Tom Waits:
Raindogs
All selections by Tom Waits unless noted.
1985 Island Records
SINGAPORE
We sail tonight for Singapore
We're all as mad as hatters here
I've fallen for a 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
CLAP HANDS
Sane, sane, they're all insane
The fireman's blind, the conductor's lame
A Cincinatti jacket and a sack luck dame
Hanging out the window with a bottle full of rain
Clap hands, Clap hands
Clap hands, Clap hands
Said roar, roar the thunder and the roar
Son of a bitch is never comin' back here no more
Moon in the window; a bird on the pole
Can always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal
Clap hands, Clap hands
Clap hands, Clap hands
Steam, steam a hundred bad dreams
Goin' up to Harlem with a pistol in his jeans
A fifty dollar bill inside a Palladin's hat
And nobody's sure where Mr. Knickerbocker's at
Repeat Second Verse
Shine, shine a Roosevelt dime
All the way to Baltimore and runnin' out of time
Salvation Army seemed to wind up in the hole
They all went to Heaven in the little row boat
Clap hands, Clap hands
Clap hands, Clap hands
CEMETERY POLKA
Uncle Vernon
Uncle Vernon
Independent as a
Hog on ice
He's a big shot down there
At the slaughterhouse
He plays accordion
For Mr. Weiss
Uncle Bittmore and
Uncle William
Made a
Million during
World War II
But they're tightwads
And they're
Cheap skates
And they'll never give a dime to you
Auntie Mame
Has gone
Insane
She lives in
The doorway of an old hotel
And the
Radio's playing opera and
All she ever says
Is go to Hell.
Uncle Violet
Flew as pilot
He said there
Ain't no pretty
Girls in France
Now he runs a
Tiny little
Bookie joint they say
He never
Keeps it in his pants
Uncle Bill
Will never leave a will
And the tumour is as
Big as an egg
He has a mistress
She's a Puerto Rican
And I heard she has
A wooden leg.
Uncle Phil
Can't live without his pills
He has emphysema and
He's almost blind
And we must find out
Where the money is
Get it now
Before he loses his mind
JOCKEY FULL OF BOURBON
Edna Million in a drop dead suit
Dutch pink on a downtown train
Two dollar pistol but the gun won't shoot
I'm in the corner in the pouring rain
16 men on a deadman's chest
And I've been drinking from a broken cup
2 pairs of pants and a mohair vest
I'm full of bourbon; I can't stand up.
Chorus:
Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on the fire; your children all alone
Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on the fire; your children all alone
Schiffer broke a bottle on Morgan's head
And I've been stepping on the devil's tail
Across the stripes of a full moon's head
Through the bars of a Cuban jail
Bloody fingers on a purple knife
A flamingo drinking from a coctail glass
I'm on the lawn with somebody else's wife
Come admire the view from up on top of the mast
Chorus
Yellow sheets in a Hong Kong bed
Stazybo horn and a Slingerland ride
To the carnival is what she said
A hundred dollars makes it dark inside.
TANGO TILL THEY'RE SORE
Well ya play that Tarantella
All the hounds they start to roar
And the boys all go to hell
Then the Cubans hit the floor
And they drive along the pipeline
They tango till they're sore
They take apart their nightmares
And they leave them by the door
Chorus:
Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jack or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past
So send me off to bed forever more.
Make sure they play my theme song
I guess daisies will have to do
Just get me to New Orleans
And paint shadows on the pews
Turn the spit on that pig
Kick the drum and let me down
Put my clarinet beneath your bed
Till I get back in town.
Chorus
Just sure she's all in calico
And the colour of a doll
Wave the flag on cadillac day
And a skillet on the wall
Cut me a switch or hold your breath
Till the sun goes down
Write my name on the hood
Send me off to another town
BIG BLACK MARIAH
Cuttin' through the cane break
Rattling the sill
Thunder that the rain makes
When the shadow tops the hill
Big light on the back street
Hill to ever more, Packin' down the ladder
With hammer to the floor
Here comes the Big Black Mariah
Here comes the Big Black Mariah
Here comes the Big Black Mariah
Here comes the Big Black Ford.
