TOM WAITS: Alice (2002)

1. Alice
2. Everything You Can Think
3. Flowers Grave
4. No One Knows I'm Gone
5. Kommienezuepadt
6. Poor Edward
7. Table Top Joe
8. Lost In The Harbor
9. We're All Mad Here
10. Watch Her Disappear
11. Reeperbahn
12. I'm Still Here
13. Fish & Bird
14. Barcarolle
15. Fawn


ALICE
It's dreamy weather we're on
You wave your crooked wand
Along an icy pond
With a frozen moon
A murder of silhouette crows I saw
And the tears on my face
And the skates on the pond they spell Alice

I'll disappear in your name
But you must wait for me
Somewhere across the sea
There's the wreck of a ship
Your hair is like meadow grass
On the tide and the raindrops on my window
And the ice in my drink
Baby, all that I can think of is Alice

Arithmetic Arithmetock I turn the hands back on the clock
How does the ocean rock the boat
How did the razor find my throat
The only strings that hold me here
Are tangled up around the pier

And so a secret kiss
Brings madness with the bliss
And I will think of this
When I'm dead in my grave
Set me adrift and I'm lost over there
And I must be insane
To go skating on your name
And by tracing it twice
I fell through the ice of Alice

And so a secret kiss
Brings madness with the bliss
And I will think of this
When I'm dead in my grave
Set me adrift and I'm lost over there
And I must be insane
To go skating on your name
And by tracing it twice
I fell through the ice of Alice
There's only Alice

EVERYTHING YOU CAN THINK
Everything you can think of is true
Before the ocean was blue
We were lost in a flood
Run red with your blood
Nigerian skeleton crew

Everything you can think of is true
The dish ran away with a spoon
Dig deep in your heart for that little red glow
We're decomposing as we go

Everything you can think of is true
And fishes make wishes on you
We're fighting our way up dreamland's spine
Red flamingos and expensive wine

Everything you can think of is true
The baby's asleep in your shoe
Your teeth are buildings with yellow doors
Your eyes are fish on a creamy shore

FLOWERS GRAVE
Someday the silver moon and I will go to Dreamland
I will close my eyes and wake up there in Dreamland
But tell me who will put flowers on a flower's grave?
Who will say a prayer?
Will I meet a China rose there in Dreamland
Or does love lie bleeding in Dreamland
Are these days forever and always
And if we are to die tonight
Is there moonlight up ahead
If we are to die tonight
Another rose will bloom

For a faded rose
Will I be the one that you save
I love when it showers
But no one puts flowers
On a flower's grave

As one rose blooms another will die
It's always been that way
I remember the showers
But no one puts flowers
On a flower's grave

And if we are to die tonight
Is there moonlight up ahead
I remember the showers
But no one puts flowers
On a flower's grave

NO ONE KNOWS I’M GONE
Hell above and heaven below
All the trees are gone
The rain makes such a lovely sound
To those who are six feet under ground
The leaves will bury every year
And no one knows I'm gone

Leave me golden tell me dark
Hide from Graveyard John
The moon is full here every night
And I can bathe here in his light
The leaves will bury every year
And no one knows I'm gone

KOMMIENEZUSPADT
(Letra que simula el idioma alemán sin serlo, imposible de transcribir)…
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt
Sei punktlich
Sei punktlich
Sei punktlich
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt
And we can't be late
And we can't be late

(lLetra que simula el idioma alemán sin serlo, imposible de transcribir)…
And we can't be late
Kommiene, Kommiene
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt

(Letra que simula el idioma alemán sin serlo, imposible de transcribir)…
And we can't be late
And we can't be late
And we can't be late
And we can't be late
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt
Sei punktlich
Sei punktlich
Sei punktlich
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt
Ha, ha, ha, ha
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
Ha, ha, ha, ha
Kommienezuspadt

(Letra que simula el idioma alemán sin serlo, imposible de transcribir)…
And we can't be late
And we can't be late
And we can't be late
Sei punktlich
Sei punktlich
Kommienezuspadt
Kommiene,
kommiene,
kommiene,
kommiene
Kommienezuspadt

POOR EDWARD
Did you hear the news about Edward?
On the back of his head
He had another face
Was it a woman's face
Or a young girl
They said to remove it would kill him
So poor Edward was doomed

The face could laugh and cry
It was his devil twin
And at night she spoke to him
Things heard only in hell
They were impossible to separate
Chained together for life

Finally the bell tolled his doom
He took a suite of rooms
And hung himself and her
From the balcony irons
Some still believe he was freed from her
But I knew her too well
I say she drove him to suicide
And took poor Edward to hell

TABLE TOP JOE
I knew one day
One, one, two, one, two, three
Dee dee da dee dee
Da dee dee dee vole mulde aliby
Oh yeah
Vuleandee full and dando vuale

Well, my mama didn't want me
On the day I was born
I was born without a body
I got nothin' but scorn
But I always loved music
All I had was my hands
And I dreamed I'd be famous
And I'd work at The Sands

Singin’ Tabletop Joe, Tabletop Joe
Now everyone will know Tabletop Joe

I had trouble with the pedals
But I had a strong left hand
And I could play Stravinsky
On a baby grand
I said I'm gonna join the circus
'cause that's where I belong
So I went to Coney Island
I was singing this song

Tabletop Joe, Tabletop Joe
Now everyone knows, yeah, Tabletop Joe

They gave me top billing
In the Dreamland show
Now I had my own orchestra
Starring Tabletop Joe
And the man without a body
Proved everyone wrong
I was rich and I was famous
And I was where I belonged, yeah

Tabletop Joe, Tabletop Joe
Now everyone knows, yeah, Tabletop Joe
Take it all, boys
Lu, la, la, la...

