Singapore We sail tonight for Singapore, we're all as mad as hatters
here I've fallen for a tawny Moor, took off to the land of Nod Drank
with all the Chinamen, walked the sewers of Paris I danced along a colored
wind, dangled from a rope of sand You must say goodbye to me
We
sail tonight for Singapore, don't fall asleep while you're ashore Cross
your heart and hope to die when you hear the children cry Let marrow bone
and cleaver choose while making feet for children shoes Through the alley,
back from hell, when you hear that steeple bell You must say goodbye to
me
Wipe him down with gasoline 'til his arms are hard and mean From
now on boys this iron boat's your home So heave away, boys
We sail
tonight for Singapore, take your blankets from the floor Wash your mouth
out by the door, the whole town's made of iron ore Every witness turns to
steam, they all become Italian dreams Fill your pockets up with
earth, get yourself a dollar's worth Away boys, away boys, heave
away
The captain is a one-armed dwarf, he's throwing dice along the
wharf In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king, so take this
ring
We sail tonight for Singapore, we're all as mad as hatters
here I've fallen for a tawny Moor, took off to the land of Nod Drank
with all the Chinamen, walked the sewers of Paris I drank along a colored
wind, I dangled from a rope of sand You must say goodbye to me
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Sane, sane, they're all insane, fireman's blind, the conductor is
lame A Cincinnati jacket and a sad-luck dame Hanging out the window with
a bottle full of rain Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap
hands
Said roar, roar, the thunder and the roar Son of a bitch is
never coming back here no more The moon in the window and a bird on the
pole We can always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal Clap hands,
clap hands, clap hands, clap hands
Said steam, steam, a hundred bad
dreams Going up to Harlem with a pistol in his jeans A fifty-dollar bill
inside a palladin's hat And nobody's sure where Mr. Knickerbocker's
at
Roar, roar, the thunder and the roar Son of a bitch is never coming
back here no more Moon in the window and a bird on the pole Can always
find a millionaire to shovel all the coal Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands,
clap hands
I said steam, steam, a hundred bad dreams Going up to
Harlem with a pistol in his jeans A fifty-dollar bill inside a palladin's
hat And nobody's sure where Mr. Knickerbocker's at
Shine, shine, a
Roosevelt dime All the way to Baltimore and running out of time Salvation
Army seemed to wind up in the hole They all went to heaven in a little row
boat Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands Clap hands, clap
hands, clap hands, clap hands Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap
hands
tracks
Uncle Vernon, Uncle Vernon, independent as a hog on ice He's a big
shot down there at the slaughterhouse Plays accordion for Mr.
Weiss
Uncle Biltmore and Uncle William Made a million during World War
Two But they're tightwads and they're cheapskates And they'll never give a
dime to you
Auntie Mame has gone insane She lives in the doorway of an
old hotel And the radio is playing opera All she ever says is "Go to
hell"
Uncle Violet flew as a pilot And there ain't no pretty girls in
France Now he runs a tiny little bookie joint They say he never keeps it
in his pants
Uncle Bill will never leave a will And the tumor is as
big as an egg He has a mistress, she's Puerto Rican And I heard she has a
wooden leg
Uncle Phil can't live without his pills He has emphysema
and he's almost blind And we must find out where the money is Get it now
before he loses his mind
Uncle Vernon, Uncle Vernon, independent as a hog
on ice He's a big shot down there at the slaughterhouse He plays accordion
for Mr. Weiss
tracks
Edna Million in a drop dead suit Dutch Pink on a downtown
train Two-dollar pistol but the gun won't shoot I'm in the corner on the
pouring rain Sixteen men on a dead man's chest And I've been drinking from
a broken cup Two pairs of pants and a mohair vest I'm full of bourbon, I
can't stand up
Hey little bird, fly away home Your house is on fire,
children are alone Hey little bird, fly away home Your house is on fire,
your children are alone
Schiffer broke a bottle on Morgan's head And
I'm stepping on the devil's tail Across the stripes of a full moon's
head And through the bars of a Cuban jail Bloody fingers on a purple
knife Flamingo drinking from a cocktail glass I'm on the lawn with someone
else's wife Admire the view from up on top of the mast
Hey little
bird, fly away home House is on fire, children are alone Hey little bird,
fly away home House is on fire, your children are alone
I said hey
little bird, fly away home Your house is on fire, your children are
alone Hey little bird, fly away home House is on fire, your children are
alone
Yellow sheets on a Hong Kong bed Stazybo horn and a Slingerland
ride "To the carnival" is what she said A hundred dollars makes it dark
inside Edna Million in a drop dead suit Dutch Pink on a downtown
train Two-dollar pistol but the gun won't shoot I'm in the corner on the
pouring rain
Hey little bird, fly away home Your house is on fire,
your children are alone Hey little bird, fly away home Your house is on
fire, your children are alone
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Well you play that tarantella all the hounds will start to roar The
boys all go to hell and then the Cubans hit the floor They drive along the