Well he's all boxed up
On a red bell dame
Hunted Black Johnny with
A blind man's cane
A yellow bullet with a
Rag out in the wind
An old blind tiger
Get an old bell Jim
Mariah, Here comes the Big Black
Mariah, Here comes the Big Black
Mariah, Here comes the Big Black Ford.
Sent to the skies on a
Benny Jag Blue
Off to bed without his supper
Like the Linda brides do
Now he's got to do the story
With the old widow Jones...
He's got s wooden coat this boy
Is never coming home
Here comes the Big Black Mariah
Here comes the Big Black Mariah
Here comes the Big Black Mariah
Here comes the Big Black Ford.
Cut through the
Cane break...
Diamonds & Gold
The broken glass
And the rusty nails
Where the violets grow
Say goodbye to the railroad
And the mad dogs of summer
And everything that I know
Chorus:
What some men will do here for diamonds
What some men will do here for gold
They're wounded but they just keep on climbin'
And they sleep by the side of the road
There's a hole in the ladder
A fence we can climb
Mad as a hatter
You're thin as a dime
Go out to the meadow
The hills are agreen
Sing me a rainbow
Steal me a dream
Small time Napoleons
Shattered his knees
But he stays in the saddle for Rose
And all his disciples
They shave in the gutter
And gather what's left of his clothers
Chorus
There's a hole in the ladder
A fence we can climb
Mad as a hatter
You're thin as a dime
Go out to the meadow
The hills are agreen
Sing me a rainbow
Steal me a dream
TIME
Well, the smart money's on Harlow
And the moon is in the street
The shadow boys are breaking all the laws
And you're east of East St. Louis
And the wind is making speeches
And the rain sounds like a round of applause
Napoleon is weeping in the Carnival saloon
His invisible fiance is in the mirror
The band is going home
It's raining hammers, it's raining nails
Yes, it's true, there's nothing left for him down here
Chorus:
And it's Time Time Time
And it's Time Time Time
And it's Time Time Time
That you love
And it's Time Time Time
And they all pretend they're Orphans
And their memory's like a train
You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away
And the things you can't remember
Tell the things you can't forget that
History puts a saint in every dream
Well she said she'd stick around
Until the bandages came off
But these mamas boys just don't know when to quit
And Matilda asks the sailors are those dreams
Or are those prayers
So just close your eyes, son
And this won't hurt a bit
Chorus
Well, things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl
The boys just dive right off the cars
And splash into the streets
And when she's on a roll she pulls a razor
From her boot and a thousand
Pigeons fall around her feet
So put a candle in the window
And a kiss upon his lips
Till the dish outside the window fills with rain
Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart
And pay the fiddler off till I come back again
RAIN DOGS
Inside a broken clock
Splashing the wine
With all the Rain Dogs
Taxi, we'd rather walk.
Huddle a doorway with the Rain Dogs
For I am a Rain Dog, too
Chorus:
Oh, how we danced and we swallowed the night
For it was all ripe for dreaming
Oh, how we danced away
All of the lights
We've always been out of our minds.
The Rum pours strong and thin
Beat out the dustman
With the Rain Dogs
Aboard a shipwreck train
Give my umbrella to the Rain Dogs
For I am a Rain Dog, too.
Oh, how we danced with the
Rose of Tralee
Her long hair black as a raven
Oh, how we danced and you
Whispered to me
You'll never be going back home
You'll never be going back home
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 girls 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 the 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.
GUN STREET GIRL
Falling James in the Tahoe mud
Stick around to tell us all the tale
He fell in love with a Gun Street Girl and
Now he's dancing in the Birmingham jail
Dancing in the Birmingham jail.
Took a 100 dollars off a slaughterhouse Joe
Brought a bran' new michigan 20 gauge
Got all liquored up on that road house corn,
Blew a hole in the hood of a yellow corvette
Blew a hole in the hood of a yellow corvette.
Bought a second hand Nova from a Cuban Chinese
Dyed his hair in the bathroom of a Texaco
With a pawnshop radio, quarter past 4
Well ,he left Waukegan at the slammin' of the door
He left Waukegan at the slammin' of the door
Chorus:
I said John, John he's long gone
Gone to Indiana
Ain't never coming home
I said John, John he's long gone
Gone to Indiana, ain't never coming home.
