Sound Familiar?

[kayo]

Hi,

I was listening to an old CD of mine by good ol´Tom Waits, and came across these lyrics... made me think of many older ex-pats and friends, as they talk to newbies.

Sound familiar?

Ninth & Hennepin

Tom Waits

Well it’s 9th an Hennepin,

All the donuts have names,

It’s not like prostitutes.

And the Moon’s teethmarks,

Are on the sky.

Like a tarp thrown all over this;

Broken umbrellas like dead birds

And the steam comes out of the grill

Like the whole goddamn town’s ready to blow.

And the bricks are all scarred,

And the jailhouse tattoes,

And everyone’s behaving like dogs.

And the horses are coming

Down violin road,

And Detch is dead on his feet.

And all the rooms

And all the rooms,

They smell like diesel

You take on the dreams,

Of the ones who’ve slept there.

And I’m lost in the window,

I hide in the stairway,

I hang in the curtain and I sleep in your hat.

And no-one brings anything small

Into a bar around here.

They all start out with bad directions,

And the girl behind the counter

Has a tattoed tear,

“One for every year he’s away.” She said.

Such a crumbling beauty...

Nah, there’s nothing wrong with her,

A hundred dollars won’t fix.

It’s just that razor sadness,

That only gets worse,

With the ‘clang’ and the thunder,

And the southern Pacific going by.

And the clock ticks out,

Like a dripping faucet,

‘til you’re full of rag-water,

Bitter as a guru,

Then you spill out over the side,

Til you went over to the sea.

I’ve seen it all.

I’ve seen it all

through the yellow windows of the evening train.