pipeline, they tango 'til they're sore They take apart their nightmares and
they leave them by the door Let me fall out of the window with confetti in my
hair Deal out Jacks or Better on a blanket by the stairs I'll tell you all
my secrets, but I lie about my past And send me off to bed for
evermore
Make sure they play my theme song, I guess daisies will have to
do Just get me to New Orleans and paint shadows on the pews Turn the spit
on that pig and kick the drum and let me down Put my clarinet beneath your
bed 'til I get back in town Let me fall out of the window with confetti in my
hair Deal out Jacks or Better on a blanket by the stairs I'll tell you all
my secrets, but I lie about my past So send me off to bed for
evermore
Just make sure she's all in calico and the color of a
doll Wave the flag on Cadillac day, and a skillet on the wall Cut me a
switch or hold your breath 'til the sun goes down Write my name on the hood,
send me off to another town, and just And just let me fall out of the window
with confetti in my hair Deal out Jacks or Better on a blanket by the
stairs Tell you all my secrets, but I lie about my past Will you send me
off to bed for evermore
Fall out of the window with confetti in my
hair Deal out Jacks or Better on a blanket by the stairs I'll tell you all
my secrets, but I lie about my past Send me off to bed for evermore, send me
off to bed for evermore
tracks
Well cutting through the cane break, rattling the sill Thunder that
the rain makes when the shadow tops the hill Big light on the back street,
hill to ever more Packing down the ladder with the hammer to the
floor Here come the Big Black Mariah, here come the Big Black Mariah Here
come the Big Black Mariah, I seen the big black Ford
Well he's all boxed
up on a red belle dame Hunted Black Johnny with a blind man's cane A
yellow bullet with a rag out in the wind An old blind tiger, got an old bell
Jim Here come the Big Black Mariah, here come the Big Black Mariah Here
come the Big Black Mariah, here come the big black Ford
Sent to the skies
on a Benny Jag Blue Off to bed without his supper like a Linda brides
do He got to do the story with the old widow Jones Got a wooden coat, this
boy is never coming home Here come the Big Black Mariah, here come the Big
Black Mariah Here come the Big Black Mariah, I seen that big black
Ford Cut through the canebrake, oh yeah
Well he's all boxed up on a
red belle dame Flat Blue Johnny with a blind man's cane A hundred yellow
bullets shook a rag out in the wind An old blind tiger, on a bell you
win Here come the Big Black Mariah, here come the Big Black Mariah Here
come the Big Black Mariah, here come the big black Ford
tracks
Broken glass, rusty nails where the wild violets grow Say goodbye to
the railroad, the mad dogs of summer And everything that I know
What
some men will do here for diamonds What some men will do here for
gold They're wounded but they just keep on climbing And sleep by the side
of the road
There's a hole in the ladder, a fence we can climb Mad as
a hatter, you're thin as a dime Go out to the meadow, the hills are
a-green Sing me a rainbow, steal me a dream
Small-time Napoleon's
shattered his knees But he stays in the saddle for Rose And all his
disciples, they shave in the gutter And they gather what's left of his
clothes
What some men will do here for diamonds What some men will do
here for gold They're wounded but they just keep on climbing And sleep by
the side of the road
tracks
Hush a wild violet, hush a band of gold Hush you're in a story I heard
somebody told Tear the promise from my heart, tear my heart today You have
found another, oh baby I must go away So hang down your head for sorrow, hang
down your head for me Hang down your head tomorrow, hang down your head
Marie
Hush my love the rain now, hush my love was so true Hush my love
a train now well it takes me away from you
So hang down your head for
sorrow, hang down your head for me Hang down your head, hang down your head,
hang down your head Marie So hang down your head for sorrow, hang down your
head for me Hang down your head, hang down your head, hang down your head
Marie
tracks
Well the smart money's on Harlow and the moon is in the street And the
shadow boys are breaking all the laws And you're east of East Saint Louis and
the wind is making speeches And the rain sounds like a round of
applause And Napoleon is weeping in a carnival saloon His invisible
fiancee's in the mirror And the band is going home, it's raining hammers,
it's raining nails And it's true there's nothing left for him down
here
And it's time time time, and it's time time time And it's time
time time that you love And it's time time time
And they all pretend
they're orphans and their memory's like a train You can see it getting
smaller as it pulls away And the things you can't remember tell the things
you can't forget That history puts a saint in every dream
Well she
said she'd stick around until the bandages came off But these mama's boys
just don't know when to quit And Mathilda asks the sailors "Are those dreams
or are those prayers?" So close your eyes, son, and this won't hurt a
bit
Oh it's time time time, and it's time time time And it's time time
time that you love And it's time time time
Well things are pretty
lousy for a calendar girl The boys just dive right off the cars and splash
into the street And when they're on a roll she pulls a razor from her
boot And a thousand pigeons fall around her feet So put a candle in the
window and a kiss upon his lips As the dish outside the window fills with
rain Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart And pay the fiddler
