| Tom Waits – (Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I just came onto this thread and really can't believe that there are comments about hookers!!? This song is a wonderful riff on what Saturday night means to guys in any small town, big city or just about anywhere in the world .frankly. Saturday night is an escape from the daily grind - "With your arm around your sweet one, in your Oldsmobile". That is most definitely a reference to his girl, not the car. The reference to the "cruising with a 6" is surely the six cylinder engine though, agreed. But back to the girl on his arm, this is the important theme, because later when he says "Is it the barmaid that's smilin' from the corner of her eye? Magic of the melancholy tear in your eye", come on. Every guy knows that feeling when you're clearly with a girl but another girl gives you a sly look from the corner of her eye, that look that says, "Hey, I like you, why are you with her? Take a chance on me". It's a GREAT feeling, who doesn't love a stroke of the ego like that? Even if you don't intend acting on it (because you love your "sweet one") it still feels good, but the fact that you will have to let it pass does create a (magic) melancholy tear in your eye. The next line does seems to confirm this, "Makes it kind of special, down in the core". That is, yes, I'm the man, I've got a girl on my arm and another one wanting me! However, the line after that casts some doubt on this scenario, "And you're dreamin' of them Saturdays that came before". This suggests that actually he already had the barmaid before (the song feels small-town so that wouldn't be a surprise) and in that case the "melancholy tear" might be because he still has feelings for her and wishes it had worked out between them. On the other hand, the "Saturdays that came before" might not have been with this particular barmaid at all, they may have been with any number of other girls. Ultimately it doesn't matter which story it is, he's feeling great (if occasionally reflective) and hell, either way this is his night off, his night to go wild! For sure in a small town there will always be "might have been" girls and "could be" girls but he's got a sweet one right now and he's feeling pretty damn good! and therefore he's "stumbled onto the heart of Saturday night". Of course, besides all this relationship stuff the REAL melancholy undercurrent is undeniable, that like any guy who lives week to week and paycheck to paycheck, the only enjoyable night of the week IS Saturday and every other night is just very VERY hard going. All in all it's a great song, a really great song. | |
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