Shore Leave, Swordfishtrombones, Tom Waits [093]

On this second track from Swordfishtrombones, Philippa Spanos returns to discuss with Sam and Martin some of the spaces created by the instrumental choices, and processes of musical reinvention of reinterpretation. 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, Swordfishtrombones, Tom Waits (1983) Shore Leave, Wicked Grin, John Hammond (2001) 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 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 I'd left all my papers on the Ticonderoga and I was in bad need of a shave and so I slopped at the corner on cold chow mein and shot billiards with a midget until the rain stopped and 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 and I miss my baby so I can't make it by myself I love you so Well I was 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 at the Dragon with some Filipino floor show and 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 you know I love you Baby and I'm so far away from home and I miss my baby so I can't make it by myself I love you so Shore Leave... Shore Leave...