You may be one of those people who claims not to love / like / get Tom Waits. I dunno. I know such people are out there. Some of them are even people whose opinions on other matters I respect greatly.
But really...
I mean, really...
How could you not love this?
Frank settled down in the Valley
And he hung his wild years
On a nail that he drove through
His wife's forehead.
He sold used office furniture
Out there on San Fernando Road
And assumed a $30,000 loan
At 15¼% and put a down payment
On a little two bedroom place.
His wife was a spent piece of used jet trash
Made good bloody marys,
Kept her mouth shut most of the time
Had a little Chihuahua named Carlos
That had some kind of skin disease
And was totally blind. They had a
Thoroughly modern kitchen
Self-cleaning oven (the whole bit),
Frank drove a little sedan.
They were so happy.
One night Frank was on his way home
From work, stopped at the liquor store,
Picked up a couple Mickey's Big Mouths
Drank 'em in the car on his way
To the Shell station. He got a gallon of
Gas in a can, drove home, doused
Everything in the house, torched it.
Parked across the street, laughing,
Watching it burn, all Halloween
Orange and chiminey red. Then
Frank put on a top forty station
Got on the Hollywood Freeway.
Headed north.
And he hung his wild years
On a nail that he drove through
His wife's forehead.
He sold used office furniture
Out there on San Fernando Road
And assumed a $30,000 loan
At 15¼% and put a down payment
On a little two bedroom place.
His wife was a spent piece of used jet trash
Made good bloody marys,
Kept her mouth shut most of the time
Had a little Chihuahua named Carlos
That had some kind of skin disease
And was totally blind. They had a
Thoroughly modern kitchen
Self-cleaning oven (the whole bit),
Frank drove a little sedan.
They were so happy.
One night Frank was on his way home
From work, stopped at the liquor store,
Picked up a couple Mickey's Big Mouths
Drank 'em in the car on his way
To the Shell station. He got a gallon of
Gas in a can, drove home, doused
Everything in the house, torched it.
Parked across the street, laughing,
Watching it burn, all Halloween
Orange and chiminey red. Then
Frank put on a top forty station
Got on the Hollywood Freeway.
Headed north.
(And they gave Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize for Literature!?)
Never could stand that dog...
I liked him before his voice went all like Christian Bale in The Dark Knight...
ReplyDeleteIt's impossible not to love this superb songs and words, Rol.
ReplyDeleteFirst Waits song I ever heard and pound for pound my favorite Waits song. Have listened to it hundreds of times in my life.
ReplyDelete