Shore Leave, Big Time [film], Tom Waits [163]

Regular Big Time contributor Philippa Spanos returns for her third visit, laying out the physical space described by Waits in the next film-only version of Shore Leave. Back "in the studio", Sam and Martin talk about the scale and strength of Waits's voice in this track, as both a singer and a screamer. 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: Shore Leave, Big Time (film), Tom Waits (1988) 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 - Shore Leave Well, with buck shot eyes and a purple heart I just rolled down the national stroll And with a big fat paycheck strapped to my hip-sack And a shore leave wristwatch underneath my sleeve In a Hong Kong drizzle on Cuban heels I rowed down the gutter to the Blood Bank And well I'd left all my papers on the Ticonderoga And I was in bad need of a shave I slopped at the corner on cold chow mein I shot billiards with a midget until the rain stopped I bought a long sleeved shirt with horses on the front And some gum and a lighter and a knife And a new deck of cards with girls on the back And I sat down and wrote a letter to my wife And I said, baby, I'm so far away from home, yeah I can't make it by myself I just love you so And I was just pacing myself, trying to make it all last Squeezing all the life out of a lousy two-day pass And I had a cold one And I talked baseball with a lieutenant over a Singapore Sling And I wondered how the same moon outside over this Chinatown fair Could look down on Illinois and find you there And I'm so far away from home I'm so far away from home And I miss my baby so I just can't make it by myself I just love you so Shore Leave, shore leave, shore leave, shore leave, shore leave shore leave, shore leave, shore leave, shore leave, shore leave