"Jitterburg Boys" lyrics - TOM WAITS
Well, I'm a jitterbug boy, by the shoe-shine
Resting on my laurels and my hardys too
Life of Riley on a swing shift, gears follow my drift
Once upon a time I was in show-biz too
I seen the Brooklyn Dodgers playing at Ebbets Field
Seen the Kentucky Derby too
It's fast women, slow horses, unreliable sources,
And I'm holding up the lamp-post if you want to know
I've seen the Wabash Cannonball, buddy, I've done it all
'Cause I slept with the lions and Marilyn Monroe,
Had breakfast in the eye of a hurricane
Fought Rocky Marciano, played Minnesota Fats,
Burned hundred-dollar bills, I've eaten Mulligan stew
Got drunk with Louis Armstrong, what's that old song?
I taught Mickey Mantle everything that he knows
So you ask me what I'm doing here holding up the lamp-post,
Flipping this quarter, trying to make up my mind
And if it's heads I go to Tennessee, and tails I buy a drink,
If it lands on the edge I keep talking to you
(scat)
Small Change (1976)
- Tom Traubert's Blues
- Step Right Up
- Jitterburg Boys
- I Wish I Was In New Orleans (In The Ninth Ward)
- The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)
- Invitation To The Blues
- Pasties And A G-String (At The Two O'Clock Club)
- Bad Liver And A Broken Heart (In Lowell)
- The One That Got Away
- Small Change (Got Rained On With His Own .38)
- I Can't Wait To Get Off Work (And See My Baby On Montgomery Avenue)