Tom Traubert’s Blues

(Four Sheets to the Wind)

Tom Waits, 1976, from Small Change

Wasted and wounded, it ain’t what the moon did

I got what I paid for now

see ya tomorrow hey Frank can I borrow

a couple of bucks from you, to go

Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, you’ll go waltzing Matilda with me

I’m an innocent victim of a blinded alley

and I’m tired of all these soldiers here

no one speaks English and everything’s broken

and my Stacys are soaking wet

to go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, you’ll go waltzing Matilda with me

now the dogs are barking

and the taxi cabs parking

a lot they can do for me

I begged you to stab me

you tore my shirt open

and I’m down on my knees tonight

Old Bushmills I staggered

you buried the dagger in

your silhouette window light

to go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, you’ll go waltzing Matilda with me.

now I’ve lost my St. Christopher

now that I’ve kissed her and the

one armed bandit knows, and the

maverick Chinaman, and the cold blooded signs

and the girls down by the strip tease shows go

waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, you’ll go waltzing Matilda with me.

no I don’t want your sympathy

the fugitives say that the streets aren’t for dreaming now

manslaughter dragnets and the ghosts that sell memories

they want a piece of the action anyhow go

waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, you’ll go waltzing Matilda with me.

and you can ask any sailor

and the keys from the jailor

and the old men in wheelchsirs know

that Matilda’s the defendant, she killed about a hundred

and she follows wherever you may go

waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, you’ll go waltzing Matilda with me.

and it’s a battered old suitcase

to a hotel someplace

and a wound that will never heal

no prima donna the perfume is on

an old shirt that is stained

with blood and whiskey

and goodnight to the street sweepers

the night watchman flame keepers

and goodnight Matilda too