"Martha"- Tom Waits

[enigmatic]

The man is a God, no doubt, and his debut album "Closing Time" has always been my favorite, especially for late-late night listening.

"Martha" never fails to put a tear in my eye; what a moving song...



Operator, number, please:
it's been so many years
Will she remember my old voice
while I fight the tears?
Hello, hello there, is this Martha?
this is old Tom Frost,
And I am calling long distance,
don't worry 'bout the cost.
'Cause it's been forty years or more,
now Martha please recall,
Meet me out for coffee,
where we'll talk about it all.

And those were the days of roses,
poetry and prose and Martha
all I had was you and all you had was me.
There was no tomorrows,
we'd packed away our sorrows
And we saved them for a rainy day.

And I feel so much older now,
and you're much older too,
How's your husband?
and how's the kids?
you know that I got married too?
Lucky that you found someone
to make you feel secure,
'Cause we were all so young and foolish,
now we are mature.

And those were the days of roses,
poetry and prose and Martha
all I had was you and all you had was me.
There was no tomorrows,
we'd packed away our sorrows
And we saved them for a rainy day.

And I was always so impulsive,
I guess that I still am,
And all that really mattered then
was that I was a man.
I guess that our being together
was never meant to be.
And Martha, Martha,
I love you can't you see?

And those were the days of roses,
poetry and prose and Martha
all I had was you and all you had was me.
There was no tomorrows,
we'd packed away our sorrows
And we saved them for a rainy day.

And I remember quiet evenings
trembling close to you...

[Blue_In_AK]

Tom Waits is a true poet...

I love his lyrics and his growly voice.

[enigmatic]

3. He's a treasure..

And somebody who's carved out 2 distinct stylistic music careers; a barroom poet and a avant-garde ringmaster...

[praxiz]

1. Thats so cool.

I listened to this song yesterday, for the first time in years.

Quite the coincidence.

[enigmatic]

2. The song "Closing Time" always kills me, too..

it's just the essence of melancholy; the cornet hanging over Tom's piano; I always picture a last-call at a dive bar where people are nursing their last drinks of the night, ready to go home to 4 bare walls.....kind of a Bukowski poem set to music...

[Sugar Smack]

4. That song tears me to confetti.

That's one of the essential staples of a good cry for me. WOW.

[Tsiyu]

5. " Day After Tomorrow"

Oh. My. God.:

I got your letter
Today
An' I miss you oh so much here

I can't wait
To see you all
And I'm counting the days dear

I still believe that there's gold
At the end of the World

An' I'll come home
To Illinois
On the day after tomorrow

It is so hard
And it's cold here
And I'm tired of taking orders

And I miss old Rockford town
Up by the Wisconsin border

What I miss you won't believe
Shovellin' snow,and rakin' leaves

And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow

I close my eyes
Every night
And I dream
That I can hold you

They fill us full of lies
Everyone buys
'Bout what it means
To be a soldier

I still don't know how I'm s'posed to feel
'Bout all the blood that's been spilled

Will God on his throne
Get me back home
On the day after tomorrow?

You can't deny
The other side
Don't wanna die
Any more than we do

What I'm tryin' to say
Is, don't they pray
To the same God
That we do?

Tell me
How does God choose?
Whose prayers does he refuse?

Who turns the wheel
Who throws the dice
On the day after tomorrow?

I am not fighting
For justice
I am not fighting
For freedom

I am fighting
For my life
And another day in the World here

I just do what I've been told
We're just the gravel on the road

And only the lucky
Ones come home
On the day after tomorrow

And the summer
It too will fade
And with it brings
The winter's frost dear

And I know
We too are made
Of all the things
That we have lost here

I'll be twenty - one today
I been savin' all my pay

And my plane
Will touch down
On the day after tomorrow

And my plane
It will touch down
On the day after tomorrow




That one hurts my heart, but "Ol '55" has got to be one of my favorite 'cheer up songs.'

Tom Waits is the shit.

[Madrone]

6. Hey!

:hug:

Hi, woman!


Closing Time is my FAVE Tom Waits album too. He's awesome.

[Tsiyu]

7. Hey yourself!

Aren't you supposed to be on a plane?

:hug:

[Madrone]

8. Not til Friday -

Until then - I'm trying to hang onto a thread of sanity. Last night I surveyed my household situation, cried, and went to bed at 8. lol

Seriously - I'm WAY overwhelmed, and this totally sucks.

Less than a week (Sunday night) until I'll be sitting with my best friend having too much to drink. Oy vey - it's needed!

How's you?

[Tsiyu]

9. Are we hijacking enigmatic's thread or what?

Sorry, e!

Hey, don't be overwhelmed. Just be whelmed.:P You have a few more days anyhoo. As for me, I am logging off now because I have been on the 'puter too long. I did find some freelance work, though, so it wasn't all pissing and moaning on DU!

Have an awesome day and I'll catch up with you later.

YOU TOO enigmatic! ( he's prolly sleepin' sound):boring:

Seeya Sis! Hang in There! :hi:

[enigmatic]

10. Ha!

That's ok; I was watching the sun come up on the balcony as I put my show on auto-pilot for the night:)

[Madrone]

12. Dude!

Tell me about your online radio program - I *just* clued in to it. Yes, I can be a slooooooooow girl sometimes in the observation department.

Is it some website where anyone can set up a program? How'd you get started doing it? How long you been doing it? Come'on man! Give up the goods!

[enigmatic]

13. Click on my banner...

I do the overnight show, as well as "The Insane Music Program"; my overnight show pretty much plays everything from Motorhead to Dave Brubek to Hank Williams to Gudied By Voices, w/ some spoken word and OTR snippets mixed in.

It's free-form all the way; I will (and have) play everything..

Edit: We have shows from DJ's across North America; I'm looking for somebody to do a electronica show, so if anybody's interested....

We just celebrated our 3rd anniversary last March, and we're growing every day, which makes me happy and keeps me out of trouble:)

[Madrone]

14. I did click it... :)

That's what got me curious. Who started it - and how'd you get involved?

Looks FUN - and I love that it's genre-less!

edited to add - I finally broke down and opened it in IE - so I can now see the Flash portion of the site...

[enigmatic]

15. A friend and I started it 3 years ago..

And I've been running it the past 2 years; we pretty much play all kinds of stuff. My goal is to replicate the AM stations from the 50's that played a wide variety of genres during it's day, and a all-night DJ that puts it all into a pot and mixes it up in the middle of the night!

We play alot of music from DUers, as well as my own stuff;) you can get a good idea if you turn into the morning sampler shows as well as my overnight show to get an idea.

We've got a nice listenership from around the world; I think that's the coolest part of the whole thing to me. I've got a family in Macedonia who are a relgious listener to out OTR and Saturday Bluegrass shows; we get emails from them regularly. That makes it worthwhile for me right there..

[Madrone]

16. VERY cool!

Thanks! :)

I'll have to check it out sometime!

[redqueen]

11. I love his voice...

now I want to hear Green Grass again.