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Burma-Shave [Used Songs (1973-1980), 2001]
Tom Waits
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A licorice tattoo
Turned a gun metal blue
Scrawled across the shoulders
Of a dying town
Took the one-eyed Jacks
Across the railroad tracks
And the scar on it's belly
Pulled a stranger
Passing through
He's a juvenile delinquent
Never learned how to behave
But the cops would never think to look
In Burma-Shave
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And the road was like a ribbon
And the moon was like a bone
He didn't seem to be
Like any guy she'd ever known
He kinda looked like Farley Granger
With his hair slicked back
She says
"I'm a sucker for a fella in a cowboy hat"
How far are you going
He said, "Depends on what you mean"
He says, "I'm only stopping here
To get some gasoline"
And I guess I'm going that away
Just as long as it's paved
I guess you'd say
"I'm on my way
To Burma-Shave"
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And with her knees upon the glove compartment
She took out her barrettes
And her hair spilled out like root beer
And she popped her gum and arched her back
Hell, Marysville ain't nothing
But a wide spot in the road
Some nights my heart pounds like thunder
Don't know why it don't explode
'Cause everyone in this stinking town
Has got one foot in the grave
And I'd rather take my chances
Out in Burma-Shave
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Presley's what I go by
Why don't you change the stations
Count the grain elevators
In the rearview mirror
She said, "Mister anywhere you point this thing
It got to beat the hell out of the sting
Of going to bed
With every dream
That dies here every mornin'"
And so drill me a hole
With a barber pole
And I'm jumping my parole
Just like a fugitive tonight
Why don't you have another swig?
And pass that car if you're so brave
I wanna get there before the sun comes up
In Burma-Shave
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And the spider web crack and the Mustang screamed
The smoke from the tires and the twisted machine
Just a nickel's worth of dreams
And every wish bone that they saved
Lie swindled from them on the way
To Burma-Shave
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And the sun hit the derrick
And cast a bat wing shadow
Up against the car door
On the shot gun side
And when they pulled her from the wreck
You know she still had on her shades
They say that dreams are growing wild
Just this side
Of Burma-Shave
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