What is very special with this song is that many of the things in the song actually were parts of Waits own childhood. Dickie Faulkner, Joey Navinski, Mrs. Storm, and even the friend in the wheelchair he's talking to was actually one of his best friends. Charlie Deslisle actually interviewed Tom Waits years later after they parted ways when they were younger.
Tom Waits(1981): "My best friend, when I was a kid, had polio. I didn't understand what polio was. I just knew it took him longer to get to the bus stop than me. I dunno. Sometimes I think kids know more than anybody. I rode a train once to Santa Barbara with this kid and it almost seemed like he lived a life somewhere before he was born and he brought what he knew with him into this world and so..." His voice fades off for a moment, then, "...It's what you don't know that's usually more interesting. Things you wonder about, things you have yet to make up your mind about. There's more to deal with than just your fundamental street wisdom. Dreams. Nightmares."
What is very special with this song is that many of the things in the song actually were parts of Waits own childhood. Dickie Faulkner, Joey Navinski, Mrs. Storm, and even the friend in the wheelchair he's talking to was actually one of his best friends. Charlie Deslisle actually interviewed Tom Waits years later after they parted ways when they were younger.
Tom Waits(1981): "My best friend, when I was a kid, had polio. I didn't understand what polio was. I just knew it took him longer to get to the bus stop than me. I dunno. Sometimes I think kids know more than anybody. I rode a train once to Santa Barbara with this kid and it almost seemed like he lived a life somewhere before he was born and he brought what he knew with him into this world and so..." His voice fades off for a moment, then, "...It's what you don't know that's usually more interesting. Things you wonder about, things you have yet to make up your mind about. There's more to deal with than just your fundamental street wisdom. Dreams. Nightmares."