Sitting in a sycamore in St. John's Wood
Soakin' day old bread in kerosene
He was blue as a robin's egg brown as a hog
Stayin' out of circulation till the dogs get tired
Stayin' out of circulation till the dogs get tired
Shadow fixed the toilet with an old trombone
He never got up in the morning on a Saturday
Sittin' by the Erie with a bull whipped dog
Tellin' everyone he saw
They went thatta way
Tellin' everyone he saw
They went thatta way.
Now the rain's like gravel on an old tin roof
And the Burlinton Northern's pullin' out of the world
With a head full of bourbon and a dream in the straw.
And a Gun Street Girl was the cause of it all
A Gun Street Girl was the cause of it all.
Riding in the shadow by the St. Joe Ridge
He heard the click clack tappin' of a blind man's cane
Pullin' into Baker on a New Year's Eve
With one eye on the pistol the other on the door
With one eye on the pistol the other on the door.
Miss Charlotte took her satchel down to King Fish Row
And he smuggled in a bran' new pair of alligator shoes.
With her fireman's raincoat and her long yellow hair, well
They tired her to a tree with a skinny millionaire
They tired her to a tree with a skinny millionaire.
Chorus:
I said John, John he's long gone
Gone to Indiana
Ain't never coming home
I said John, John he's long gone
Gone to Indiana, ain't never coming home
Bangin' on a table with an old tin cup
Sing I'll never kiss a Gun Street Girl again,
I'll never kiss a Gun Street Girl again.
UNION SQUARE
Well time is always money
For the boys at Union Square
You can bust your ass till doomsday
But don't forget to say your prayers
Someone's got a wad on the backstreet.
Sacco got a bran' new slack
And your baby is handcuffed on the front seat
You just sit right there, boy and relax
Chorus:
I'm goin' down down down
I'm goin' down down down
I'm goin' down down down
I'm goin' down down town
Well they spill out of the Cinema 14
To that drag bar there on the block
Best live show by far in the whole east coast
With a bank rolled up in your sock
She stand right there for your pleasure
Half Puerto Rican Chinese
You got to find your baby somebody to measure
I'm goin' to get me some of these baby.
Chorus
Four in the mornin' on a Sunday
Sacco Drinkin' whiskey in church
Half pint festival brandy
That boy 'bout to fall right off his perch
The guy in the sweaters off duty
Out in front of the welfare hotel
The guy in the dress is a beauty
Go all the way and I swear you never can tell
WALKING SPANISH
He's got himself a homemade special
You know his glass is full of sand
And it fells just like a jaybird
The way it fits into his hand
He rolled a blade up in his trick towel
They slap their hands against the wall
You never trip, you never stumble
He's walking spanish down the hall
Slip him a picture of our Jesus
Or give him a spoon to dig a hole
What all he done ain't no one's business
But he'll need blankets for the cold
They dim the lights over on Broadway
Even the king has bowed his head
Every face looks right up at Mason
He's walking spanish down the hall
Latella's screeching for a blind pig
Punk Sander's carved it out of wood
He never sang when he got hoodwinked
They tried it all but he never would
Tomorrow morning there'll be laundry
But he'll be somewhere else to hear the call
Don't say goodbye he's just leaving early
He's walking spanish down the hall
All St. Bartholemew said was whispered
Into the ear of Blind Jack Dawes
All the Baker told the machine
Was thet he never broke the law
Go on and tip your hat up to the Pilate
Take off your watch, your rings and all
Even Jesus wanted just a little more time
When he was walking spanish down the hall
DOWNTOWN TRAIN Outside another yellow moon
Punched a hole in the nightmare, 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
They're 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 its just the same
You leave me lonely, now
I know your window and I know its 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
With Every night its 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
ANYWHERE I LAY MY HEAD
My head is spinning round
My heart is in my shoes
I went and set the Thames on fire
No I must come back down
She's laughing in her sleeve at me
I can feel it in my bone
But anywhere, I'm gonna
Lay my head, boys
I will call my home.
Well I see that
The world is upside down
My pockets were filled up with gold.
Now the clouds have covered o'er
And the wind is blowing cold
I don't need anybody
Because I learned to be alone
And anewhere
I lay my head, boys
I will call my home.
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