Tom Waits

[fox69]

"Shake It"

"Shake It"


Strip Poker Motel
Got a small blue tail
Hot ice, cold cash
I never been no good at staying out of jail

Wheel spin, roulette
Who's giving, don't get
Ripped shirt, black eye
Tuxedo, bow tie
Dark sound, straight road
Get lost, get loaded
Enlisted men, off duty
Stolen clouds, dark beauty
Cold gun, wild rose
Night clerk, door closed

Lie down baby
Your love is a faucet

Called China, cell phone
Chun King, not home

You know I feel like a preacher waving a gun around
Shake it, shake it. shake it baby!

Shake it, shake it, shake it now
Shake it, shake it, shake it baby
Shake it, shake it, shake it now
Shake it, shake it, shake it baby
Shake it, shake it, shake it now

Outside, it's damp
Put a towel on that lamp
You look hot in this light
I can love you all night
Shoes off, hair down
Got a pink night gown
Mike Tyson, KO'ed
On the wild, blue road
Small town, straight road
That rooster, done crowed
Flat tire, homemade cross

You know I feel like a preacher waving a gun around
Shake it, shake it, shake it baby!

Shake it, shake it, shake it now
Shake it. shake it, shake it baby
Shake it, shake it, shake it now

 

[fox69]

"She Stole The Blush"

"She Stole The Blush"


A window left open
and the pillow is soaking wet
who says love, ever comes without tolls
she sends no kindness
no words of regret
when she put the fork in the road
there's a ring with a diamond missing
it was lost in the backseat of a car
there's a dollar on the floor in the kitchen
christmas lights blinking on a long dead
tree in the parlour
cheaters never prosper
cheaters never win
long hair big eyes
and she always needs money
did I find her?
or was she the one who chose?
I wanna drown
like a fly in the honey
and she stole the blush
from the rose
long hair big eyes and she always needs money
did i find her
or was she the one who chose
i wanna drown
like a fly in the honey
because she stole the blush
from the rose

 

[fox69]

"Shiny Things"

"Shiny Things"


The things a crow puts in his nest
They are always things he finds that shine best
Somehow they'll find a shiny dime, a silver twine
From a Valentine
The crows all bring them shiny things

Leave me alone you big ol' Moon
The light you cast is just a liar
You're like the crows, 'cos if it glows
You're dressed to go, you guessed I know
You'll always cling to shiny things

We'll, I'm not dancing here tonight
But things are bound to turn around
Though the only I want that shines is to be king
Here in your eyes
To be your only shiny thing

 

[fox69]

"Shiver Me Timbers"

"Shiver Me Timbers"


I'm leavin' my fam'ly
Leavin' all my friends
My body's at home
But my heart's in the wind
Where the clouds are like headlines
On a new front page sky
My tears are salt water
And the moon's full and high

And I know Martin Eden's
Gonna be proud of me
And many before me
Who've been called by the sea
To be up in the crow's nest
Singin' my say
Shiver me Timbers
'Cause I'm a-sailin' away

And the fog's liftin'
And the sand's shiftin'
I'm driftin' on out
Ol' Captain Ahab
He ain't got nothin' on me, now.
So swallow me, don't follow me
I'm trav'lin' alone
Blue water's my daughter
'n I'm gonna skip like a stone

So please call my missus
Gotta tell her not to cry
'Cause my goodbye is written
By the moon in the sky
Hey and nobody knows me
I can't fathom my stayin'
Shiver me timbers
'Cause I'm a-sailin' away

And the fog's liftin'
And the sand's shiftin'
I'm driftin' on out
Ol' Captain Ahab
He ain't got nothin' on me
So come and swallow me, follow me
I'm trav'lin' alone
Blue water's my daughter
'n I'm gonna skip like a stone

And I'm leavin' my family
Leavin' all my friends
My body's at home
But my heart's in the wind
Where the clouds are like headlines
Upon a new front page sky
And shiver me timbers
'Cause I'm a-sailin' away