LOST IN THE HARBOUR
Over here the ladies all want sweet perfume
But there's never a rose
And over there
The roses are frightened to bloom
So they never can grow
And over here they need wool
For weaving their baby's new clothes
But nobody has any wool
And the sheep are all lost in the harbour
Lost in the harbour

And over here
They want diamonds to wear
But there aren't any here
And over there,
Everyone's hiding their tears
But they're crying inside
And the wall won't come down
‘Til they're no longer afraid of themselves
If you don't believe me, ask yourselves
And then I can come down to the harbour
Down to the harbour

And then I will fill the ocean back up with my tears
I still have a couple more years
And then I can come back to the harbour
Down to the harbour

WE’RE ALL MAD HERE
You can hang me in a bottle like a cat
Let the crows pick me clean but for my hat
Where the wailing of a baby
Meets the footsteps of the dead
We're all mad here
As the Devil sticks his flag into the mud
Mrs. Carroll has run off with Reverend Judd
Hell is such a lonely place and your big expensive face
Will never last

And you'll die with the rose still on your lips
And in the time the heart-shaped bone that was your hips
And all the worms they will climb the rugged ladder of your spine
We're all mad here
And my eyeballs roll this terrible terrain
And we're all inside a decomposing train
And your eyes will die like fish
And the shore of your face will turn to bone

WATCH HER DISAPPEAR
Last night I dreamed that I was dreaming of you
And from a window across the lawn I watched you undress
Wearing a sunset of purple tightly woven around your hair
That rose in strangled ebony curls
Moving in a yellow Bedroom light
The air is wet with sound
The faraway yelping of a wounded dog
And the ground is drinking a slow faucet leak
Your house is so soft and fading
As it soaks the black summer heat
A light goes on and a door opens
And yellow cat runs out on the stream of hall light
And into the yard

A wooden cherry scent is faintly breathing the air
I hear your champagne laugh
You wear two lavender orchids
One in your hair and one on your hip
A string of yellow carnival lights
Comes on with the dusk
Circling the lake in a slowly dipping halo
And I hear a banjo tango

And you dance into the shadow of a black poplar tree
And I watch you as you disappear
I watch you as you disappear
I watch you as you disappear
I watch you as you disappear
I watch you as you disappear

REEPERBAHN
Round the curve of The Parrot Bar
A broken-down old movie star
Hustling and Easterner
Bringing out the beast in her
A high dive in a swimming pool
Filled with needles and with fools
The memories are short but the tales are long
Down there on the Reeperbahn

Oh, they called her Rosie when she was a girl
For her bright red cheeks and her strawberry curls
When she would laugh the river would run
Said she'd be a comedian
Oh what a pity, oh what a shame
When she said come calling, nobody came
Now her bright red cheeks are painted on
And she's laughing her head off in the Reeperbahn

Now little Hans was always strange
Wearing women's under things
His father beat him but he wouldn't change
Ran off with a man one day
Now his lingerie is all the rage
In the black on every page
His father proudly calls his name
Down there in the Reeperbahn

Now if you've lost your inheritance
And all you've left is common sense
And you're not too picky about the crowd you keep
Or the mattress where you sleep
Behind every window, behind every door
The apple is gone but there's always the core
And the seeds will sprout up right through the floor
Down there in the Reeperbahn
La la la la la la la la la....
Down there in the Reeperbahn
La la la la la la la la la....
Down there in the Reeperbahn

I’M STILL HERE
You haven't looked at me that way in years
You dreamed me up and left me here
How long was I dreaming for
What was it you wanted me for

You haven't looked at me that way in years
Your watch has stopped and the pond is clear
Someone turn the lights back on
I'll love you ‘til all time is gone

You haven't looked at me that way in years
But I'm still here

FISH & BIRD
They bought a round for the sailor
And they heard his tale
Of a world that was so far away
And a song that we'd never heard
A song of a little bird
That fell in love with a whale

He said: you cannot live in the ocean
And she said to him: You never can live in the sky
But the ocean is filled with tears
And the sea turns into a mirror
And there's a whale in the moon when it's clear
And a bird on the tide

Please don't cry
Let me dry your eyes
So tell me that you will wait for me
Hold me in your arms
I promise we never will part
I'll never sail back to the time
But I'll always pretend you're mine
Though I know that we both must part
You can live in my heart

Oh, Please don't cry
Let me dry your eyes
And tell me that you will wait for me
Hold me in your arms
I promise we never will part
I'll never sail back to the time
But I'll always pretend that you're mine
Though I know that we both must part
You can live in my heart

BARCAROLLE
A cloud lets go of the moon
Her ribbons are all out of tune
She's skating on the ice in a glass
In the hands of a man
That she kissed on a train
And the children are all gone in the town
To get candy and we are alone in the house here
And your eyes fall down on me
And I belong only to you
The water is filling my shoes
In the wine of my heart there's a stone in a well made of bone
Have to bring to the pond
I’m here in your pocket
Curled up in a dollar
And the chain from your watch
Around my neck
And I'll stay right here into this time

The girls all knit in the shade
Before the baby is made
And the branches bend down to the ground
Here to swing on
I'm lost in the blond summer grass
And the train whistle blows
And the carnival goes
‘Till there's only the tickets and crows here
And the grass will all grow back

And the branches spell Alice
And I belong only to you

FAWN
(Instrumental)