Big Time

I will leave behind all of my clothes,
I wore when i was with you,
All i need's my railroad boots,
And my leather jacket,
As i say goodbye to ruby's arms,
Although my heart is breaking,
I will steal away out through your
Blinds, for soon you will be waking.

The morning light has washed your face,
And everything is turning blue now,
Hold on to your pillow case
There's nothing i can do now,
As i say goodbye to ruby's arms,
You'll find another soldier,
And i swear to god by christmas,
There'll be someone else to hold you.

The only thing i'm taking is
The scarf off of your clothesline,
I'll hurry past your chest of drawers,
And your broken window chimes,
As i say goodbye
I'll say goodbye,
Say goodbye to ruby's arms.

I'll feel my way down the darken hall,
And out into the morning,
The hobos at the freightyards,
Have kept their fires burning,
So jesus christ this goddamn rain,
Will someone put me on a train,
I'll never kiss your lips again,
Or break your heart,
As i say goodbye
I'll say goodbye,
Say goodbye to ruby's arms.

Well i broke down in e. st. louis
On the kansas city line
And i drunk up all my money
That i borrowed every time
And i fell down at the derby
And now the night's black as a crow
It was a train that took me away from here
But a train can't bring me home
What made my dreams so hollow
Was standing at the depot
With a steeple full of swallows
That could never ring the bell
And i come ten thousand miles away
With not one thing to show
Well it was a train that took me away from here
But a train can't bring me home
I remember when i left
Without bothering to pack
You know i up and left with
Just the clothes i had on my back
Now i'm sorry for what i've done
And i'm out here on my own
Well it was a train that took me away from
Here but a train can't bring me home

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 night
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 the rain dogs
Aboard a shipwreck train, give my umbrella to the rain dogs
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 you whispered to me
You'll never be going back home
Oh, how we danced with the rose of tralee
Her long hair black as a raven
Oh, how we danced and you whispered to me
You'll never be going back home

Well the smart money's on harlow and the moon is in the street
And the shadow boys are breaking all the laws
And you're east of east saint louis and the wind is making speeches
And the rain sounds like a round of applause
And napoleon is weeping in a carnival saloon
His invisible fiancee's in the mirror
And the band is going home, it's raining hammers, it's raining nails
And it's true there's nothing left for him down here

And it's time time time, and it's time time time
And it's time time time that you love
And it's time time time

And they all pretend they're orphans and their memory's like a train
You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away
And the things you can't remember tell the things you can't forget
That history puts a saint in every dream

Well she said she'd stick around until the bandages came off
But these mama's boys just don't know when to quit
And mathilda asks the sailors "are those dreams or are those prayers?"
So close your eyes, son, and this won't hurt a bit

Oh it's time time time, and it's time time time
And it's time time time that you love
And it's time time time

Well things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl
The boys just dive right off the cars and splash into the street
And when they're on a roll she pulls a razor from her boot
And a thousand pigeons fall around her feet
So put a candle in the window and a kiss upon his lips
As the dish outside the window fills with rain
Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart
And pay the fiddler off 'til i come back again

Oh it's time time time, and it's time time time
And it's time time time that you love
And it's time time time
And it's time time time, and it's time time time
And it's time time time that you love
And it's time time time

Written by tom waits and kathleen brennan


If you want money in your pocket
And a top hat on your head
A hot meal on your table
And a blanket on your bed
Well today is grey skies
Tomorrow is tears
You'll have to wait til yesterday is here
Well i'm going to new york city
And i'm leaving on a train
And if you want to stay behind and
Wait til i come back again
Well today is grey skies
Tomorrow is tears
You'll have to wait til yesterday is here
If you want to go
Where the rainbows end
You'll have to say goodbye
All our dreams come true
Baby up ahead
And it's out where your memories lie
Well the road's out before me
And the moon is shining bright
What i want you to remember
As i disappear tonight
Today is grey skies
Tomorrow's tears
You'll have to wait til yesterday is here

I plugged 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six
And a black crow snuck through
A hole in the sky
So i spent all my buttons on an
Old pack mule
And i made me a ladder from
A pawn shop marimba
And i leaned it up against
A dandelion tree

And i filled me a sachel
Full of old pig corn
And i beat me a billy
From an old french horn
And i kicked that mule
To the top of the tree
And i blew me a hole
'bout the size of a kickdrum
And i cut me a switch
From a long branch elbow

Chorus
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Black crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six
Whittle you into kindlin'
Black crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six

Well i slept in the holler
Of a dry creek bed
And i tore out the buckets
From a red corvette, tore out the buckets from a red corvette
Lionel and dave and the butcher made three
You got to meet me by the knuckles of the skinnybone tree
With the strings of a washburn
Stretched like a clothes line
You know me and that mule scrambled right through the hole

Repeat chorus

Now i hold him prisoner
In a washburn jail
That stapped on the back
Of my old kick mule
Strapped it on the back of my old kick mule
I bang on the strings just
To drive him crazy
I strum it loud just to rattle his cage
Strum it loud just to rattle his cage

