Tom Traubert's Blues

Tom Waits

wasted and wounded : it ain’t what the moon did
I’ve got what I paid for now
see you 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 strength is soaking away 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 with the cold blooded signs
and the girls down by the striptease 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
want a piece of the action anyhow : go
waltzing Matilda • waltzing Matilda
you’ll go waltzing Matilda with me

and it’s a battered old suitcase in a hotel someplace
and a wound that will never heal
no primadonnas : the perfume is on
an old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey
and it’s good-night for the street-sweepers
the nightwatchmen • flame-keepers
and goodnight Matilda ... too ...