 

[fox69]

"Shore Leave"

"Shore Leave"


Well with buck shot eyes and a purple heart
I rolled down the national stroll
and with a big fat paycheck
strapped to my hip sack
and a shore leave wristwatch underneath
my sleeve
in a Hong Kong drizzle on Cuban heels
I rowed down the gutter to the Blood Bank
and I'd left all my papers on the Ticonderoga
and was in a bad need of a shave
and so I slopped at the corner on cold chow mein
and shot billards with a midget
until the rain stopped
and I bought a long sleeved shirt
with horses on the front
and some gum and a lighter and a knife
and a new deck of cards (with girls on the back)
and I sat down and wrote a letter to my wife

and I said Baby, I'm so far away from home
and I miss my Baby so
I can't make it by myself
I love you so

Well I was pacing myself
trying to make it all last
squeezing all the life
out of a lousy two day pass
and I had a cold one at the Dragon
with some Filipino floor show
and talked baseball with a lieutenant
over a Singapore sling
and I wondered how the same moon outside
over this Chinatown fair
could look down on Illinois
and find you there
and you know I love you Baby

and I'm so far away from home
and I miss my Baby so
I can't make it by myself
I love you so

Shore Leave...
Shore Leave...

 

[fox69]

"Singapore"

"Singapore"


We sail tonight for Singapore
We're all as mad as hatters here
I've fallen for tawny moor
Took off to the land of Nod
Drank with all the Chinamen
Walked the sewers of Paris
I danced along a colored wind
Dangled from a rope of sand
You must say goodbye to me

We sail tonight for Singapore
Don't fall asleep while you're ashore
Cross your heart and hope to die
When you hear the children cry.
Let marrow bone and cleaver choose
While making feet for children shoes
Through the alley
Back from Hell
When you hear that steeple bell
You must say goodbye to me.

Wipe him down with gasoline
Till his arms are hard and mean,
From now on boys this iron boat's your home
So heave away boys.

We sail tonight for Singapore
Take your blankets from the floor
Wash your mouth out by the door
The whole town is made of iron ore
Every witness turns to steam
They all become Italian dreams
Fill your pockets up with earth
Get yourself a dollar's worth
Away boys, away, boys, heave away

The captain is a one-armed dwarf
He's throwing dice along the wharf
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King
So take this ring

Repeat First Verse

 

[fox69]

"Sins Of My Father"

"Sins Of My Father"


God said don't give me your
Tin horn prayers
Don't buy roses off the street down there
Took it all and took the dirt road home
Dreaming of Jenny with the light brown hair
Night is falling like a bloody axe
Lies and rumors and the wind at my back
Hand on the wheel gravel on the road
Will the pawn shop sell me back what I sold

I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond

Birds cry warning from a hidden branch
Carving out a future with a gun and an axe
I'm way beyond the gavel and the laws of man
Still living in the palm of the grace of your hand
The worlds not easy the blind man said
Turns on nothing but money and dread
Dogs been scratching at the door all nite
Long neck birds flying out of the moon light

I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond

Smack dab in the middle of a dirty lie
The star spangled glitter of his one good eye
Everybody knows that the game was rigged
Justice wears suspenders and a powdered wig
Dark town alleys been hiding you
Long bell tolling is your waterloo
Oh baby what can you do
Does the light of god blind you
Or lead the way home for you?

I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond

God all mighty for righteousness sake
Humiliation of our fallen state
Written in the book of tubold Cain
A long black over coat will show no stain
Feel the heat and the burn on your back
The rip and the moan and the stretch of the rack
All my belongings in a flour sack
Will the place I come from
Take me back

I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond

They'll hang me in the morning on a scaffold yea big
To dance upon nothing to the tyborn jig
Treats you like a puppet when your under its spell
Oh the heart is heaven
But the mind is hell
Jesus of Nazareth told Mike of the weeds
I's born at this time for a reason you see
When I'm dead I"ll be dead a long time
But the wines so pleasing and so sublime

