Tom Waits

[Torrent Maniak]

Blue Valentines




She sends me blue valentines
all the way from Philadelphia
To mark the anniversary
of someone that I used to be
And it feels just like a warrant is out
for my arrest
Baby you got me checkin'
in my rearviewmirror
And I'm always on the run
That's why I change my name
and 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
And the burglar that that can break a roses neck
It's the tattooed broken promise
I gotta hide beneath my sleeve
And I 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 colugy
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

She sends me 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 lot of whiskey
to make these nightmares go away
And I cut my bleeding heart out every night
And I die a little more
on each St. Valentine day
Don't you remember that I promised I would write you
These blue valentines
blue valentines
blue valentines

 

[Torrent Maniak]

Downtown Train

Downtown Train


Outside another yellow moon
punched a hole in the nighttime, yes
I climb through the window and down the street
shining like a new dime
the downtown trains are full with all those Brooklyn girls
they try so hard to break out of their little worlds

You wave your hand and they scatter like crows
they have nothing that will ever capture your heart
theyr'e just thorns without the rose
be careful of them in the dark
oh if I was the one
you chose to be your only one
oh baby can't you hear me now

Chorus

Will I see you tonight
on a downtown train
every night is just the same
you leave me lonely now

I know your window and I know it's late
I know your stairs and your doorway
I walk down your street and past your gate
I stand by the light at the four way
you watch them as they fall
they all have heart attacks
they stay at the carnival
but they'll never win you back

Chorus

Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
where every night is just the same you leave me lonely
will I see you tonight on a downtown train
all of my dreams just fall like rain
all upon a downtown train

 

[Torrent Maniak]

Earth Died Screaming

Earth Died Screaming



Rudy's on the midway
and Jacob's in the hole
the monkey's on the ladder
the devil shovels coal
with crows as big as airplanes
the lion has three heads
and someone will eat the skin that he sheds
and the earth died screaming
the earth died screaming
while I lay dreaming of you

Well hell doesn't want you
and heaven is full
bring me some water
put it in this skull
I walk between the raindrops
wait in bug house square
and the army ants
they leave nothin' but the bones
and the earth died screaming while I lay dreaming of you

There was thunder there was lightning
then the stars went out and the moon fell from the sky
it rained mackerel it rained trout
and the great day of wrath has come
and here's mud in your big red eye
the poker's in the fire and the locusts take the sky
and the earth died screaming while I lay dreaming of you

 

[fox69]

"$29.00"

"$29.00"


little black girl in a red dress
on a hothight with a broken shoe
little black girl you shoulde never left home
theres probly someone thats still waitin' up for you
its cold back in chicago
but in los angles its worse
when all you got is $29.00 and an alligator purse

i see already that vulture in the fleetwood
with the startruse hood
can see you're trying to get you bearrings
and you say hey which ways the main stem
and where ever you say you're from
he'll say he grew up there himself

and he'll comeon and make you feel
like you grew up right next door to him
and you say take a left on a central
and he trows it in reverse
cause you only got $29.00 and an alligator purse

and he'll come on like a gentleman
and you'll be a little shy
you say you ex old man was a sax player
he'll say baby i used to play bass for sly
and you say you like his cadillac, say honey, i got 2 or 3
he'll say sweetheart you're sure fortunate
that you ran into me
when you've done a dime in the joint
you figure nothin' could be worse
and you got $29.00 and an alligator purse

well he got pharoh on the 8 track
you start smokin' a little boo
you thinkin' gettin' outofchicago was the
best thing that ever happend to you
startin' to like it already
this cat seems to be cool
and he says honey i know a good hotel out in west hollywood
that'd be just right for you
but he ain't know good samaritan
he'll make sure he's reimursed
lot more than $29.00 and a alligator purse

now the sirens just an epilog
the cops here always get there too late
they always stop for coffee on the way to the scene of the crime
then they always try so hard to look just like movie stars
they couldnt catch a cold
you ony wasting you dime
and she's lucky to be alive
the doctor whispered to the nurse
she only lost a 1/2 pint of blood
$29.00 and an alligator purse

 

[fox69]

"'T'Ain't No Sin"

"'T'Ain't No Sin"


When you hear sweet syncopation
And the music softly moans
T'ain't no sin to take off your skin
And dance around in your bones

When it gets too hot for comfot
And you can't get an ice cream cone
T'ain't no sin to take off your skin
And dance around your bones

Just like those bamboo babies
Down in the South Sea tropic zone
T'ain't no sin to take off your skin
And dance around your bones

 

[fox69]

"'Til The Money Runs Out"

"'Til The Money Runs Out"


check this strange beverage that falls out from the sky, splashin' bagdad on
the hudson in panther martin's eyes, he's high and outside wearin' candy apple
red, scarlet gave him twenty seven stitches in his head, with a pint of green
chartruse ain't nothin' seems right, you buy the sunday paper on a saturday
night.

can't you hear the thunder someone stole my watch, i sold a quart of blood
and bought a half a pint of scotch, some one tell those chinamen on telegraph
canyon road, when there ain't no time to
unload, so bye bye baby baby bye bye.

droopy stranger lonely dreamer toy puppy and the prado, we're laughin' as
they piled into olmos' el dorado, jesus whispered eni meany miney moe, they're
too proud to duck their heads that's why they bring it down so low, so bye
bye baby baby bye bye.

the pointed man is smack dab in the middle of july, swingin' from the
rafters in his brand new tie, he said i can't go back to that hotel room all
they do is shout, but i'll stay wichew baby till the money runs out, so bye
bye baby baby bye bye.

