I could be mistaken, but the song seems to be about drugs. “Living in a medicine chest” in a hotel, life seems a mess... he mentions a “monkey rode a blade on an overhead fan” could be referencing the proverbial monkey on his back. But then he gets a call from Istanbul, of all places, that his “‘baby’s’ comin home today” could be a slick way of saying ‘I have your drugs (from near that place in the world) when you’re ready today’. The donkey painting line could reference how a dealer will do anything as long as you pay.
The chorus I’m guessing is about drug related life... buying crazy stuff, people needing to “get out of town”, don’t trust this type of dealer, and definitely don’t drive when you’re ripped. Mentioning the weekend when he’s going to be partying, dying his hair to disguise himself, going to the dealer’s house on a certain road, and wearing a hat agreed upon by both to signal everything is alright.
“Going to get a tux” is just saying ‘I’m so damn excited, I’m gonna get so wrecked’ OOOOOOR, “I’m gonna cut a whole in the day”... as in, ‘I’m going to black the F out and lose a huge part of my day’.
I could be wrong and every single line could be appearing to me as an indirect drug reference, probably because I’m a recovering addict myself... But it seems pretty darn coincidental that everything lines up so nicely in a beautiful, indirect manner that only Tom Waits could think up.
I could be mistaken, but the song seems to be about drugs. “Living in a medicine chest” in a hotel, life seems a mess... he mentions a “monkey rode a blade on an overhead fan” could be referencing the proverbial monkey on his back. But then he gets a call from Istanbul, of all places, that his “‘baby’s’ comin home today” could be a slick way of saying ‘I have your drugs (from near that place in the world) when you’re ready today’. The donkey painting line could reference how a dealer will do anything as long as you pay.
The chorus I’m guessing is about drug related life... buying crazy stuff, people needing to “get out of town”, don’t trust this type of dealer, and definitely don’t drive when you’re ripped. Mentioning the weekend when he’s going to be partying, dying his hair to disguise himself, going to the dealer’s house on a certain road, and wearing a hat agreed upon by both to signal everything is alright.
“Going to get a tux” is just saying ‘I’m so damn excited, I’m gonna get so wrecked’ OOOOOOR, “I’m gonna cut a whole in the day”... as in, ‘I’m going to black the F out and lose a huge part of my day’.
I could be wrong and every single line could be appearing to me as an indirect drug reference, probably because I’m a recovering addict myself... But it seems pretty darn coincidental that everything lines up so nicely in a beautiful, indirect manner that only Tom Waits could think up.