ZZ Top

Waitin' For The Bus

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Waitin' For The Bus Lyrics

Have mercy, been waitin' for the bus all day.
Have mercy, been waitin' for the bus all day.
I got my brown paper bag and my take-home pay.

Have mercy, old bus be packed up tight.
Have mercy, old bus be packed up tight.
Well, I'm glad just to get on and home tonight.

Right on, that bus done got me back.
Right on, that bus done got me back.
Well, I'll be ridin' on the bus till I Cadillac.

Submitted by

demau Senae On May 24, 2001

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Keep it true to the song

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Punctuation counts (but vibe-editing doesn’t)

Correct typos? Yes. Re-punctuating a whole verse because it ‘looks better’? Probably not. Keep capitalization and punctuation close to the official source.

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Let the lyrics be lyrics

This isn’t the place for interpretations, memories, stories, or trivia — that’s what comments are for. Keep metadata, translations, and bracketed stage directions out unless they’re officially part of the song.

Edit lightly

If two lines are wrong… fix the two lines. No need to bulldoze the whole page. Think ‘surgical,’ not ‘remix.’

When in doubt, ask the crowd

Not sure what they’re singing in that fuzzy bridge? Drop a question in the comments and let the music nerds swarm. Someone always knows.

Demau Senae

Submitter

2001-05-24 19:39:30

3 Meanings

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21y ago

Sucks not havin' any wheels! Waitin'for the bus/ Jesus just left Chicago are a tribute to Delta Blues. Part of where ZZ Top came from. p.s. Don't ever forget where YOU came from. gigs

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by SaoThrice

20y ago

Waitin' for the Bus/ Jesus Just Left Chicago are two great songs to start off Tres Hombres. I have this bad boy on vinyl and love it.

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by stodge

15y ago

If you look up Van Halen's version of Waitin' On the Bus on YouTube, you will hear David Lee Roth's interpretation of this song... He asked before starting the riff, "How many of you have been to prison? This song is about going to the big house!" It makes a lot of sense, seems like it is about getting out of prison and loading onto a bus to get home "to my cadillac". That's just my interpretation... of the situation... (Outkast quote)... J-Rock

My Interpretation

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by Huskie_Jon 10y ago

It's funny you should say the song is about taking the bus home from The Joint. I thought "the bus" was a joint, just like The Who's "Magic Bus".

"Waitin' on the bus all day" means I am just looking forward to getting home and smoking a joint. I will put the weed in my brown paper bag, and pay for it with my take home pay. When I roll a nice and tight doobie, the "old bus be packed up tight." "Well, I'm glad just to get on and home tonight" , so I can smoke it. "That bus...

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