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Tom Waits – Road to Peace Lyrics 16 years ago
I think this is probably the greatest anti war song ever written.
Nothing else to say really, other than to reiterate: "They fill the children full of hate to fight an old man's war and die upon the road to peace"

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Eels – Bus Stop Boxer Lyrics 16 years ago
"I don't miss where I came from
But each night I dream about being back home"

Are among my favourite opening lines to any song. It beautifully sums up the ambivalence towards your home when you have been displaced.

I think this song is about a desperation to find meaning.

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The Residents – Betty's Body Lyrics 16 years ago
Maybe he is in love with his sister?

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Tom Waits – 2:19 Lyrics 16 years ago
I wasn't planning on dedicating all my comments on song meanings to pointing out the genius of Tom Waits, but hey hey :-)

"On the train you get smaller as you get further away
The roar covers everything you wanted to say
Was that a raindrop in the corner of your eye?
Were you drying your nails or waving good bye?"

-Jaw drops-

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Tom Waits – Don't Go Into That Barn Lyrics 16 years ago
I believe it should be "Wrecked beneath the waves of grain", although lyrics sites vary (although a dedicated Tom Waits site favoured "grain").

I hope it is, as it is my favourite line in the song.

"Out there like a slave ship upside down(6)
Wrecked beneath the waves of grain
When the river is low
they find old bones"

Flipping the whole scene upside down is genius and seeing the grain on the ground as the surface of the water is genius.
Shouldn't be surprised I suppose. I seem like every time I listen to a Tom Waits album I find new piece of brilliant poetry to be in awe of.

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Tom Waits – Time Lyrics 17 years ago
"And the things you can't remember tell the things you can't forget"
Awesome.

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Tom Waits – Underground Lyrics 17 years ago
This (being the first track on Swordfishtrombones) actually marks the turning point in Tom Waits' music moves from his early style to his later, more Waitsian (is there any other word you can use to describe it?) work.

So maybe this song is autobiographical, documenting the point where his eyes are suddenly opened to a new world that has been there all along but has been invisible until now.
"there's a big dark town/it's a place I've found/there's a world going on/underground"

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