Tom Waits
Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard
Blue Valentine
1978
Well I come in on a night train
With an arm full of box cars
On the wings of a magpie
Cross a hooligan night
And I busted up a chifforobe
Way out by the Cocomo
Cooked up a mess a mulligan
And got into a fight
Whistlin past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm a mean Mother Hubbard
Papa one eyed jack
You probably seen me sleepin'
Out by the railroad tracks
Go on and ask the prince of darkness
What about all that smoke
Come from the stack
Sometimes I kill myself a jacket
Suck out all the blood
Steal myself a station wagon
Drivin' through the mud
Whistlin past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm a mean Mother Hubbard
Papa one eyed jack
I know you seen my headlights
And the honkin' of my horn
I'm callin' out my bloodhounds
Chase the devil through the corn
Last night I chugged the Mississippi
Now that suckers dry as a bone
Born in a taxi cab
I'm never comin' home
Whistlin past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm a mean Mother Hubbard
Papa one eyed jack
My eyes have seen the glory
Of the draining of the ditch
I only come to baton rouge
To find myself a witch
I'm-ona snatch me up a
Couple of em every time it rains
You see a locomotive
Probably thinkin' its a train
Whistlin past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm a mean Mother Hubbard
Papa one eyed jack
What you think is the sunshine
Is just a twinkle in my eye
That ring around my fingers
Just the fourth of July
When I get a little bit lonesome
And a tear falls from my cheek
There's gonna be an ocean in
The middle of the week
Whistlin past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm a mean Mother Hubbard
Papa one eyed jack
I rode into town on a night train
With an arm full of box cars
On the wings of a magpie
Cross a hooligan night
I'm-ona tear me off a rainbow
And wear it for a tie
I never told the truth
So I can never tell a lie
Whistlin past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm a mean Mother Hubbard
Papa one eyed jack
#tomwaits #whistlinpastthegraveyard #1978
