Posts Tagged ‘TOM WAITS’

HANG DOWN YOUR HEAD

Hush a wild violet, hush a band of gold
hush you’re in a story i heard somebody told
tear the promise from my heart, tear my heart today
you have found another, oh baby i must go away
so hang down your head for sorrow, hang down your head for me
hang down your head tomorrow, hang down your head marie

hush my love the rain now, hush my love was so true
hush my love a train now well it takes me away from you

so hang down your head for sorrow, hang down your head for me
hang down your head, hang down your head, hang down your head marie
so hang down your head for sorrow, hang down your head for me
hang down your head, hang down your head, hang down your head marie

SAVING ALL MY LOVE FOR YOU

It’s too early for the circus,
it’s too late for the bars,
no one’s sleepin’ but the paperboys,
and no one in this town is makin’ any noise,
but the dogs and the milkmen and me.

the girls around here all look like cadillacs,
no one likes a stranger here,
i’d come home but i’m afraid
that you won’t take me back,
but i’d trade off everything just to have you near.
I know i’m irresponsible and i don’t behave,
and i ruin everything that i do,
and i’ll probably get arrested when i’m in my grave,
but i’ll be savin’ all my love for you.
I paid fifteen dollars for a prostitute,
with too much makeup and a broken shoe,
but her eyes were just a counterfeit,
she tried to gyp me out of it,
but you know that i’m still in love you.
Don’t listen to the rumors that you hear about me,
cause i ain’t as bad as they make me out to be,
well i may lose my mind but baby can’t you see,
that i’ll be savin’ all my love for you.

DOWNTOWN

Red pants and the sugarman in, the temple street gloom, drinkin’ chivas
regal in a four dollar room, just another dead soldier in a powder blue night,
sugarman says baby everything’s alright, goin’ downtown down downtown.

montclaire de havelin doin’ the st. vitus dance, lookin’ for someone to chop
the lumber in his pants, how am i gonna unload all of this ice and all this
mink, all the traffic in the street but it’s so hard to think, goin’ downtown
down downtown.

frankie’s wearin’ lipstick pierre cardin, i swear to god i seen him holdin’
hands with jimmy bond, sally’s high on crank and hungry for some sweets, she’s
fem in the sheets but she’s butch in the streets, goin’ downtown down
downtown.

it’s the cool of the evening the sun’s goin’ down, i want to hold you in my
arms i want to push you around, i want to break your bottle and spill out all
your charms, come on baby we’ll set off all the burglar alarms, goin’ downtown
down downtown.

red pants and the sugarman in the temple, drinkin’ chivas regal in a four
dollar room, just another dead soldier in a powder blue night, red pants turns
to sugarman and says everything’s alright, goin’ downtown down downtown.

WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (FOR TOM JANS)

I’ve grew up here
all of my life,
but i dreamed
someday i’d go.
where blue eyed girls
and red guitars and
the naked rivers flow

I’m not all i thought that i’d be!
i’ve always stayed around!
i’ve been as far as mercy and grand
frozen to the ground.
i can’t stay here and i’m scared to leave
so kiss me once and then.
and i’ll go to hell,
i might as well
be whistlin’ down the wind.
The bus at the corner,
the clock’s on the wall,
the broken down windmill,
there ain’t no wind at all.
i’ve yelled and i cursed,
if i stay here i’ll rust,
i’m stuck like a shipwreck
out here in the dust.
The sky is red
and the world is on fire
and the corn is taller than me.
and the dog is tied
to a wagon of rain
and the road is wet as the sea.
and sometimes the music from a dance
will carry across the plains.
and the places that i’m dreaming of
do they dream only of me?
there are places where they never sleep
and the circus never ends.
So i will take the marley bone coach
and be whistling down the wind.
So i will take the marley bone coach
and be whistling down the wind.

THAT FEEL

Well there’s one thing you can’t lose
it’s that feel
your pants, your shirt, your shoes
but not that fell.
you can throw it out in the rain
you can whip it like a dog
you can chop it down like an old dead tree
you can always see it
when you’re coming into town
once you hang it on the wall
you can never take it down
But there’s one thing you can’t lose
and it’s that feel
you can pawn your watch and chain
but not that feel
it always comes and finds you
it will always hear you cry
i cross my wooden leg
and i swear on my glass eye
it will never leave you high and dry
never leave you loose
it’s harder to get rid of than tattoos
But there’s one thing you can’t do
is lose that feel
you can throw it off a bridge
you can lose it in the fire
you can leave it at the altar
but it will make you out a liar
you can fall down in the street
you can leave it in the lurch
well you say that it’s gospel
but i know that it’s only church
And there’s one thing you can’t lose
and it’s that feel
it’s that feel
Tom waits: guitar, vocal, drums
larry taylor: upright bass
keith richards: guitar, vocal
david phillips: steel guitar
waddy wachtel: guitar

GRAPEFRUIT MOON

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 the grapefruit moon, one star shining, can’t turn back the tide.

never had no destination, could not get across.
you became my inspiration, oh but what a cost.
cause every time i hear that melody, well, something breaks inside,
and the 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.
cause every time i hear that melody, well, puts me up a tree,
and the grapefruit moon, one star shining, is all that i can see.

I WANT YOU

I want you, you, you
all i want is you, you, you
all i want is you
Give you the stars above, sun on the brightest day
give you all my love, if you would only say
i want you, you, you
all i want is you, you, you
all i want is you

MARTHA

Operator, number, please:
it’s been so many years
will 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 ’bout 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 the 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 your husband?
and how’s the 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 the 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 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 the 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…

BAD LIVER AND A BROKEN HEART

Well i got a bad liver and broken heart, yeah,
i drunk me a river since you tore me apart
and i don’t have a drinking problem, ‘cept when i can’t get a drink
and i wish you’d a-known her, we were quite a pair,
she was sharp as a razor and soft as a prayer
so welcome to the continuing saga, she was my better half, and i was just a dog
and so here am i slumped, i’ve been chipped and i’ve been chumped on my stool
so buy this fool some spirits and libations, it’s these railroad station bars
and all these conductors and porters, and i’m all out of quarters
and this epitaph is the aftermath, yeah i choose my path, hey, come on, kath,
he’s a lawyer, he ain’t the one for ya
no, the moon ain’t romantic, it’s intimidating as hell,
and some guy’s trying to sell me a watch
and so i’ll meet you at the bottom of a bottle of bargain scotch
i got me a bottle and a dream, it’s so maudlin it seems,
you can name your poison, go on ahead and make some noise
i ain’t sentimental, this ain’t a purchase, it’s a rental, and it’s purgatory,
and hey, what’s your story, well i don’t even care
cause i got my own double-cross to bear

and i’ll see your red label, and i’ll raise you one more,
and you can pour me a cab, i just can’t drink no more,
cause it don’t douse the flames that are started by dames,
it ain’t like asbestos
it don’t do nothing but rest us assured,
and substantiate the rumors that you’ve heard