Repeat chorus

She wore red shoes by the drugstore
As the rain splashed the nickel
Spilled like chablis along the midway
Theres a little bluejay
In a red dress, on a sad night

One straw in a rootbeer
A compact with a cracked mirror
And a bottle of evening in paris perfume

He told her to wait in by the magazines
He had to take care of some buisness it seems
Bring a raincoat and a suitcase
And your dark eyes
And wear those red shoes

Theres a dark huddle at the bus stop
Umbrellas arranged in a sad bouquet
Li'l cesaer got caught
He was going down to second
He was cooled
Changing stations on the chamber
To steal a diamond
From a jewelry store for his baby
He loved the way she looked in those red shoes

She waited by the drugstore
Cesaer had never been this late before
And the dogs bayed the moon
And rattled their chains
And the cold jingle of taps in a puddle
Was the burglar alarm
Snitchin on ceasar

Now the rain washes memories from the sidewalks
And the hounds splash down the nickel
Full of soldiers
And santa claus is drunk in the ski room
And it's christmas eve in a sad cafe
When the moon gets this way
There's a little blue jay
By the newstand
Wearing red shoes

So meet me tonight by the drugstore
We're goin out tonight
Wear your red shoes

All night long on the broken glass
Livin in a medicine chest
Mediteromanian hotel back
Sprawled across a roll top desk
The monkey rode the blade on an
Overhead fan
They paint the donkey blue if you pay
I got a telephone call from istanbul
My baby's coming home today
Will you sell me one of those if i shave my head
Get me out of town is what fireball said
Never trust a man in a blue trench coat
Never drive a car when you're dead
Saturday's a festival
Friday's a gem
Dye your hair yellow
And raise your hem
Follow me to beulah's on
Dry creek road
I got to wear the hat that my baby done sewed
Take me down to buy a tux
On red rose bear
Got to cut a hole in the day
I got a telephone call from istanbul
My baby's coming home today

Well cutting through the cane break, rattling the sill
Thunder that the rain makes when the shadow tops the hill
Big light on the back street, hill to ever more
Packing down the ladder with the hammer to the floor
Here come the big black mariah, here come the big black mariah
Here come the big black mariah, i seen the big black ford

Well he's all boxed up on a red belle dame
Hunted black johnny with a blind man's cane
A yellow bullet with a rag out in the wind
An old blind tiger, got an old bell jim
Here come the big black mariah, here come the big black mariah
Here come the big black mariah, here come the big black ford

Sent to the skies on a benny jag blue
Off to bed without his supper like a linda brides do
He got to do the story with the old widow jones
Got a wooden coat, this boy is never coming home
Here come the big black mariah, here come the big black mariah
Here come the big black mariah, i seen that big black ford
Cut through the canebrake, oh yeah

Well he's all boxed up on a red belle dame
Flat blue johnny with a blind man's cane
A hundred yellow bullets shook a rag out in the wind
An old blind tiger, on a bell you win
Here come the big black mariah, here come the big black mariah
Here come the big black mariah, here come the big black ford

Falling james in the tahoe mud
Stick around to tell us all the tale
Well he fell in love with a gun street girl
And now he's dancing in the birmingham jail
Dancing in the birmingham jail

He took a hundred dollars off a slaughterhouse joe
Brought a brand new michigan twenty-gauge
He got all liquored up on that road house corn
Blew a hole in the hood of a yellow corvette
A hole in the hood of a yellow corvette

He bought a second-hand nova from a cuban chinese
And dyed his hair in the bathroom of a texaco
With a pawnshop radio, quarter past four
He left for waukegan at the slamming of the door
Left for waukegan at the slamming of the door

I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home
I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home

He's sitting in a sycamore in st. john's wood
Soaking day-old bread in kerosene
Well he was blue as a robin's egg and brown as a hog
He's staying out of circulation 'til the dogs get tired
Out of circulation 'til the dogs get tired

Shadow fixed the toilet with an old trombone
He never get up in the morning on a saturday
Sitting by the erie with a bull-whipped dog
Telling everyone he saw, "they went that-a-way, boys"
Telling everyone he saw, "they went that-a-way"

Now the rain's like gravel on an old tin roof
And the burlington northern pulling out of the world
Now a head full of bourbon and a dream in the straw
And a gun street girl was the cause of it all
A gun street girl was the cause of it all

Well he's riding in the shadow by the st. joe ridge
Hearing the click-clack tapping of a blind man's cane
He was pulling into baker on a new year's eve
One eye on a pistol and the other on the door
One eye on a pistol and the other on the door

Miss charlotte took her satchel down to king fish row
Smuggled in a brand new pair of alligator shoes
With her fireman's raincoat and her long yellow hair
Well they tied her to a tree with a skinny millionaire
They tied her to a tree with a skinny millionaire

I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home
I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home

Banging on the table with an old tin cup
Sing i'll never kiss a gun street girl again
Never kiss a gun street girl again
I'll never kiss a gun street girl again

I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home
I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home