First stanza: "I'm going to tell you a story about a man who fell in love with a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Now he's in jail."
Second stanza: "He stole some money, bought a gun, got drunk on grain alcohol, blew a hole in the hood of a yellow Corvette."
Third stanza: "Bought a cheap little car got out of town as fast as he could, and disguised himself on the run."
Fourth stanza: Chorus.
Fifth stanza: "Hiding in the woods (or perhaps actually hiding in a tree in the woods) eating food that isn't the best and drowning it in strong booze. A shame for someone so young to have seen so much tragedy (or, perhaps he meant blue=sad and brown=skin color). He's hiding until they stop looking."
Sixth stanza: "Lived a comfortable life in hiding for a while..."
Seventh stanza: "But the blues caught up with him and his comfortable, hidden life turned maddening."
Eight stanza: "Still feeling safely hidden away, he got busted--eyes darting from the cop to the door."
Ninth stanza: "The Gun Street Girl ended up married to a rich man. (perhaps she didn't really want to. Perhaps she was the rich guiy's fiance` when the protagonist got involved with her...)"
I found some Tom Waits quotes on the net about this song:
I found some Tom Waits quotes on the net about this song:
"Gun Street Girl is about a guy who's having trouble with the law and he traces all of these events back to this girl he met on Gun Street right there on Center Market right in Little Italy there."
"Gun Street Girl is about a guy who's having trouble with the law and he traces all of these events back to this girl he met on Gun Street right there on Center Market right in Little Italy there."
"I tried to make it a tale in a tale, y'know? Where is the end of this tale? Y'know? There's: "Telling everyone they saw the went thataway". There's this girl tied to a tree with a skinny millionaire and a guy coming into Baker with a pistol...
"I tried to make it a tale in a tale, y'know? Where is the end of this tale? Y'know? There's: "Telling everyone they saw the went thataway". There's this girl tied to a tree with a skinny millionaire and a guy coming into Baker with a pistol and a... So I just tried to throw it all in there and make it like eh... "What the hell's going on around here?!" Y'know? It's like when you wake up in the middle of the night and you try to remember something that you don't, you remember just pieces of things? Y'know?"
Soakin' day old bread in kerosene: WW-II survival countertracking technique, to escape a tracker dog trailing ones scent, by carrying bread or tobacco soaked in petrol, gasoline or kerosene.
First stanza: "I'm going to tell you a story about a man who fell in love with a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Now he's in jail." Second stanza: "He stole some money, bought a gun, got drunk on grain alcohol, blew a hole in the hood of a yellow Corvette." Third stanza: "Bought a cheap little car got out of town as fast as he could, and disguised himself on the run." Fourth stanza: Chorus. Fifth stanza: "Hiding in the woods (or perhaps actually hiding in a tree in the woods) eating food that isn't the best and drowning it in strong booze. A shame for someone so young to have seen so much tragedy (or, perhaps he meant blue=sad and brown=skin color). He's hiding until they stop looking." Sixth stanza: "Lived a comfortable life in hiding for a while..." Seventh stanza: "But the blues caught up with him and his comfortable, hidden life turned maddening." Eight stanza: "Still feeling safely hidden away, he got busted--eyes darting from the cop to the door." Ninth stanza: "The Gun Street Girl ended up married to a rich man. (perhaps she didn't really want to. Perhaps she was the rich guiy's fiance` when the protagonist got involved with her...)"
My interpretation.
I found some Tom Waits quotes on the net about this song:
I found some Tom Waits quotes on the net about this song:
"Gun Street Girl is about a guy who's having trouble with the law and he traces all of these events back to this girl he met on Gun Street right there on Center Market right in Little Italy there."
"Gun Street Girl is about a guy who's having trouble with the law and he traces all of these events back to this girl he met on Gun Street right there on Center Market right in Little Italy there."
"I tried to make it a tale in a tale, y'know? Where is the end of this tale? Y'know? There's: "Telling everyone they saw the went thataway". There's this girl tied to a tree with a skinny millionaire and a guy coming into Baker with a pistol...
"I tried to make it a tale in a tale, y'know? Where is the end of this tale? Y'know? There's: "Telling everyone they saw the went thataway". There's this girl tied to a tree with a skinny millionaire and a guy coming into Baker with a pistol and a... So I just tried to throw it all in there and make it like eh... "What the hell's going on around here?!" Y'know? It's like when you wake up in the middle of the night and you try to remember something that you don't, you remember just pieces of things? Y'know?"
Soakin' day old bread in kerosene: WW-II survival countertracking technique, to escape a tracker dog trailing ones scent, by carrying bread or tobacco soaked in petrol, gasoline or kerosene.
Thanks to whoever posted these, at this link: http://www.tomwaitslibrary.com/lyrics/raindogs/gunstreetgirl.html