@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
They hung a sign up in our town
"If you live it up, you won't live it down"
So she left Monte Rio, son
Just like a bullet leaves a gun
With her charcoal eyes and Monroe hips
She went and took that California trip
Oh, the moon was gold, her hair like wind
Said, "don't look back, just come on, Jim"
Oh, you got to hold on, hold on
You gotta hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right here, you gotta hold on
Well, he gave her a dimestore watch
And a ring made from a spoon
Everyone's looking for someone to blame
When you share my bed, you share my name
Well, go ahead and call the cops
You don't meet nice girls in coffee shops
She said, "baby, I still love you"
Sometimes there's nothin' left to do
Oh, but you got to hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on and take my hand
I'm standing right here, you gotta hold on
Well, God bless your crooked little heart
St. Louis got the best of me
I miss your broken China voice
How I wish you were still here with me
Oh, you build it up, you wreck it down
Then you burn your mansion to the ground
Oh, there's nothing left to keep you here
But when you're falling behind in this big blue world
Oh, you've got to hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right here, you gotta hold on
Down by the Riverside motel
It's ten below and falling
By a ninety-nine cent store
She closed her eyes and started swaying
But it's so hard to dance that way
When it's cold and there's no music
Oh, your old hometown's so far away
But inside your head there's a record that's playing
A song called "Hold On", hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right there, you gotta hold on
You gotta hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right there, you gotta hold on
You gotta hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
And take my hand, I'm standing right here, you gotta hold on
You gotta hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
And take my hand, I'm standing right here, you gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on, baby
You gotta hold on, girl
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
"If you live it up, you won't live it down"
So she left Monte Rio, son
Just like a bullet leaves a gun
With her charcoal eyes and Monroe hips
She went and took that California trip
Oh, the moon was gold, her hair like wind
Said, "don't look back, just come on, Jim"
Oh, you got to hold on, hold on
You gotta hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right here, you gotta hold on
Well, he gave her a dimestore watch
And a ring made from a spoon
Everyone's looking for someone to blame
When you share my bed, you share my name
Well, go ahead and call the cops
You don't meet nice girls in coffee shops
She said, "baby, I still love you"
Sometimes there's nothin' left to do
Oh, but you got to hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on and take my hand
I'm standing right here, you gotta hold on
Well, God bless your crooked little heart
St. Louis got the best of me
I miss your broken China voice
How I wish you were still here with me
Oh, you build it up, you wreck it down
Then you burn your mansion to the ground
Oh, there's nothing left to keep you here
But when you're falling behind in this big blue world
Oh, you've got to hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right here, you gotta hold on
Down by the Riverside motel
It's ten below and falling
By a ninety-nine cent store
She closed her eyes and started swaying
But it's so hard to dance that way
When it's cold and there's no music
Oh, your old hometown's so far away
But inside your head there's a record that's playing
A song called "Hold On", hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right there, you gotta hold on
You gotta hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right there, you gotta hold on
You gotta hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
And take my hand, I'm standing right here, you gotta hold on
You gotta hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
And take my hand, I'm standing right here, you gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on, baby
You gotta hold on, girl
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
Lyrics submitted by yuri_sucupira
Hold On Lyrics as written by Thomas Alan Waits Kathleen Brennan
Lyrics © JALMA MUSIC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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There is this young free spirited girl who realizes she needs to change her setting to where all the cool cats go. She goes to hollywood. She comes from a flea bitten small town big on the bible and not big on hollywood.
So she's feels the call and she's already got a guy. Come along with me Jim. Cmon. Let's try it! It will be great (I promise) hahah.
She gives him a ra ra speech. Let's grab the bull by the horns and just hold on to one another, it will be alright. What do these small town backwoods people know.
So now they are in the big city. He gives her everything he can, but it looks like pathetic small town stuff in a sense and doesn't impress her. He feels less like a man because he can't provide or impress his woman. He get's defensive about it and is just like, hey tough luck you married me this is what you are getting for better or worse you are stuck with me.
OK This next part I'm not sure about. Does she say this part? Or is he saying it to her? Well, go ahead and call the cops You don't meet nice girls in coffee shops Maybe he got mad and beat her up a bit and she threatened the cops and he's like muttering under his breath, well guess this is what I get, should of figured I would get a no class tramp meeting her in a no class place. That's my best guess. But then again, maybe she's leaving him at this point and he's whining about calling the cops and she's pointing out they are different. Regardless at this point of the song, they break up. And shes like oh but dont worry I still love you. I will always love you. But see you later babe and out the door she goes, he's crying and heartbroken, she goes to chase her fame.
So the chorus remains. And hold on... And its haunting because its like just hold on babe and everything will work out. You gotta hold on. And that chorus is indeed a wonderful positive way to look at the world. Hey if we can just hold on, we will make it, things will work out. And we can all related to this. Only, as you get older you realize even though sometimes you really want stuff to work out really bad and you do hold on hard as hell, sometimes things in fact do not work out (and yes I've been this dude crying in real life I'm sure, haha!).
So now he's in St Louis and just heartwrecked, still loves her, misses the heck out of her. She took him to such a high (build it up) and then she thrashes him when she dumps him and moves on.
There's nothing left to keep you here (he realizes he is not flashy enough for her, and of course he's selling himself short because he thinks so highly of her).
Then funny enough he gives her encouragement to hold on. Keep chasing that dream babe. I love you no matter what. Drive a truck over me. Hold on and it will all work out for you baby.
Now the twist, here he is broken all jacked up. But surprise she didn't make it either. She failed. She wasn't that hot stuff after all. And after ditching the dude, there she is in buttville and all she can do is dance around doing her drugs and hanging out with the whinos, now just impressing the other junkies.
And once again the chorus, hold on, hold on. Now quite ironic, in fact "holding on" doesn't always fix stuff. And it wouldn't have hurt that biotch to have a heart along the way, she would ended off better if she had held on to to the dude in the little old town.
yes! haha. No idea how far I am off, but took a stab. Anyway, to me this song is purely a sad song obviously. But I don't even know who Tom Waits is. Just heard this song on The Zombie show!
"go ahead call the cops" (confession of guilt) is like saying, ok, I own up, stupid, I admit it, but I knew the score, met her in a coffee shop, warts and all. But he loves her. You're right about her grabbing her bags and her man and just getting out of the place, looking for dreams, hope, making their own lives and not the ones they were handed. But how do they do this, with a dime store watch and a hacked up ring. So that's what you get when a girl from a coffee shop drags a man with next to nothing out from the small town into the world. the dreams go bust, the illusion fades, they part and get left with nothing except bits of the dreams they started with, as sentiment, as memories. The last verse she is out in the cold and the cold is the whole distance away from those dreams, from her old home, childhood, etc. Yet it's surprising how long that song plays, hold on, just hold on. We survive, make rings from watches and dreams from nothing. Your interpretation is a good take on it. It's bound to mean different things to different people. I don't think Tom mentions drugs anywhere in teh song and on this occasion no booze either. Though they could be involved with either (or neither). There's a tendency for folks to relate to those circumstances these days because those things are so prevalent. But hard times and broken hearts can happen merely through poverty, lack of education and the breakdown of the labour market. there's another song, an old English one that goes "It's the same the whole world over, ain't it just a bloomin' shame; it's the rich wot gets the pleasure, it's the poor wot gets the blame".