Potter\'s Field
Tom Waits

well you can buy me a drink and i'll tell you what i seen
and i'll give you a bargain from the edge of a maniac's dream
that buys a black widow spider with a riddle in his yarn
that's clinging to the furrow of a blindman's brow
i'll start talking from the brim of a thimble full of whiskey
on a train through the bronx that will take you just as far
as the empty of a bottle to the highway of a scar
that stretched across the blacktop of my cheek like that
and then ducks beneath the brim of a fugitive's hat
and you'll learn why liquor makes a stool pigeon rat on every face
that ever left his shadow down on saint marks place
hell i'd double cross my mother if it was whiskey that they payed
and so an early bird says nightsticks on the hit parade
and he ain't got a prayer and his days are numbered
and you'll track him down like a dog
well it's a tough customer you're getting in this trade
cause the nightstick's heart pumps lemonade
well whiskey keeps a blindman talkin alright
and i'm the only one who knows just where he stayed last night

he was in a wreckin yard in a switchblade storm
in a wheelbarrow with nothing but revenge to keep him warm
and a half a million dollars in unmarked bills
was the nightstick's blanket in a febuary chill
and as the buzzard drove a crooked sky
he was dealin high chicago in the mud
and stackin' the deck against a dragnet's eye
a shivering nightstick in a miserable heap
with the siren for a lullaby singing him to sleep
he was bleeding from a buttonhole
torn by a slug fired from the barrel of a two dollar gun
that scorched a blister on the grip of a punk by now
is learnin what you have to pay to be a hero anyhow

he dressed the hole in his gut with a hundred dollar bandage
a king's ransom for a bedspread that don't amount to nuttin
just cobweb strings on a busted ukulele
and the nightstick leaned on a black shillelagh
with the poison of a junkie's broken promise on his lip

he staggered in the shadows screaming i ain't never been afraid
and he shot out every street light on the promenade
past the frozen ham and eggers at the penny arcade
throwin out handfuls of a blood stained salary
they were dead in their tracks at the shootin gallery
and they fired off a twenty one gun salute
and from the corner of his eye he caught the alabaster orbs
and from a dime a dance hall girl and stuffed a thousand dollar bill
in her blouse and caught the cruel and unusual punishment of her smile
and the nightstick winked beneath a rainsoaked brim
ain't no one seen hide nor hair of him see
no one but a spade on rikers island and me
and so if you're mad enough to listen to a full of whiskey blindman
then you're mad enough to look beyond where bloodhounds dare to go
so if you want to know just where the nightstick's hidin out
you be down at the ferry landin oh let's say bout half past a nightmare
when it's twisted on a clock you tell 'em nickels sentcha
whiskey always makes him talk
and you ask for captain charon with the mud on his kicks
he's the skipper of the deadline steamer
and she sails from the bronx across the river styx
and a riddle's just a ticket for a dreamer

cause when the weathervane's sleepin and the moon turns his back
you crawl on your belly long the railroad tracks
and cross your heart and hope to die and stick a needle in your eye
cause he'd cut my bleedin heart out if he found out that i squealed
cause you see a scarecrow's just a hoodlum
who marked the cards that he dealed
and pulled a gypsy switch
out on the edge of potter's field


