Tuesday, September 07, 2010

TOM WAITS: MARTHA [5]


Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."[1] With this trademark growl, his incorporation of pre-rock music styles such as blues, jazz, and vaudeville, and experimental tendencies verging on industrial music,[2] Waits has built up a distinctive musical persona. He has worked as a composer for movies and musical plays and as a supporting actor in films, including Down By Law and Bram Stoker's Dracula. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his soundtrack work on One from the Heart.
He has been nominated for a number of major music awards and has won Grammy Awards for two albums, Bone Machine and Mule Variations.

Waits currently lives in Sonoma County, California with his wife, Kathleen Brennan, and three children.

Birth name Thomas Alan Waits
Born December 7, 1949 (1949-12-07) (age 60)
Pomona, California, United States
Genres Rock, experimental music
Occupations Singer-songwriter, musician, actor, composer
Instruments Vocals, keyboards, guitar
Years active 1972–present
Labels Asylum Records, Island Records, ANTI-



1. MISERY IS THE RIVER OF THE WORLD


Misery's the River of the World
Misery's the River of the World

The higher that the monkey can climb
the more he shows his tail
Call no man happy 'til he dies
There's no milk at the bottom of the pail
God builds a church
The devil builds a chapel
Like the thistles that are growing
'round the trunk of a tree
All the good in the world
You can put inside a thimble
And still have room for you and me
If there's one thing you can say
About Mankind
There's nothing kind about man
You can drive out nature with a pitch fork
But it always comes roaring back again

Misery's the River of the World
Misery's the River of the World
Misery's the River of the World

For want of a bird
The sky was lost
For want of a nail
A shoe was lost
For want of a life
A knife was lost
For want of a toy
A child was lost

Misery's the River of the World
Misery's the River of the World
Everybody Row!Everybody Row!
Misery's the River of the World
Misery's the River of the World
Everbody Row!Everbody Row!
Everbody Row!

VIDEO


2. 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!

Oh how we danced and we swallowed the nights
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 a Rain Dog...

Aboard a shipwreck train
give my umbrella to a Rain Dog...

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 she whispered
to me
You'll never be goin back home!!



VIDEO


3. MARTHA


Operator number please
It´s been so many years
And she´ll remember my old voice
While I fight the tears

Hello, hello there is this Martha ?
This is old Tom Frost
And I am calling long distance
Don´t worry ´bout the cost.....

It´s been 40 years or more
Now Martha please recall
And meet me out for coffee
Were we´ll talk about it all

And those were days of roses
Poetry and prose and Martha
All I had was you !
And all you had was me !

And there was no tomorrow´s
As we packed away our sorrows
And we saved it for a rainy day.....!

And I feel so much older now
And you´re much older too
Oh, how´s the husband and how´s the kids
You know that I got married too.....?!

Oh, lucky that you found someone
To make you feel secure
Oh we were all so young and foolish
Now we are mature.....

And those were days of roses
Poetry and prose and Martha
All I had was you !
And all you had was me !

And there was no tomorrow´s
As we packed away our sorrows
And we saved it for a rainy day.....!

And I was always so impulsive
I guess that I still am !!!
But all that really mattered then
Was that I was a man !

I guess that our being together
Was never meant to be
Oh, but Martha, oh Martha I love you !
Can´t you see.....!!!

And those were days of roses
Poetry and prose and Martha
All I had was you !
And all you had was me !

And there was no tomorrow´s
As we packed away our sorrows
And we saved it for a rainy day.....!


And I remember quiet evenings
Trembling close to you.....

VIDEO


4. ON THE NICKEL

It says sticks and stones may break my bones
But I will always be true,
And when your mama is dead and gone,
I'll sing this lullaby just for you

What becomes of all the little boys
Who never comb there hair
They're lined up around the block
On that nickel over there

And if you chew tobacco
And wish upon a star
You'll find where the scarecrows sit
Now they look like punch lines between the cars

And I Know a place where the royal flush never
beats a pair, And even Thomas Jefferson is
on the nickel over there.

So ring around the rosy
Sleeping in the rain
Your always late for supper
Man you let me down again

I thought I heard a mockingbird
Roosevelt knows where
I'm whistling past the graveyard
And they're on the nickel over there

So what becomes of all the little boys
Who run away from home
The world keeps gettin' bigger
once your on your own
Its heads you win, tails they lose
Your on the nickel and your over there

VIDEO


5. COLD WATER


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 the don´t look friendly
Well they don´t look friendly
Well they don´t look friendly
Police at the station
and the 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 $
I ain´t got no $
Stores are open but I
ain´t got no $ain´t got no $
Well I ain´t

Found an old dog a
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

See them fellows
with the card board signs
scrapin up a little $
to buy a bottle of wine
Pregnant women and
the Vietnam vets I say
begging 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 rove
Some men are searchin for
the holy grail
but there ain´t nothin sweeter
than ridin the rails

(Solo)

I look 47 but I´m 24
Well they shooed me away
from here the time before
Turned there their backs
and they locked their doors
I´m watchin 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

VIDEO




KUNJUBI