 

[fox69]

"(Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night"

"(Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night"


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

And you got paid on Friday
And your pockets are jinglin'
And you see the lights
You get all tinglin' cause you're cruisin' with a 6
And you're looking for the heart of Saturday night

Then you comb your hair
Shave your face
Tryin' to wipe out ev'ry 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 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

Well 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

 

[fox69]

"16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought-Six"

"16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought-Six"


I plugged 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six
and a Black Crow snuck through
a hole in the sky
so I spent all my buttons on an
old pack mule
and I made me a ladder from
a pawn shop marimba
and I leaned it up against
a dandelion tree

And I filled me a sachel
full of old pig corn
and I beat me a billy
from an old French horn
and I kicked that mule
to the top of the tree
and I blew me a hole
'bout the size of a kickdrum
and I cut me a switch
from a long branch elbow

[Chorus]
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Black Crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six
whittle you into kindlin'
Black Crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six

Well I slept in the holler
of a dry creek bed
and I tore out the buckets
from a red Corvette, tore out the buckets from a red Corvette
Lionel and Dave and the Butcher made three
you got to meet me by the knuckles of the skinnybone tree
with the strings of a Washburn
stretched like a clothes line
you know me and that mule scrambled right through the hole

[Repeat Chorus]

Now I hold him prisoner
in a Washburn jail
that stapped on the back
of my old kick mule
strapped it on the back of my old kick mule
I bang on the strings just
to drive him crazy
I strum it loud just to rattle his cage
strum it loud just to rattle his cage

[Repeat Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"2:19"

"2:19"


I lost everything I had in the '29 flood
The barn was buried 'neath a mile of mud
Now I've got nothing but the whistle and the steam
My baby's leaving town on the 2:19

I said, hey, hey, I don't know what to do
I will remember you
Hey, hey, I don't know what to do
My baby's leaving town on the 2:19

Now there's a fellow that's preaching 'bout hell and damnation
Bouncing off the walls of the Grand Central Station
I treated her bad, I treated her mean
Baby's leaving town on the 2:19

I said, hey, hey, I will remember you
Hey, hey, I don't know what to do
Hey, I don't know what to do
My baby's leaving town on the 2:19

Now I've always been puzzled by the yin and the yang
It'll come out in the wash, but it always leaves a stain
Sturm and Drang, the luster and the sheen
My baby's leaving town on the -

Hey, hey, I don't know what to do
Hey, hey, I will remember you
Hey, hey, I will remember you
My baby's leaving town on the 2:19

Lost the baby with the water, and the preacher stole the bride
Sent her out for a bottle, but when she came back inside
She didn't have my whiskey, didn't have my gin
With a hat full of feathers and a wicked grin

I said, hey, hey, I will remember you
Yeah baby, I will remember you
My baby's leaving town on the 2:19

On the train you get smaller, as you get farther away
The roar covers everything you wanted to say
Was that a raindrop or a tear in your eye?
Were you drying your nails or waving goodbye?

Hey, hey, I will remember you
Hey, hey, I don't know what to do
Oh baby
My baby's leaving town on the 2:19

I will remember you
I don't know what to do, baby

 

[fox69]

"9th & Hennepin"

"9th & Hennepin"


Well it's 9th and Hennepin
And all the donuts have
Names that sound like prostitutes
And the moon's teeth marks are
On the sky like a tarp thrown over all this
And the broken umbrellas like
Dead birds and the steam
Comes out of the grill like
The whole goddamned town is ready to blow.
And the bricks are all scarred with jailhouse tattoos
And everyone is behaving like dogs.
And the horses are coming down Violin Road
And Dutch is dead on his feet
And the rooms all smell like diesel
And you take on the
Dreams of the ones who have slept here.
And I'm lost in the window
I hide on the stairway
I hang in the curtain
I sleep in your hat
And no one brings anything
Small into a bar around here.
They all started out with bad directions
And the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear,
One for every year he's away she said, such
A crumbling beauty, but there's
Nothing wrong with her that
$100 won't fix, she has that razor sadness
That only gets worse
With the clang and thunder of the
Southern Pacific going by
As the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet
Till you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin
And you spill out
Over the side to anyone who'll listen
And I've seen it
All through the yellow windows
Of the evening train.