[OT?] Help with lyrics to Tom Waits "Time"

[Joe Shmoe]

I turn to you folks because I think you are the best resources for
lyric origins and translation/interpretation.

The other night Tori Amos performed Tom Waits' Time on Letterman. I was
incredibly moved by her beautiful and sensitive performance. After
reading the lyrics online, I realized I had no idea what the song was
even about.

Can anyone here give me some insight?

Thank you.

---

Here are the lyrics:

Tom Waits
"Time" from Rain Dogs
 
Well, the smart money's on Harlow
and the moon is in the street
the shadow boys are breaking all the laws
and you're east of East St. Louis
and the wind is making speeches
and the rain sounds like a round of applause
Napoleon is weeping in the Carnival saloon
his invisible fiance is in the mirror
the band is going home
it's raining hammers, it's raining nails
yes, it's true, there's nothing left for him down here

Chorus

And it's Time Time Time
And it's Time Time Time
And it's Time Time Time
that you love
And it's Time Time Time

And they all pretend they're orphans
and their memory's like a train
you can see it getting smaller as it pulls away
and the things you can't remmeber
tell the things you can't forget that
history puts a saint in every dream

Well she said she'd stick around
until the bandages came off
but these mamas boys just didn't know when to quit
and Matilda asks the sailors are those dreams
or are those prayers
so just close your eyes, son
and this won't hurt a bit

Chorus

Well, things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl
the boys just dive right off the cars
and splash into the street
and when she's on a roll she pulls a razor
from her boot and a thousand
pigeons fall around her feet
so put a candle in the window
and a kiss upon his lips
till the dish outside the window fills with rain
just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart
and pay the fiddler off till I come back again

Chorus

[Chris Rogers]

I've been playing this for years and I've still no idea what it's
about! I think that, as with most of the great man's songs, you're
better off not worrying too much about the meaning and concentrating
on enjoying the imagery and poetry. Nobody writes them like Tom!

All the best,

Chris Rogers;
www.ngcb.u-net.com/chris.htm

[Michael Ollier]

What does it matter what it is about? It's the imagery that counts and
anyhow: all interpretations are with the holder, and we are all different.

Tom is wonderful; Dylan is wonderful and so too is Neil Young etc. I don't
understand most of what they write... but oh! the images they set up in my
mind.

Who cares... just enjoy.

Mike

[Joe Shmoe]

Look, I appreciate the ffort you made to express your opinion, but the
fact that you don't care about song meaning doesn't help me much. I do
care and I find I enjoy the song more when I hear the backstory.

I have numerous reasons for wanting to pry deeper into these lyrics.

First, it sounds as if these lyrics are based on real life events. I
don't understand some of the things being sung about.

It would give me added appreciation of the song and of Waits as a
songwriter if I could see how he translated this experience/story into
song. There is something bigger going on in these lyrics than what my
amateur songwriter's mind can define. I just want to understand what
that is.

Second, Tori chose to perform this cover on a national tv program right
after the Trade Center attack. She's promoting her new release, but I'd
like to see if the lyrics may reveal something about why she chose to
play this tune. Maybe that's a stretch, but to me it's worth asking
about.

Third, if I may butter some bisquits here, I respect many of the people
who post here and would like to read either their interpretation or
their knowledge of the events being written about by Waits.

So, to quote Luke Skywalker in my best humbled whiney voice, "I care"

----

In article <9pdg7q$5e8$1...@neptunium.btinternet.com>, Michael Ollier

[filip.b...@gmail.com]

Here's my take. It might be 20 years late, but still.

Well, the smart money's on Harlow* and the moon is in the street
And the shadow boys are breaking all the laws
And you're east of East Saint Louis and the wind is making speeches
And the rain sounds like a round of applause

//Harry Harlow* was an American psychologist best known for his maternal-separation, dependency needs, and social isolation experiments on rhesus monkeys, which manifested the importance of caregiving and companionship to social and cognitive development.
//This first bit is about Needing love and care. The shadow boys havn't got that care. Rain and wind are ways to paint up a gloomy mood.

And Napoleon is weeping in a carnival saloon
His invisible fiancee's in the mirror
And the band is going home, it's raining hammers, it's raining nails
And it's true there's nothing left for him down here

// I don't know the significance of the name Napoleon. It appears severeal times during Waits's career. But I read this bit to be an enhancer of the lonely man. Another lonenly man is missing his love, maybe he never had one or maybe she's been lost. More rain. More gloom.

And it's time, time, time
And it's time, time, time
And it's time, time, time, that you love
And it's time, time, time

//It's tricky to tell if it's time that he loves, or if it's time TO love. I honestly can't tell what fit the narrative best.

And they all pretend they're orphans and their memory's like a train

You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away
And the things you can't remember tell the things you can't forget
That history puts a saint in every dream
Well, she said she'd stick around until the bandages came off
But these mama's boys just don't know when to quit
And Mathilda asks the sailors "are those dreams or are those prayers?"
So close your eyes, son, and this won't hurt a bit

//This bit is probably about drinking (because of the lack of love). They _pretending_ to be orphans are self pity in their loneliness/lack of mother figure (Read C.G. Jung for some of that deep stuff). Memories diminishing/dissapearing meaning they drink their brains to mush. Cant remember tell the things you cant forget MIGHT be about idolizing the good parts of a previous love, and forgetting the bad stuff. Ergo History puts a saint in every dream (mind you theese dreams seem to be spirit-fueld remembrances of lost/lack of love, right?). Also. Mathilda is Tom's name for Booze in Tom Traubert's Blues.

Well, things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl

The boys just dive right off the cars and splash into the street
And when they're on a roll she pulls a razor from her boot
And a thousand pigeons fall around her feet

// This bit is tricky. The Calendar Girl might be Mathilda, or perhaps the calendar girl is a representation of time watching from the walls, IE. The eyes on the girls on the calendars see everything the men do in their delirium. The diving of cars and splash in to the streets might mean falling over in the rain, or plainly speaking in their misery. And when they're on a roll, when the drinking men indulge in misery, the watchfull eyes of the calendar girls get broken hearted over seeing is so that she use the razorblade on hersel, and a thousand pidgeons fall at her feet. Pidgeons representing innocence. Something like that, or maybe not.

//Alternative idea: Maybe The calendar girl is the unrelated women on the street that the drunken men help themselves to/catcall to a degree that the calander girl find uncomfortable and she uses a razor to protect herself. The loss of innocense idea translates.

So put a candle in the window and a kiss upon his lips
As the dish outside the window fills with rain
Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart
And pay the fiddler off 'til I come back again

//the candle and the kiss surely is a way of caring for someone in a bad state, even though gloomy times are upon you/them (dish filling with rain puts a time dimension on the gloom which might indicate that it's a long suffering and not just a shower). A stranger with the weeds in your heart might be that you/she/they dont recognize the passed out drunk man, but they know they love him when he's sober. Pay the fiddler of = face the concequences of the actions (the careres or the carees?)


ERGO: Men drink because they lack love. This has causes and effects upon strangers and those close to them. The drinking men need love and care so that they can stop drinking. A disease is not cured with blame.

BUT That's just my quick analysis. And what do I know, really?