Noirsville Tune Of The Week

Tom Waits

Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission)

Well, the dawn cracked hard just like a bullwhip

Cause it wasn't taking no lip from the night before

And it shook out the streets, as the stew bums showed up

Like bounced checks, rubbing their necks

And the sky turned the color of Pepto-Bismol

Yeah, and the parking lots growled

My old sport coat full of promissory notes

And a receipt from a late night motel

The hawk had his whole family out there in the wind

And he got a message for you to beware

Kicking your ass in, in a cold-blooded fashion

And dishing out more than a good man can bear

And I got shoes untied, my shirttail is out

Ain't got a ghost of a chance with this old romance

Just an apartment for rent down the block

Ivar Theater with live burlesque

Man, the manager's scowling, with his feet on the desk

Boom boom against the curtain, you're still hurting, ay-ay

And then push came to shove, and shove came to biff

Girls like that just lay you out stiff

Maybe I'll go to Cleveland and, you know, get me a tattoo or something

My brother-in-law lives there

And it's a skid mark tattoo on the asphalt blue

Was that a Malibu?

Vroooooom, vroooooom

Yeah, it's Liz Taylor and Montgomery Clift

Coming on to the broads with the same old riff, yeah

'Hey baby, why don't you come up to my place?

We'll listen to some smooth music on the stereo' eh-he-he'

'No thank you,' she said, eh-he-he, 'you got any Stan Getz records?'

'No man, I got eh... Smothers Brothers'

So I combed back my Detroit, jacked up my pegs

I wiped my Stacy Adams' and I jackknifed my legs

Yeah, I got designs on a moving violation

Yeah baby, you put me on hold and I'm out in the wind

And it's getting mighty cold

It's colder than a gut-shot bitch wolf dog with nine sucking pups

pulling a number-four trap up a hill in the dead of winter

In the middle of a snowstorm with a mouth full of porcupine quills

Well, I don't need you, baby

You see, it's a well known fact, you know

I'm four sheets to the wind, I'm glad you're gone

I'm glad you're gone, cause I'm finally alone

Glad you're gone, but I wish you'd come home

Yeah, and I struggled out of bed

Cause the dawn was cracking hard just like a bullwhip

And it wasn't taking no lip from the night before

Yeah, as it shook out the streets and the stew bums showed up

Just like bounced checks, rubbing their necks

And the sky turned the color of Pepto-Bismol

And my old sport coat full of promissory notes

And the hawk had his whole family out there in the wind

He got a message for you to beware

Kicking your ass in, in a cold blooded fashion

He'll be dishing out more than a good man can bear

Well let's take it to Bakersfield, get a little apartment somewhere