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

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

Crest fallen sidekick in an old cafe
Never slept with a dream before he had to go away
There's a bell in the tower
Uncle ray bought a round
Don't worry about the army
In the cold cold ground
Now don't be a cry baby
When there's wood in the shed
There's a bird in the chimmney
And a stone in my bed
When the road's washed out
They pass the bottle around
And wait in the arms
Of the cold cold ground
Cold cold ground
There's a ribbon in the willow
And a tire swing rope
And a briar patch of berries
Takin over the slope
The cat'll sleep in the mailbox
And we'll never go to town
Til we bury every dream in
The cold cold ground
Cold cold ground
Gimme a winchester rifle and a whole box of shells
Blow the roof off the goat barn
Let it roll down the hill
The piano is firewood
Times square is a dream
I find we'll lay down together in the cold cold ground
Cold cold ground
Cold cold ground
Call the cops on the breedloves
Bring a bible and a rope
And a whole box of rebel
And a bar of soap
Make a pile of trunk tires
And burn 'em all down
Bring a dollar with you baby
In the cold cold ground
Cold cold ground
Take a weathervane rooster
Throw rocks at his head
Stop talking to the neighbors
Til we all go dead
Beware of my temper
And the dog that i've found
Break all the windows in the
Cold cold ground
Cold cold ground

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