Well it's raining, it's pouring
You didn't bring a sweater
Nebraska'll never let you come back home

Now on Hollywood and Vine
By the Thrifty Mart sign
Any night I'll be willin' to bet

There's a young girl
With sweet little dreams and pretty blue wishes
Standin' there just gettin' all wet

Now there's a place off the drag
Called the Gilbert Hotel
And there's a couple letters
Burned out in the sign

And it's better than a bus stop
They do good business every time it rains
For little girls with nothing in their jeans
But pretty blue wishes and sweet little jeans

And it's raining it's pouring
The old man is snoring
Now I lay me down to sleep
I hear the sirens in the street
All my dreams are made of chrome
I have no way to get back home
I'd rather die before I wake
Like Marilyn Monroe
And you could throw my dreams out in the street
And let the rain make 'em grow

Now the night clerk he got a club foot
He's heard every hard luck story
At least a hundred times or more

He says: check out time is 10 am
And that's just what it means
Go on up the stairs
With sweet little wishes and pretty blue dreams

And it's raining it's pouring
And Hollywood's just fine
Swindle a little girl out of her dreams
Another letter in the sign

Now never trust a scarecrow wearin' shades after dark
Be careful of that old bow tie he wears
It takes a sweet little bullet from a pretty blue gun
To put those scarlet ribbons in your hair

No that ain't no cherry bomb
Fourth of July's all done
Just some fool playin' that second line
From the barrel of a pretty blue gun

No that ain't no cherry bomb
Fourth of July's all done
Just some fool playin' that second line
From the barrel of a pretty blue gun


Lyrics submitted by yuri_sucupira, edited by Mellow_Harsher

A Sweet Little Bullet from a Pretty Blue Gun Lyrics as written by Tom Waits

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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A Sweet Little Bullet from a Pretty Blue Gun song meanings
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4 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    I like the contrast in this song between the delicacy of the key lyric—"it takes a sweet little bullet from a pretty blue gun / To put those scarlet ribbons in your hair"—and the savage reality of the act it describes. That contrast strikes me a metaphor for Hollywood itself. It's an industry that sells glamor and beauty. But scratch that thin, glitzy veneer and you'll find the grime: the sweet, pretty little girl who buys into a bankrupt dream of stardom, runs away from home, and burns her bridges, only to end up used, cast aside, and driven to the end of her rope in some roach-infested flophouse.

    greensubmarineon February 21, 2016   Link

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