Time Lyrics

(Waits) 
Tom Waits - from “Rain Dogs” (1985)

Well, the smart money’s on Harlow

And the moon is in the street

The shadow boys are breaking all the laws

And you’re east of East St. Louis

And the wind is making speeches

And the rain sounds like a round of applause

Napoleon is weeping in the Carnival saloon

His invisible fiance is in the mirror

The band is going home

It’s raining hammers, it’s raining nails

Yes, it’s true, there’s nothing left for him down here

Chorus:

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 mamas boys just don’t know when to quit

And Matilda asks the sailors are those dreams

Or are those prayers

So just close your eyes, son

And this won’t hurt a bit

Chorus

Well, things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl

The boys just dive right off the cars

And splash into the streets

And when she’s 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

Till the dish outside the window fills with rain

Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart

And pay the fiddler off till I come back again