I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond

Kissed my sweetheart by the chinaball tree
Everything I done is between God and me
Only he will judge how my time was spent
29 days of sinning and 40 to repent
The horse is steady but the horse is blind
Wicked are the branches on the tree of mankind
The roots grow upwared and the branches grow down
Its much too late to throw the dice again I've found

I'm gonna take the sins of my father
I'm gonna take the sins of my mother
I"m gonna take the sins of my brother
Down to the pond

I'm gonna wash them [2x]
I'm gonna wash the sins of my Father
I'm gonna wash the sins of my Mother
I'm gonna wash the sins of my Brother
Till the water runs clear [2x]

 

[fox69]

"Small Change (Got Rained On With His Own .38)"

"Small Change (Got Rained On With His Own .38)"


Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eight,
And nobody flinched down by the arcade
And the marquees 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 mannequins with their Cheshire grins,
And the raconteurs and roustabouts said "Buddy, come on in, 'cause
'Cause the dreams ain't broken down here now, they're walking with a limp
Now that Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eight"

And nobody flinched down by the arcade
And the burglar alarm's been disconnected,
And the newsmen start to rattle
And the cops are telling jokes about some whorehouse in Seattle
And the fire hydrants plead the Fifth Amendment
And the furniture is bargains galore
But the blood is by the jukebox on an old linoleum floor
And what a hot rain on Forty-Second 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 thirty-eight

And no one's gone over to close his eyes
And there's a racing form in his pocket,
Circled "Blue Boots" in the third
And the cashier at the clothing store didn't say a word
As the siren tears the night in half, and someone lost his wallet
Well, a surveillance of assailance, it that's what you want to call it
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, and nah,
She won't let you kiss her, but what the hell do you expect?
And the Gypsies are tragic and if you want 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 thirty-eight

And his headstone's a gumball machine,
No more chewing gum or baseball cards or overcoats or dreams
Someone's hosing down the sidewalk, and he's only in his teens, 'cause
'Cause Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eight

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
'Cause Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eight, yeah,
Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eight

 

[fox69]

"So It Goes"

"So It Goes"


If I was a seagull high in a loof
I'd sail to the highest perch on your roof
But I ain't no seagull, you know my name
And the winds blowin fortune, the winds blowin pain
And so it goes, nobody knows
How to get to the sky, how to get to the sky
If I was a puppy dog in the early dawn
I'd make it to your house and sleep on your lawn
but I ain't no puppydog, you know my name
And the wind blows fortune, the wind blows pain
And so it goes, nobody knows
How to get to the sky, how to get to the sky
How to get to the sky, how to get to the sky

 

[fox69]

"So Long I'll See Ya"

"So Long I'll See Ya"


Mamas in the kitchen, Daddies on the phone
And nobody knows what's going on
But I've got those so long I'll see you cause my Buick's outside waiting blues
Well one for the money, two for the show
Three to get ready, Tom's gotta go
He's got them so long I'll see you cause my Buick's outside waiting blues
Well bye-bye-bye, well bye-bye-bye
Sing bye-bye Shooby-do-bye-bye
Gotta skeet-skat outta here, skeet-skat outta here
And mamas in the kitchen, daddies on the phone
And nobody knows what's going on
But I've got those so long I'll see you cause my Buick's outside waiting blues
Well Tommy's gotta skeet-skat, skeet-skat outta here
Skeet-skat right outta here
And one for the money, two for the show
Three to get ready, I gotta go
Cause I've got them
so long I'll see you cause my Buick's outside waiting blues
And skeet-skat outta here, gonna skeet-skat outta here,
Gonna skeet-skat Joutta here, gonna skeet-skat outta here
Got so long I'll see you cause my Buick's outside waiting blues
Gonna skeet-skat outta here, gonna skeet-skat outta here,
Gonna skeet-skat Joutta here, gonna skeet-skat outta here
I Got solongI'llseeyoucausemyBuick'soutsidewaitingblues