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I'll Be Gone Lyrics
Tonight I'll shave a mountain,
I'll cut the hearts from pharoahs.
I pull the road off of the rise,
tear the mem’ries from my eyes,
and in the morning I'll be gone.
I drink a thousand shipwrecks.
Tonight I steal your paychecks.
I paint the sheets across my bed,
the birds will all fly from my head
and in the morning I'll be gone.
Take every dream that's breathing,
find every boot that's leaving,
shoot all the lights in the cafe
and in the morning I'll be gone.
I bet a thousand dollars
I have a French companion.
I tie myself below the deck,
I pull the rope around my neck,
and in the morning I'll be gone.
It takes a life to win her.
There is a drum of bourbon,
800 pounds of nitro.
His boots are thunder as he plays.
There is a stone inside it,
tonight his bones will ride it.
I'll need a tent to hide it,
and in the morning I'll be gone,
and in the morning I'll be gone,
and in the morning I'll be gone,
and in the morning I’ll be gone,
and in the morning I’ll be gone,
and in the morning I’ll be gone.
I'll cut the hearts from pharoahs.
I pull the road off of the rise,
tear the mem’ries from my eyes,
and in the morning I'll be gone.
Tonight I steal your paychecks.
I paint the sheets across my bed,
the birds will all fly from my head
and in the morning I'll be gone.
find every boot that's leaving,
shoot all the lights in the cafe
and in the morning I'll be gone.
I have a French companion.
I tie myself below the deck,
I pull the rope around my neck,
and in the morning I'll be gone.
There is a drum of bourbon,
800 pounds of nitro.
His boots are thunder as he plays.
tonight his bones will ride it.
I'll need a tent to hide it,
and in the morning I'll be gone,
and in the morning I'll be gone,
and in the morning I'll be gone,
and in the morning I’ll be gone,
and in the morning I’ll be gone,
and in the morning I’ll be gone.
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This song seems like a turning point in the narrative. There was no actual play, so the plot never got acted out, and it's left to us to interpret what exactly is happening to that crazy Frank. The first act (though I can't tell where exactly the act break is) seems to be the source of the conflict, where Frank is kind of a loser, and certainly nothing is going well. In the song previous (Innocent When You Dream) the main character seems to looking at his sleeping lover, and is now contemplating suicide, with a whole "I'll show them" mentality. I believe that the main character does in fact die during this song, taking his own life by hanging himself (it's entirely possible that he takes his wife along with him). What follows seems to be an intricate dream, Tom Waits and his wife Kathleen surely paint a picture with the lyrics and the atmosphere of a cloudy, grey little place. Frank claws his way out of this depressing fantasy, and eventually (in his dreams) takes on Vegas and Broadway, finally becoming the winner he wants to be, but only in his dreams. :(
oops, it was my fault for not doing more research, but it seems the operachi romantico in two acts was in fact performed by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company at the Briar St. Theatre in chicago in 1986! i wish i had seen it, too.
oops, it was my fault for not doing more research, but it seems the operachi romantico in two acts was in fact performed by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company at the Briar St. Theatre in chicago in 1986! i wish i had seen it, too.
Nothing?? Come on guys, this is an incredible song!!
I haven't been fortunate enough to see a production of "Frank's Wild Years", so I can only understand the song out of context. Being so, I think it's filled with wonderful random bits of imagery, only a few of which relate to suicide. I think it's a poem about a man fantasizing about stripping down existence into raw, primitive instinct, then killing himself after the epiphany proves too much to bear.
Still, I will see "Frank's Wild Years" if a theatre company somewhere near me is bat-shit crazy enough to pull it off...
Not knowing anything about the background or context of this song, I loved it and wondered what it was about. It's fascinating even if it is just 'random' emotionally evocative images. But recently it occurred to me it could be about dreams. Even the 'narrator' could be the dream (which, in the morning, will be gone). Now that I know about the context of "Frank's Wild Years," I'll have to explore the meaning further.
It's all a dream. The imagery is completely dreamlike, and look at that refrain: in the morning I'll be gone.. How much more obvious does it need to be? A great song, in my opinion one of his best, and the accordion, trombone, xylophone and guitar accompaniment is genius.