Band Face Off - Round 37

[dissention]

Originally Posted by Jyqm

"Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis"
by Tom Waits
from the album Blue Valentine (1978)

Hey Charlie I'm pregnant
and living on 9th street
right above a dirty bookstore
off Euclid Avenue
and I stopped takin' dope
and I quit drinkin' whiskey
and my old man plays the trombone
and works out at the track.

He says that he loves me
even though it's not his baby.
He says that he'll raise him up
like he would his own son.
He gave me a ring
that was worn by his mother
and he takes me out dancin'
every Saturday night.

Hey Charlie I think about you
everytime I pass a fillin' station
on account of all the grease
you used to wear in your hair.
I still have that record
of Little Anthony & the Imperials
but someone stole my record player.
Now how do you like that?

Hey Charlie I almost went crazy
after Mario got busted
and I went back to Omaha to
live with my folks
but everyone I used to know
was either dead or in prison
so I came back to Minneapolis.
This time I think I'm gonna stay.

Hey Charlie I think I'm happy
for the first time since my accident
and I wish I had all the money
that we used to spend on dope.
I'd buy me a used car lot
and I wouldn't sell any of 'em.
I'd just drive a different car
every day, dependin' on how
I feel.

Hey Charlie for chrissakes,
do you want to know the
truth of it?
I don't have a husband.
He don't play the trombone.
I need to borrow money
to pay this lawyer
and Charlie, hey
I'll be eligible for parole
come Valentines' Day.

http://s7.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1E...91K2HL53XCXX90

I adore that song. Another of my favorites is "Murder In the Red Barn."

There was a murder in the red barn
Murder in the red barn

The trees are bending over
The cows are lying down
The autumn's taking over
You can here the Buckshot hounds
The watchman said to Reba the loon
Was it pale at Manzanita
Or Blind Bob the raccoon?
Pin it on a drifter
They sleep beneath the bridge
One plays the violin
And sleeps inside a fridge
There was a murder in the red barn,
A murder in the red barn

Someone's crying in the woods
Someone's burying all his clothes
Now Slam the Crank from Wheezer
Slept outside last night and froze
Road kill has it's seasons
Just like anything
It's possums in the autumn
And it's farm cats in the spring
There was a murder in the red barn,
A murder in the red barn

Now thou shalt not covet thy neighbors house
Or covet thy neighbors wife
But for some
Murder is the only door thru which they enter life

Now they surrounded the house
They smoked him out
They took him off in chains
The sky turned black and bruised
And we had months of heavy rains
Now the ravens nest in the rotted roof
Of Chenoweth's old place
And noone's asking Cal
About that scar upon his face
'Cause there's nothin' strange
About an axe with bloodstains in the barn,
There's always some killin'
You got to do around the farm
A murder in the red barn
Murder in the red barn

Now the woods will never tell
What sleeps beneath the trees
Or what's buried 'neath a rock
Or hiding in the leaves
'Cause road kill has it's seasons
Just like anything
It's possums in the autumn
And it's farm cats in the spring
A murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn

Now a lady can't do nothin'
Without folks tongues waggin'
Is that blood on the tree
Or is it autumn's red blaze
When the ground's soft for diggin'
And the rain will bring all this gloom
There's nothing wrong with a lady
Drinking alone in her room
But there was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn