Kentucky Avenue, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits [063]

As we head towards the close of this album (and bid farewell to Jen and Dave), the music and storytelling make a radical departure from the tone so far, into a nostalgic and autobiographical ballad of innocence and childhood. We look at both the specificity of the song as well as some of the implications of writing about and for a specific time and place. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: [email protected] Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Kentucky Avenue, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978) Reasons To Be Cheerful (Part 3), Single/Jukebox Dury, Ian Dury & The Blockheads (1979/1981) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly. Lyrics - Kentucky Avenue Well Eddie Grace's Buick got four bullet holes in the side and Charlie DeLisle is sittin at the top of an avocado tree Mrs. Storm will stab you with a steak knife if you step on her lawn I got a half a pack of Lucky Strikes man so come along with me and let's fill our pockets with macadamia nuts and go over to Bobby Goodmanson's and jump off the roof well Hilda plays strip poker when her mamas cross the street Joey Navinski says she put her tongue in his mouth and Dicky Faulkner's got a switchblade and some gooseneck risers that eucalyptus is a hunchback there's a wind down from the south so let me tie you up with kite string and I'll show you the scabs on my knee watch out for the broken glass put your shoes and socks on and come along with me let's follow that fire truck I think your house is burnin down asnd go down to the hobo jungle and kill some rattlesnakes with a trowel and we'll break all the windows in the old Anderson place and we'll steal a bunch of boysenberries and I'll smear em on your face I'll get a dollar from my mama's purse and buy that skull and crossbones ring and you can wear it round your neck on an old piece of string Then we'll spit on Ronnie Arnold and flip him the bird and slash the tires on the school bus now don't say a word I'll take a rusty nail and scratch your initials in my arm and I'll show you how to sneak up on the roof of the drugstore I'll take the spokes from your wheelchair and a magpie's wings and I'll tie em to your shoulders and your feet I'll steal a hacksaw from my dad and cut the braces off your legs and we'll bury them tonight out in the cornfield just put a church key in your pocket we'll hop that freight train in the hall we'll slide all the way down the drain to New Orleans in the fall