off 'til I come back again
Oh it's time time time, and it's time time
time And it's time time time that you love And it's time time time And
it's time time time, and it's time time time And it's time time time that you
love And it's time time time
tracks
Inside a broken clock, splashing the wine with all the rain dogs Taxi,
we'd rather walk, huddle a doorway with the rain dogs For I am a rain dog,
too
Oh, how we danced and we swallowed the night For it was all ripe
for dreaming Oh, how we danced away all of the lights We've always been
out of our minds
The rum pours strong and thin, beat out the dustman with
the rain dogs Aboard a shipwreck train, give my umbrella to the rain
dogs For I am a rain dog, too
Oh, how we danced with the Rose of
Tralee Her long hair black as a raven Oh, how we danced and you whispered
to me You'll never be going back home Oh, how we danced with the Rose of
Tralee Her long hair black as a raven Oh, how we danced and you whispered
to me You'll never be going back home
tracks
[Instrumental]
tracks
Well it's Ninth and
Hennepin All the doughnuts have names that sound like prostitutes And
the moon's teeth marks are on the sky Like a tarp thrown all over
this And the broken umbrellas like dead birds And the steam comes out of
the grill Like the whole goddamn town's ready to blow... And the bricks
are all scarred with jailhouse tattoos And everyone is behaving like
dogs And the horses are coming down Violin Road And Dutch is dead on his
feet And all the rooms they smell like diesel And you take on the dreams
of the ones who have slept here And I'm lost in the window, and I hide in the
stairway And I hang in the curtain, and I sleep in your hat... And no one
brings anything small into a bar around here They all started out with bad
directions And the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear "One for
every year he's away", she said Such a crumbling beauty, ah There's
nothing wrong with her that a hundred dollars won't fix She has that razor
sadness that only gets worse With the clang and the thunder of the Southern
Pacific going by And the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet 'til
you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin And you spill out over the
side to anyone who will listen... And I've seen it all, I've seen it
all Through the yellow windows of the evening train...
tracks
Falling James in the Tahoe mud Stick around to tell us all the
tale Well he fell in love with a Gun Street girl And now he's dancing in
the Birmingham jail Dancing in the Birmingham jail
He took a hundred
dollars off a slaughterhouse Joe Brought a brand new Michigan
twenty-gauge He got all liquored up on that road house corn Blew a hole in
the hood of a yellow Corvette A hole in the hood of a yellow
Corvette
He bought a second-hand Nova from a Cuban Chinese And dyed
his hair in the bathroom of a Texaco With a pawnshop radio, quarter past
four He left Waukegan at the slamming of the door Left Waukegan at the
slamming of the door
I said John, John, he's long gone Gone to
Indiana, ain't never coming home I said John, John, he's long gone Gone to
Indiana, ain't never coming home
He's sitting in a sycamore in St. John's
wood Soaking day-old bread in kerosene Well he was blue as a robin's egg
and brown as a hog He's staying out of circulation 'til the dogs get
tired Out of circulation 'til the dogs get tired
Shadow fixed the
toilet with an old trombone He never get up in the morning on a
Saturday Sitting by the Erie with a bull-whipped dog Telling everyone he
saw, "They went that-a-way, boys" Telling everyone he saw, "They went
that-a-way"
Now the rain's like gravel on an old tin roof And the
Burlington Northern pulling out of the world Now a head full of bourbon and a
dream in the straw And a Gun Street girl was the cause of it all A Gun
Street girl was the cause of it all
Well he's riding in the shadow by the
St. Joe ridge Hearing the click-clack tapping of a blind man's cane He was
pulling into Baker on a New Year's Eve One eye on a pistol and the other on
the door One eye on a pistol and the other on the door
Miss Charlotte
took her satchel down to King Fish Row Smuggled in a brand new pair of
alligator shoes With her fireman's raincoat and her long yellow hair Well
they tied her to a tree with a skinny millionaire They tied her to a tree
with a skinny millionaire
I said John, John, he's long gone Gone to
Indiana, ain't never coming home I said John, John, he's long gone Gone to
Indiana, ain't never coming home
Banging on the table with an old tin
cup Sing I'll never kiss a Gun Street girl again Never kiss a Gun Street
girl again I'll never kiss a Gun Street girl again
I said John, John,
he's long gone Gone to Indiana, ain't never coming home I said John, John,
he's long gone Gone to Indiana, ain't never coming home
tracks
Well time is always money for the boys on Union Square Go on and bust
your ass 'til doomsday, don't forget to say your prayers Someone's riding
down the backstreet, said papa got a brand new slack And your baby is
handcuffed on the front seat Sit right there, boy and you relax, c'mon
honey
We're all going down down down downtown, down downtown We're
going down downtown, We're going down downtown
Well you spill out of the
Cinema Fourteen To that drag bar there on the block Whizzin' on down in
front of the East Coast Bank rolled up on your sock She stand right there
for your pleasure, half Puerto Rican Chinese You got to find your baby
somebody to measure I'm going to get me some of these, baby C'mon honey,
do you hear what I'm doing now?
