Time – Tom Waits

Well the smart money’s on Harlow and the moon is in the street
And the shadow boys are breaking all the laws
And you’re east of East Saint Louis and the wind is making speeches
And the rain sounds like a round of applause

And Napoleon is weeping in a carnival saloon
His invisible fiancee’s in the mirror
And the band is going home, it’s raining hammers, it’s raining nails
And it’s true there’s nothing left for him down here

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 mama’s boys just don’t know when to quit
And Mathilda asks the sailors Are those dreams or are those prayers?
So close your eyes, son, and this won’t hurt a bit

Oh 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

Well things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl
The boys just dive right off the cars and splash into the street
And when they’re 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
As the dish outside the window fills with rain
Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart
And pay the fiddler off ’til I come back again

Oh 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 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

Table Top Joe – Tom Waits

Well my mama didn’t want me
On the day I was born
I was born without a body
I got nothing but scorn
But I always loved music
All I had was my hands
I dreamed I’d be famous
And I’d work at The Sands

Singing, Tabletop Joe, Tabletop Joe
Now everyone will know
That I’m Tabletop Joe

I had trouble with the pedals
But I had a strong left hand
And I could play Stravinsky
On a baby grand
I said, ‘I’m gonna join the circus
Cause that’s where I belong’
So I went to Coney Island
I was singing this song

Tabletop Joe, Tabletop Joe
Now everyone knows
Yeah I’m Tabletop Joe

They gave me top billing
In the Dreamland show
I had my own orchestra
Starring Tabletop Joe
And the man without a body
Proved everyone wrong
I was rich and I was famous
I was where I belonged, yeah

Tabletop Joe, Tabletop Joe
Now everyone knows, yeah
Tabletop Joe

I Don’t Want To Grow Up – The Ramones

When I’m lyin’ in my bed at night,
I don’t wanna grow up.
Nothin’ ever seems to turn out right.
I don’t wanna grow up.
How do you move in a world of fog,
That’s always changing things?
Makes me wish that I could be a dog.

When I see the price that you pay,
I don’t wanna grow up.
I don’t ever wanna be that way
I don’t wanna grow up
Seems like folks turn into things
That they’d never want
The only thing to live for is today.

I’m gonna put a hole in my TV set,
I don’t wanna grow up.
Open up the medicine chest,
And I don’t wanna grow up.
I don’t wanna have to shout it out.
I don’t want my hair to fall out.
I don’t wanna be filled with doubt.
I don’t wanna be a good boy scout.
I don’t wanna have to learn to count
I don’t wanna have the biggest amount.
I don’t wanna grow up.

Well, when I see my parents fight,
I don’t wanna grow up.
They all go out and they drinking all night,
And I don’t wanna grow up.
I’d rather stay here in my room.
Nothin’ out there but sad and gloom.
I don’t wanna live in a big old tomb
On grand street.

When I see the 5 o’clock news,
I don’t wanna grow up.
Comb their hair and shine their shoes,
I don’t wanna grow up.
Stay around in my old hometown.
I don’t wanna put no money down.
I don’t wanna get me a big old loan.
Work them fingers to the bone.
I don’t wanna float a broom.
Fall in love and get married then boom.
How the hell did I get here so soon?
I don’t wanna grow up.

Cold Water – Tom Waits

Well I woke up this morning
With the cold water
With the cold water
With the cold water
Woke up this morning
With the cold water
With the cold water
With the cold

Police at the station
And they don’t look friendly
Well they don’t look friendly
Well they don’t look friendly
Police at the station
And they don’t look friendly
They don’t look friendly well
They don’t

Blind or crippled
Sharp or dull
I’m reading the Bible
By a 40 watt bulb
What price freedom
Dirt is my rug
Well I sleep like a baby
With the snakes and the bugs

Well the stores are open
But I ain’t got no money
I ain’t got no money
Stores are open but I
Ain’t got no money
Ain’t got no money
Well I ain’t

