Black Rider

Waits Tom Black Rider Lyrics
1.Lucky Day Overture

Ladies and gentlemen
Harry's Harbour Bizarre is proud to present
Under the Big Top tonight
Human Oddities

That's right
You'll see the Three Headed Baby
You'll see Hitler's brain
See Lea Graff the German midget who sat in J.F. Morgan's lap

You'll see Priscilla Bajano
The monkey woman
Jo Jo the dog face boy
I'm Milton Malone, the human skeleton

See Grace McDaniel's
The mule faced woman
And she's the homeliest woman in the world

Under the Big Top tonight
Never before seen
And if you have a heart condition, please be warned

Don't forget to visit our snack bar at Charleston Grotto
Al lsales are final
Void where prohibited by law

You'll see Sealo the seal boy who has flippers for arms
You'll see Johnny Eck, the man born without a body
He walks on his hands
He has his own orchestra and is an excellent pianist

See Gerd Bessler, the human pincusion
And don't forget, it's ladies' night at Harvy's Harbour Bizarre
You'll see Ko Ko the bird girl
Mortando, the human fountain

Step a little
A little closer ladies and gentlemen and don't be shy
Dig deep in your pockets

You'll see Radion, the human torso
Deep from the jungles of Africa
Ladies and gentlemen, Harry's Harbour Bizarre
Ladies and gentlemen


2.November

No shadow
No stars
No moon
No care
November
It only believes
In a pile of dead leaves
And a moon
That's the color of bone

No prayers for November
To linger longer
Stick your spoon in the wall
We'll slaughter them all

November has tied me
To an old dead tree
Get word to April
To rescue me
November's cold chain

Made of wet boots and rain
And shiny black ravens
On chimney smoke lanes
November seems odd
You're my firing squad
November

With my hair slicked back
With carrion shellac
With the blood from a pheasant
And the bone from a hare

Tied to the branches
Of a roebuck stag
Left to wave in the timber
Like a buck shot flag

Go away you rainsnout
Go away, blow your brains out
November


3.Oily Night

Oily night


4.Russian Dance

---Instrumental---


5.T'ain't No Sin

(Walter Donaldson/Edgar Leslie)

When you hear sweet syncopation
And the music softly moans
T'ain't no sin to take off your skin
And dance around in your bones

When it gets too hot for comfot
And you can't get an ice cream cone
T'ain't no sin to take off your skin
And dance around your bones

Just like those bamboo babies
Down in the South Sea tropic zone
T'ain't no sin to take off your skin
And dance around your bones


6.That's The Way

(Tom Waits/William Burroughs)

That's the way the stomach rumbles
That's the way the bee bumbles
That's the way the needle pricks
That's the way the glue sticks
That's the way the potato mashes
That's the way the pan flashes
That's the way the market crashes
That's the way the whip lashes
That's the way the teeth knashes
That's the way the gravy stains
That's the way the moon wanes


7.The Black Rider

Come on a long with the Black Rider
We'll have a gay old time
Lay down in the web of the black spider
I'll drink your blood like wine

So come on in
It ain't no sin
Take off your skin
And dance around your bones

So come along with the Black Rider
We'll have a gay old time

Anchors away with the Black Rider
I'll drink your blood like wine
I'll drop you off in Harlem with the Black Rider
Out where the bullets shine

And when you're done
You cock your gun
The blood will run
Like ribbons in your hair

So come along wit hthe Black Rider
We'll have a gay old time

Come on along with the Black Rider
I've got just the thing for thee
Come on along with the Black Rider
I want your company

I'll have the veal
A lovely meal
That's how I feel
May I use your skull for a bowl

Come on along with the Black Rider
We'll have a gay old time


8.The Briar And The Rose

I fell asleep down by the stream
And there I had the strangest dream
And down by Brennan's Glenn there grows
A briar and a rose

There's a tree in the forest
But I don't know where
I built a nest out of your hair
And climbing up into the air
A briar and a rose

I don't know how long it has been
But I was born in Brennan's Glenn
And near the end of spring there grows
A briar and a rose

P icked the rose one early morn
I pricked my finger on a thorn
It had grown so high
It's winding wove the briar around the rose

I tried to tear them both apart
I felt a bullet in my heart
And all dressed up in springs and clothes
The briar and the rose

And when I'm buried in my grave
Tell me so I will know
Your tears will fall
To make love grow
The briar and the rose


9.The Last Rose Of Summer

I love the way
The tattered clouds
Go wind across the sky

As summer goes
And leave me
With a tear in my eye

I'm taking out my winter clothes
My garden knows what's wrong
The petals of my favorite rose
Be in the shadows dark and long

Through every year
It's very clear
I should be used
To carrying on
But I can't be found
IN the garden
Singing this song

When the last
Rose of summer is gone