Down down down, down down down
downtown Down downtown, I'm going down downtown
'Bout four in the
morning on a Sunday Sacco drinking whiskey in church Half pint of Festival
brandy That boy 'bout to fall right off his perch Well that guy in the
sweater's off duty Well he's out in front of that welfare hotel The guy in
the dress is a beauty Go all the way, I swear you never can tell C'mon
honey, and pull up your socks
Down down down, I'm going down down down
downtown Down downtown, down down down Down down down, c'mon down
downtown Going down downtown, I'm going down downtown
tracks
Now you're gone, and it's hotels and whiskey and sad-luck dames And I
don't care if they miss me, I never remember their names They say if you get
far enough away, you'll be on your way back home Well, I'm at the station,
and I can't get on the train
Must be blind love, only kind of love is
stone blind love Blind love, the only kind of love is stone blind
love With your blind love, oh it's blind love, stone blind love It's your
stone blind love
Now the street's turning blue, the dogs are barking and
the night has come And there's tears that are falling from your blue eyes
now I wonder where you are and I whisper your name The only way to find
you is if I close my eyes
I'll find you with my blind love, the only kind
of love is stone blind love The only kind of love is stone blind love The
only kind of love is stone blind love With your blind love, oh your blind
love, your stone blind love
It's your blind love, the only kind of love
is stone blind love Stone blind love, the only kind of love is stone blind
love With your blind love, the only kind of love is stone blind love Stone
blind love, stone blind love
tracks
He's got himself a homemade special You know his glass is full of
sand And it feels just like a jaybird the way it fits into his hand He
rolled a blade up in his trick towel They slap their hands against the
wall You never trip, you never stumble He's walking Spanish down the
hall
Slip him a picture of our Jesus Or give him a spoon to dig a
hole What all he done ain't no one's business But he'll need blankets for
the cold They dim the lights over on Broadway Even the king has bowed his
head And every face looks right up at Mason Man he's walking Spanish down
the hall
Litella's screeching for a blind pig Punk Sanders carved it
out of wood He never sang when he got hoodwinked They tried it all but he
never would Tomorrow morning there'll be laundry But he'll be somewhere
else to hear the call Don't say goodbye, he's just leaving early He's
walking Spanish down the hall
All St. Barthelemew said Was whispered
into the ear of Blind Jack Dawes All Baker told the machine was that he never
broke the law Go on and tip your hat up to the Pilate Take off your watch,
your rings and all Even Jesus wanted just a little more time When he was
walking Spanish down the hall
tracks
Outside another yellow moon Has punched a hole in the nighttime,
yes I climb through the window and down to the street I'm shining like a
new dime The downtown trains are full with all of those Brooklyn
girls They try so hard to break out of their little worlds
Well you
wave your hand and they scatter like crows They have nothing that will ever
capture your heart They're just thorns without the rose Be careful of them
in the dark Oh, if I was the one you chose to be your only one Oh baby
can't you hear me now, can't you hear me now
Will I see you tonight on a
downtown train Every night it's just the same, you leave me lonely
now
I know your window and I know it's late I know your stairs and
your doorway I walk down your street and past your gate I stand by the
light at the four-way You watch them as they fall, oh baby, they all have
heart attacks They stay at the carnival, but they'll never win you
back
Will I see you tonight on a downtown train Where every night,
every night it's just the same, oh baby Will I see you tonight on a downtown
train All of my dreams they fall like rain, oh baby on a downtown
train
Will I see you tonight on a downtown train Where every night,
every night it's just the same, oh baby Will I see you tonight on a downtown
train All of my dreams just fall like rain, all on a downtown train All on
a downtown train, all on a downtown train All on a downtown train, a downtown
train
tracks
[Instrumental]
tracks
My head is spinning round, my heart is in my shoes, yeah I went and
set the Thames on fire, oh, now I must come back down She's laughing in her
sleeve boys, I can feel it in my bones Oh, but anywhere I'm gonna lay my
head, I'm gonna call my home
Well I see that the world is
upside-down Seems that my pockets were filled up with gold And now the
clouds, well they've covered over And the wind is blowing cold Well I
don't need anybody, because I learned, I learned to be alone Well I said
anywhere, anywhere, anywhere I lay my head, boys Well I gonna call my
home
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