Chuck E's in Love

Pretty sure it's a song about a guy named Chuck E. He's acting different, more classy than people are used to him behaving. He seems to have suddenly got his *&%$ together, and his friends aren't sure what to make of it. They try to find out what's up with their friend, and the singer of this song (Ricki Lee herself) figures out that Chuck E must have gotten himself a girlfriend, so he's dressing nicer, taking better care of himself, trying to show his best side to this girl, whoever she may be.

But the twist at the end is that no one can seem to catch a glimpse of Chuck E's girlfriend, but in the end Ricki (the singer) figures out why no one has seen his girlfriend: because she, Ricki, is the one that Chuck E is in love with. He's trying to impress HER with the nicer clothes and hair, and trying to show her that he wants to improve himself for her, to be the kind of man she wants.

It's really very sweet, even if it's never revealed whether or not Chuck E's efforts are successful in wooing Ricki Lee.

Chuck E. Weiss is a Colorado-born singer/songwriter who gained fame in Los Angeles with his oddball mix of beat poetry, blues, and rock and roll. He connected with Tom Waits in the 1970s and their styles influenced each other.

In 1979, Chuck was back in Denver where he introduced Waits to Rickie Lee Jones, an emerging teenage talent. Jones and Waits were an item at the time, and the 3 of them terrorized the local bars with their over-the-top antics. However, Jones eventually drifted into heroin and her career faded away, but was resurrected in the 1990s.

I think Tom Waits' album "Nighthawks at the Diner" -- one of his best early works -- mentions Weiss in the lyrics as well as another album with some Denver backdrops (the bad "Five Points" neighborhood, for example, in "Romeo is Bleeding").

In any case, I think this song is a fictional account of how dorky, rumpled Chuck E. Weiss cleaned up his act ("Christ, he even combed his hair"!) to impress Rickie Lee. The listener is meant to believe that he fell for her, and she for him, and this song was the result.

Across all these decades, this song still makes me smile!

What does “P.I.P.” mean? I checked Wikipedia and the Urban Dictionary, and nothing makes sense.

What is “The Meter”? Was it a pool hall, or a bar, in Los Angeles or Denver, or something?