Tom Waits: Burma shave

Licorice tattoo turned a gun metal blue scrawled across the shouldersOf a dying town the one eyed jacks across the railroad tracksAnd the scar on its belly pulled a stranger passing throughHe was a juvenile delinquent never learned how to behaveBut the cops would never think to look inBurma shaveAnd the road was like a ribbon and the moon was like a boneHe didn't seem to be like any guy she'd ever knownHe kinda looked like farley granger with his hair slicked backShe says i'm a sucker for a fella in a cowboy hatHow far are you going he said depends on what you meanHe says i'm going thataway just as long as it's pavedI guess you'd say i'm on my way toBurma shaveAnd her knees up on the glove compartmentTook out her barrettes and her hair spilled out like rootbeerAnd she popped her gum and arched her backHell marysville ain't nothing but a wide spot in the roadSome night my heart pounds just like thunderI don't know why it don't explodeCause everyone in this stinking town has got one foot in the graveAnd i'd rather take my chances out inBurma shavePresley's what i go by why don't you change the stationCount the grain elevators in the rearview mirrorMister anywhere you point this thingHas got to beat the hell out of the stingOf going to bed with every dream that dies here every morninAnd so drill me a hole with a barber poleI'm jumping my parole just like a fugitive tonightWhy don't you have another swigAnd pass that car if you're so braveI wanna get there before the sun comes up inBurma shaveAnd the spider web crack and the mustang screamedSmoke from the tires and the twisted machineJust a nickel's worth of dreams and every wishbone that they savedLie swindled from them on the way toBurma shaveAnd the sun hit the derrick and cast a bat wing shadowUp against the car door on the shot gun sideAnd when they pulled her from the wreck you know sheStill had on her shadesThey say that dreams are growing wild just this side ofBurma shave