Video Gold:--> Tom Waits

"...took out her barrettes...and her hair spilled out like root beer."
-Tom Waits-




The first time I heard Tom Waits...was while driving my TV remote...blind through all the upteen channels on my digital box...one long bored afternoon.

Austin CL was replaying a performance by Tom because of an extreme outpouring from hungry viewers.

He was standing by some gas pumps...smoking a cigarette...looking like some hip-cat from the fifties. He recited a story about a young girls wanderlust for the unknown.

Lost gem:--> "Burma Shave"...is paintbrush poetry.  Like knife-packin' fireflies at a summer evening glow-off!
Beautiful...Mesmerizing...Unforgettable.

Tom Waits performing "Burma Shave" on ACL 1978.

Licorice tattoo turned a gun metal blue scrawled across the shoulders

of a dying town the one eyed jacks across the railroad tracks

and the scar on its belly pulled a stranger passing through

he was a juvenile delinquent never learned how to behave

but the cops would never think to look in

burma shave.

and the road was like a ribbon and the moon was like a bone

he didn't seem to be like any guy she'd ever known

he kinda looked like farley granger with his hair slicked back

she says i'm a sucker for a fella in a cowboy hat

how far are you going he said depends on what you mean

I'm only stoppin' here cause I got to get myself some of this gasoline

he says I'm going thataway just as long as it's paved

I guess you'd say I'm on my way to

burma shave.

why don't ya put up your knees on the glove compartment

took out her barrettes and her hair spilled out like root beer

and she popped her gum and arched her back

hell Marysville ain't nothing but a wide spot in the road

some night my heart pounds just like thunder

I don't know why it don't explode cause everyone

in this stinking town has got one foot in the grave

and I'd rather take my chances out in

burma shave.

Presley's what I go by why don't you change the stations

count the grain elevators in the rear view mirror

mister anywhere you point this thing

has got to beat the hell out of the sting

of going to bed with every dream that dies here every mornin'

and so drill me a hole with a barber pole

I'm jumping my parole just like a fugitive tonight

why don't you have another swig of that Black Velvet

and pass that car if you're so brave

I wanna get there before the sun comes up in

burma shave.

just you and me baby. This town's driving me crazy it's drivin' me crazy

I don't care what they say go ahead and let'em talk

tonight were gonna drive just you and me baby.

and the spider web crack and the mustang screamed

smoke from the tires and the twisted machine

just a nickel's worth of dreams and every wishbone that they saved

lie swindled from them on the way to

burma shave.

and the sun hit the derrick and cast a bat wing shadow

up against the car door on the shot gun side

and when they pulled her from the wreck you know she

still had on her shades

they say that dreams are growing wild just this side of

burma shave.

and over by the frosty freeze they're closing up now the waitress

is goin' though her purse only a few cars left a truck rolls by and

there's another young girl up against the coke machine with

swizzle stick legs sucking on a lucky strike with a sign

in her hand that says I'm on my way to

burma shave

and it's a hot summer night the fish are jumping

the cotton is white your daddy's rich and your

momma's good lookin'

hush now

don't you cry.

Good stuff.

Casey Chambers
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