If you could sing one line from a song ...

old_tony · Jul 10, 2006

clancy brother said:

old_tony said:

Any line from Tom Waits' "The Ghosts of Saturday Night."

A cab combs the snake,
Tryin' to rake in that last night's fare,
And a solitary sailor
Who spends the facts of his life
like small change on strangers...

Paws his inside P-coat pocket
for a welcome twenty-five cents,
And the last bent butt from a package of Kents,
As he dreams of a waitress with Maxwell House eyes
And marmalade thighs with scrambled yellow hair.

Her rhinestone-studded moniker says, "Irene"
As she wipes the wisps of dishwater blonde from her eyes

And the Texaco beacon burns on,
The steel-belted attendant with a 'Ring and Valve Special'...
Cryin' "Fill'er up and check that oil"
"You know it could be a distributor and it could be a coil."

The early mornin' final edition's on the stands,
And that town cryer's cryin' there with nickels in his hands.
Pigs in a blanket sixty-nine cents,
Eggs - roll 'em over and a package of Kents,
Adam and Eve on a log, you can sink 'em damn straight,
Hash browns, hash browns, you know I can't be late.

And the early dawn cracks out a carpet of diamond
Across a cash crop car lot
filled with twilight Coupe Devilles,
Leaving the town in a-keeping
Of the one who is sweeping
Up the ghost of Saturday night...
Click to expand...

Or, from that same album, "San Diego Serenade"

Never saw the morning til I stayed up all night
Never saw the sunshine til you turned out the light
Never saw my home town until I stayed away too long
Never heard the melody, until I needed a song.

Never saw the white line, til I was leaving you behind
Never knew I needed you til I was caught up in a bind
Never spoke i love you til I cursed you in vain,
Never felt my heartstrings until I nearly went insane.

Never saw the east coast til I moved to the west
Never saw the moonlight until it shone off your breast
Never saw your heart til someone tried to steal, tried to steal it away
Never saw your tears until they rolled down your face.
Click to expand...

I s'pose we could go on forever about the genius of Mr. Waits, but in the interest of brevity -- and, again, from the same album ....

from "Diamonds on my Windshield" ..

And a Wisconsin hiker with a cue-ball head
He's wishin he was home in a Wisconin bed
And there's 15 feet of snow in the east
It's colder than a well-digger's ass

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If you could sing one line from a song ...

old_tony Well-Known Member

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If you could sing one line from a song ...

old_tony Well-Known Member

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