhere (from "West Side Story") (Lenard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim 1961) | |
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There's a place for us Somewhere a place for us Peace and quiet, open air Wait for us somewhere There's a time for us Someday a time for us A time together, a time to spare Time to learn, time to care Someday, somewhere We'll find a new way of living We'll find a new way of forgiving Somewhere There's a place for us A time and a place for us Hold my hand and we're half way there Hold my hand and I'll take you there Somehow, someday, somewhere |
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| Ruby's Arms (Tom Waits 1980) | |
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I will leave behind all of my clothes I wore when I was with you All I need's my railroad boots and my leather jacket As I say goodbye to Ruby's arms although my heart is breaking I will steal away out through your blinds for soon you will be waking The morning light has washed your face and everything is turning blue now Hold on to your pillow case there's nothing I can do now As I say goodbye to Ruby's arms you'll find another soldier And I swear to God by christmas there'll be someone else to hold you The only thing I'm taking is the scarf off of your clothesline I'll hurry past your chest of drawers and your broken window chimes As I say goodbye, I'll say goodbye, say goodbye to Ruby's arms I'll feel my way down the darken hall and out into the morning The hobos at the freightyards have kept their fires burning So Jesus Christ this goddamn rain will someone put me on a train I'll never kiss your lips again or break your heart As I say goodbye I'll say goodbye, say goodbye to Ruby's arms |
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