Sworfishtrombones *

Tom Waits

 

             a                        E         

Well he came home from the war with a party in his head

                      a

and modified Brougham DeVille

             a                        E

and a pair of legs that opened up like butterfly wings

                      a

and a mad dog that wouldn't sit still

d                                    a

he went and took up with a Salvation Army Band girl

d                                     a

who played dirty water on a swordfishtrombone

d                                     a

he went to sleep at the bottom of Tenkiller lake

H7                                    E7

and he said "gee, but it's great to be home."

 

Well he came home from the war

with a party in his head

and an idea for a fireworks display

and he knew that he'd be ready with

a stainless steel machete

and a half a pint of Ballentine's each day

and he holed up in room above a hardware store

cryin' nothing there but Hollywood tears

and he put a spell on some poor little Crutchfield girl

and stayed like that for 27 years

 

Well he packed up all his

expectations he lit out for California

with a flyswatter banjo on his knee

with a lucky tiger in his angel hair

and benzedrine for getting there

they found him in a eucalyptus tree

lieutenant got him a canary bird and shaked her head with every word

and Chesterfielded moonbeams in a song

and he got 20 years for lovin' her from some Oklahoma governor

said everything this Doughboy does is wrong

 

Now some say he's doing the obituary mambo

and some say he's hanging on the wall

perhaps this yarn's the only thing

that holds this man together

some say he was never here at all

Some say they saw him down in Birmingham,

sleeping in a boxcar going by

and if you think that you can tell a bigger tale

I swear to God you'd have to tell a lie...