Found an old dog
And he seems to like me
Seems to like me
Well he seems to like me
Found an old dog and he
Seems to like me
Seems to like me
Well he seems

Seen them fellows
with the card board signs
Scrapin’ up a little money
To buy a bottle of wine
Pregnant women and
The Vietnam vets I say
Beggin’ on the freeway
‘Bout as hard as it gets

Well I slept in the graveyard
It was cool and still
Cool and still
It was cool and still
Slept in the graveyard
It was cool and still
Cool and still and it
Was cool

Slept all night in the Cedar grove
I was born to ramble
Born to roam
Some men are searchin’ for the
Holy Grail
But there ain’t nothin’ sweeter
Than ridin’ the rails

I look 47 but I’m 24
Well they shooed me away
From here the time before
Turned their backs
And they locked their doors
I’m watching T.V. in
The window of a furniture store

Well I woke up this morning
With the cold water
With the cold water
With the cold water
Woke up this morning
With the cold water
With the cold water
With the cold

Picture In A Frame – Eddie Vedder

Sun come up it was blue and gold
Sun come up it was blue and gold
Sun come up it was blue and gold
Ever since I put your picture
In a frame.

I come calling in my Sunday best
I come calling in my Sunday best
I come calling in my Sunday best
Every since I put your picture
In a frame

I’m gonna love you
Till the wheels come off
Oh yea

I love you baby and I always will
I love you baby and I always will
I love you baby and I always will
Ever since I put your picture
In a frame

Make It Rain – Tom Waits

She took all my money
And my best friend
You know the story
Here it comes again

I have no pride
I have no shame
You gotta make it rain
Make it rain

Since you’re gone
Deep inside it hurts
I’m just another sad guest
On this dark Earth

I wanna believe
In the mercy of the World again
Make it rain
Make it rain

Night’s too quiet
Stretched out alone
I need the whip of thunder
And the winds dark moan

I’m not Abel
I’m just Cain
Open up the Heavens
Make it rain

I’m close to Heaven
Crushed at the gate
They sharpen their knives
On my mistakes

What she done
You can’t give it a name
You gotta just make it rain
Make it rain
Yeah -eh

Without her love
Without your kiss
Hell can’t burn me
More than this

I’m burning with all this pain
Put out the fire
And make it rain

I’m born to trouble
Born to fate
Inside a promise
I can’t escape

It’s the same old World
But nothin’ looks the same
Make it rain
Make it rain

Gotta make it rain
Make it rain
You’ve got to
Make it rain
You got to
Make it rain
You got to

I stand alone here
I stand alone here
Singing

Make it rain
Make it rain
Make it rain

Tom Waits – The Long Way Home

Tom Waits – The Long Way Home

Well I stumbled in the darkness
I’m lost and alone
Though I said I’d go before us
And show the way back home
There’s a light up ahead
I can’t hold on very long
Forgive me pretty baby but I always take the long way home

Money’s just something you throw
Off the back of a train
Got a head full of lightning
A hat full of rain
And I know that I said
I’d never do it again
And I love you pretty baby but I always take the long way home

I put food on the table
And roof overhead
But I’d trade it all tomorrow
For the highway instead
Watch your back, keep your eyes shut tight
Your love’s the only thing I’ve ever known
One thing for sure pretty baby I always take the long way home

You know I love you baby
More than the whole wide world
You are my woman
I know you are my pearl
Let’s go out past the party lights
Where we can finally be alone
Come with me and we can take the long way home
Come with me, together we can take the long way home
Come with me, together we can take the long way home

http://www.iol.ie/%7Emurphypj/waits.htm

Tom Waits on Songwriting

http://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/features/tom-waits-songwriting.html

