Well, you play that Tarantella(2),
all the hounds they start to roar
The boys all go to hell, and then the Cubans hit the floor
They drive along the pipeline, they tango till they're sore
They take apart their nightmares and they leave 'em by the door
Let me fall out of the window with
confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better(3) on a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets, but I lie about my past
Send me off to bed forever more
Make sure they play my theme song,
I guess Daisies'll have to do(4)
Just get me to New Orleans and paint shadows on the pews
Turn the spit on that pig, kick the drum and let me down
Put my clarinet beneath your bed till I get back in town
Let me fall out of the window with
confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better on a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets, but I lie about my past
So send me off to bed forever more
Just make sure she's all in
calico(5) and the color of a doll
Wave the flag on Cadillac Day and a skillet on the wall
Cut me a switch, or hold your breath till the sun goes down
Write my name on the hood, send me off to another town
And just let me fall out of the
window with confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better on a blanket by the stairs
Tell you all my secrets, but I lie about my past
Will you send me off to bed forever more
Fall out of the window with
confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better on a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets, but I lie about my past
Send me off to bed forever more
Send me off to bed forever more
Send me off to bed forever more
Written by: Tom Waits
Published by: Jalma Music (ASCAP), © 1985
Official release: Rain Dogs, Island Records Inc., 1985
Arrangement and lyrics published in "Tom
Waits - Beautiful Maladies" (Amsco Publications, 1997)
Known covers:
Fjorton Sånger. Bad Liver & Hans Brustna Hjärtan. 1989. Nonstop Records
(1989), City Records (re-release May, 1993) NSM 33-15 (in Swedish: "Camping
i Kuopio")
Temptation. Holly Cole, 1995. Blue Note Records/ Capital (Japan/ USA)
It Happened One Night. Holly Cole. June, 1995. Blue Note Records. Japan: 1995,
USA/ EMD: 1996 (live version)
Into Temptation - Astrid Seriese sings Waits, Weill & more. Astrid Seriese.
October, 1996 (September, 2003). Brigadoon
Bukowski Waits For Us - Vol. 2. Michael Kiessling. September 25, 2000. Buschfunk
(Germany)
Incarnation Blues. Seth Augustus. 2004. Self-released
Liking You Liking Me. Grace Chung. 2005. Owlsong Productions
Fast Grass. Britta Rex Quartett. January 11, 2005. Cattitude Records
Annamateur. Anna Maria Scholz. August, 2005. Self-released
Tango Scandale. Ulrich Kodjo Wendt Band. October 1, 2005. Liekedeler (New Music)
The Silverhearts Play Raindogs. The Silverhearts. October 5, 2005. Banbury Park
Records
Cowboy Gypsy Party Music. Brook Adams. July 13, 2007. Self-released
Passione E Veleno (Tango di Capodanno) . Stefano Tessadri. March 28, 2008. Novunque/ Universal
Grapefruit Moon: Songs of Tom Waits. Southside Johnny & La Bamba's Bigband. September 19, 2008. Evangeline (Soulfood Music)
Colorama. The Hofners. March 9, 2009. LongMan Records
The Zeitgeist Beckons. Vagabond Opera. May 9, 2009. Self-released
Waits performing "Tango Till They're Sore"
Live performance from Late Night With David Letterman (1985)
NBC television talkshow with David Letterman. New York/ USA.
(broadcast November 21, 1985. Also lists as December 1985 and February 6, 1986)
Notes:
(1) Tango Till They're
Sore:
- Tom Waits (1983) (from a 'Rain Dogs' promo clip, as presented in 'Egos and
Icons'): "I had this friend who fell out of the window on New
Year's Eve. 12 storeys, not a scratch. His hat blew off. The only
thing that broke his fall was the fact that he had a little confetti in
his hair."
- Tom Waits (1985): "That's
kind of a New Orleans thing with trombone - I had a friend of mine who'd
fallen out of a window - he sent me a card later that said "May you
always have confetti in your hair" - that's kind of sums that up."
(Source: "Rain Dogs Island Promo
Tape" (taped comments on songs as sent to radio stations). Date:
late 1985)
- Tom Waits (introducing Tango
Till They're Sore, 1985): "Thank you eh. This is about a guy
that eh fell out of a window on New Year's Eve. And eh, the only thing
that broke his fall, was the fact that he had a little eh confetti in
his hair. Needless to say he doesn't go anywhere without a little...
confetti in his hair." (Source:
"Late Night With David Letterman" (NBC TV show) Date: New
York. December, 1985)
- Tom Waits (introducing Tango
Till They're Sore, Healdsburg, 1996): "This is a song about
suicide. But it's a FUN song. So don't go gettin' depressed"
(2) Tarantella: "The tarantella (tarentule, tarentella, tarantelle, tarentelle, tarantel) is a traditional, southern Italian dance of 6/8 or 4/4 time, characterised by the rapid whirling of couples. There are several local variations of this dance, including the Neapolitan, Sicilian, Apulian and Calabrian tarantellas. It is led by a central singer/speaker. A tarantella is also a song that can be played by instrumentalists. Sometimes the word used for the song is taranta ("tarantella" is in fact a diminutive dialectal form for "tarantula", a common kind of spider). The time signature, the fact that it is led by a caller, and several of the figures suggest that the tarantella may be related to contra dance. It is named after Taranto in southern Italy, and is popularly associated with the large local wolf spider or "tarantula" spider (Lycosa tarantula) whose bite was allegedly deadly and could be cured only by frenetic dancing (see tarantism). One variation of the legend said the dancer must dance the most joyous dance of her life or she would die, another says the dancer will go in to the most joyous dance of her life before she dies. In actual fact the spider's venom is not dangerous enough to cause any severe effects. The spiders, far from being aggressive, avoid human contact." (Source: Wikipedia/ GNU Free Documentation License, 2007)
(3) Jacks or better: A version of 5 card draw (poker) that requires a pair of Jacks or better to open the betting. If no one has at least this, the hand is thrown in, everyone puts money into the pot again, and the hand is re-dealt. (Source: Tom Waits Digest, Seth Nielssen)
(4) Dasies: Might refer to one of these titles: "The Garden of Daisies", "Pushing Daisies", "When Daisies Pied", "Sweet Bunch of Daisies"
(5) Calico: n. 1. A coarse, brightly printed cloth. Chiefly British. 2. A plain white cotton cloth, heavier than muslin (Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition) In the US the term calico is applied only to the printed fabric.