That's the way the stomach
rumbles(2)
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 gnashes
That's the way the gravy stains
That's the way the moon wanes(3)
Written by: William Burroughs
Published by: Jalma Music Inc./ Nova Lark Music (ASCAP), © 1990, 1993
Official release: The Black Rider, Island Records Inc., 1993
Further reading: The
Black Rider Full Story
Known covers:
Bukowski Waits For Us - Vol. 2. Michael Kiessling. September 25, 2000. Buschfunk
(Germany)
Bukowski Waits For You. Michael Kiessling. June 14, 2004. Buschfunk (Germany)
Notes:
(1) Original Burroughs take played in scene 3 prior to Kätchen/ Wilhelm love duet
(2) That's the way the stomach
rumbles
- Tom Waits (2004): "Burroughs is kind of like a demonic Mark
Twain. He's like the real dark heart of America. Comes from the
Burroughs Adding Machine family, you know, and he threw off all the
shackles of his inheritance and struck out on his own. Like they say,
when you're in hell, keep going. So at times he was much more in the
realm of Philip K. Dick in science fiction. Anyway, very inspiring. And
I was very romantic about all the Beats when I was first coming on the
scene myself. And that voice. My favorite thing is [quoting from
"That's the Way," which Burroughs performs on the CD]
"That's the way the cookie crumbles, that's the way the stomach
rumbles, that's the way the needle pricks, that's the way the glue
sticks--" That stuff really killed me." (Source:
"One Wild Ride" San Francisco Magazine by Pamela Feinsilber.
September, 2004)
(3) That's the way the
moon wanes
- Wane: intr.v. waned, wan·ing, wanes. To decrease
gradually in size, amount, intensity, or degree; decline. To exhibit a
decreasing illuminated area from full moon to new moon (Source:
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth
Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company)
- Also
mentioned in Drunk On The
Moon, 1974: "Hearts flutter and race, the
moon's on the wane"