Inherited Alchemy:
Tom Waits’s Inspiration on Songwriting

by Robert Wright

As a songwriter, everything I hear is an influence, whether good or bad, loved or hated; it is “influential.” In order to understand what has truly inspired a song, one should first look for the obvious imitations. Like Prometheus of old, I steal fire from the gods, or rather, I mimic the mastery of Tom Waits. To see the influence Waits has had on me, one must focus on his unique writing style, his stunningly diverse rhyme schemes, and his all-encompassing subject matter. Waits has shown me, when writing a song, there is no fear, there are no limits.Tom Waits’s style is a mesh of the beat poet, the eccentric satirist, and the dramatic orator; a mongrel storyteller, mixing Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, and Freddie Mercury into a medley of vaudeville, jazz, show-tunes, blues, folk, and rock. With his arsenal of an unique, otherworldly voice, a long life of hardship and happiness, and over-the-top exaggerations of the extreme and normality, Waits brings a new and often overlooked depth to songwriting.

When dealing with rhyme schemes, it would appear Waits throws the rulebook out the window, into oncoming traffic, while sipping a Long Island Ice Tea, and adjusting the radio station (This imagery seems unnecessary, but fitting. Very paradoxical). While some of his songs follow a traditional ABAB/CDCD rhyme scheme (listen to “Jockey Full of Bourbon” and “Temptation”), other songs have alternative rhyming schemes, such as AABB/ CCDD (“Lowside of the Road” and “Ice Cream Man”) and ABCABC/ DEFGHF (“Grapefruit Moon”). An often used rhyme scheme by Waits is ABCB/ DEFE, a pattern that appears in many of his more well known songs (“The Piano Has Been Drinking,” “Chocolate Jesus,” “Big in Japan,” and “Swordfishtrombone”). So, is Tom Waits addicted to rhyming?

Hardly. Some of Waits’s songs are technically “unplotable” (yes, I made that word up). For example, “I’ll Be Gone” yields a rhyme scheme of nearly half the alphabet: ABCCD/ EEFFD/ GGHD/ IJKKD/ LMNO/ PPPD/ DDDD [The letter "D" represents the refrain, "And in the morning I'll be gone"]. Rhythmically, it is staggered. Structurally, there is no rhyme, but the lines are so memorable, the beat so addictive, and the vibe so intense, one just flows with the song.

Besides being a mastermind and a wordsmith, Waits is a brilliant storyteller. Weaving tales that are beautiful and treacherous, burlesque but refined, folksy yet urbane, he draws listeners into humanity’s dark-side, dragging mankind’s sins and shame under the examiner’s spotlight, showing every speck of the grit and grime. Not withstanding this dreariness, he still gives the listener moments of levity, rays of light among the rain clouds, a joke, or a fragment of uplifting philosophy. He shows love, sacrifice, beauty, and worship, all the while holding up a mirror, reflecting misery, greed, vanity, and blasphemy.

When I imitate Tom Waits, it is not the style, the lyrics, or the subject, but rather, I mimic his trademark of elegant simplicity, telling a story, and pushing the limits. I strive to produce songs that translate my thoughts, emotions, and moods into a musical medium. Since this concept was introduced into my writing process, I no longer force a rhyme into a song, fret about proper meter, or worry over “acceptable” subject content.

Tom Waits has inspired me to abandon the fear of songwriting, the paralyzing restriction of rigid genre structures and unachievable commercial standards. Now, I write the songs I want to hear, of life Common and Uncommon, the simple and sweet, the dark and deep, the enigmatic and obscure. Besides, imitation is the finest form of flattery (unless it infringes on copyrights, then it’s just illegal).

About Robert Wright

Robert Wright holds an Associate’s Degree in Theology from Slidell Baptist Seminary, and is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in History from American Military University. A devoted family man, an avid reader, a fledgling writer, and a lifelong musician/songwriter, Wright delivers used auto parts for “the most refined Junkyard in the South.” Wright is studied in Eastern Mysticsm, Christian Theology, the Literature of Terry Pratchett, and is a connesiour of fine chocolates and coffee. You can contact him at ritetrio@gmail.com