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Lyrics by Tom Waits

  ...But There's Never A Rose   'Til the Money Runs Out   (Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night   \'til The Money Runs Out   $29.00   16 Shells From A 30.06   16 Shells From A 306   16 Shells from a Thirty - Ought - Six   16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought-Six   16 Shells from a Thrity-Ought Six   29 00   9th & Hennepin   9th & Hennepin   9th and Hennepin     Turntable   A Good Man Is Hard To Find   A Little Rain   A Sight For Sore Eyes   A Sweet Little Bullet From A Pretty Blue   A Sweet Little Bullet from a Pretty Blue Gun   After You Die   Ain\'t 2 Proud 2 Beg   Ain\'t 2 Proud 2 Beg (Left Eye\'s 3 Minutes & Coun...   Alice   All I Want For Christmas   All Stripped Down   All The World Is Green   Altar Boy   And No One Knows I'm Gone   Annie\'s Back In Town   Another Man's Vine   Anywhere I Lay My Head   Automatic   Baby Baby Baby   Baby Baby Baby (Extended Remix)   Back In The Crowd   Back in the Good Old World   Back In The Good Old World Gypsy   Bad As Me   Bad By Myself   Bad Liver and a Broken Heart   Bad Liver And A Broken Heart (In Lowell)   Barber Shop   Barcarolle   Better off without a Wife   Big Black Mariah   Big In Japan   Big Joe & Phantom 309   Big Joe and Phantom 309   Black Market Baby   Black Wings   Blind Love   Blow Wind Blow   Blue Skies   Blue Valentine   Blue Valentines   Books of Moses   Broken Bicycles   Burma Shave   Buzz Fledderjohn   Candy Apple Red   Careless Love   Case of the Fake People   Cemetery Polka   Chained Together For Life   Chicago   Chocolate Jesus   Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis   Christmas Cards From A Hooker In Minneapolis   Christmas Sucks   Circus   Clap Hands   Cold Cold Ground   Cold Cold Ground (Live)   Cold Water   Come On Down   Come on up to the House   Coney Island Baby   Credits   Creep   Creep (DARP Remix)   Crossroads   Damaged   Danny Says   Das Da Way We Like \'Em   Date To Church   Day After Tomorrow   Dead and Lovely   Dear Lie   Depend On Myself   Depot, Depot   Diamonds & Gold   Diamonds & Gold   Diamonds And Gold   Diamonds On My Windshield   Diamonds On My Windshield (Looking For)   Diamonds On My Windshield Looking For   Diggin\' On You   Dirt In The Ground   Dirty Dirty   Don't Go into That Barn   Don\'t Pull Out On Me Yet   Down The Reeperbahn   Down, Down, Down   Downtown   Downtown Train   Downtown Trains   Drunk on the Moon   Earth Died Screaming   Eggs & Sausage   Eggs & Sausage   Eggs and Sausage   Eggs and Sausage (In a Cadillac With Susan Michels...   Eggs and Sausage (In a Cadillac With Susan Michels...   Eggs and Sausage (Intro)   Eggs And Sausage – Invitation To The Blues   Emotional Weather Report   Everything Goes To Hell   Everything You Can Think   Everything You Can Think Of Is True   Eyeball Kid   Face To The Highway   Fall Of Troy   Falling Down   Falling Down   Fanmail   Fannin Street   Filipino Box Spring Hog   First Kiss   Fish & Bird   Fish & Bird   Flash Pan Hunter   Flash Pan Hunter Intro   Flowers Grave   Foreign Affair   Frank's Song   Frank's Theme   Frank's Wild Years   FRANK\'S SONG   Frank\'s Theme   Frank\'s Wild Years   Frank\'s Wild Years For Frankie Z   Fumblin' With The Blues   Fumblin\' With The Blues   Georgia Lee   Get Away (Bonus Track)   Get Behind The Mule   Get it Up   Get Los   Get Lost   Gin Soaked Boy   Girl Talk   Give it to Me While It\'s Hot   God's Away On Busines   God's Away On Business   God's Away On Bussiness   God\'s Away On Business   Goin' Down Slow   Goin' Out West   Goin\' Down Slow   Goin\' Out West   Good Love   Good Old World   Good Old World (Waltz)   Good Old World Waltz   Goodnight Irene   Goodnight Loving Trail   Gospel Train   Gospel Train Orchestra   Gospel Train\/Orchestra   Grapefruit Moon   Green Grass   Gun Street Girl   Had Me A Girl   Hands Up   Hang Down Your Head   Hang Me In The Bottle   Hang On St. Christopher   Hat 2 Da Back   Heartattack and Vine   Heartattack and Vine   Heigh Ho   Heigh Ho! (The Dwarfs' Marching Song)   Hell Broke Luce   Hey Hey Hey Hey   His Story   Hoist That Rag   Hold On   Hope I Don't Fall In Love With You   Hope I Don\'t Fall In Love With You   House Where Nobody Lives   How's It Gonna End   I Beg Your Pardon   I Can't Wait To Get Off Work   I Can't Wait To Get Off Work (And See My Baby On M...   I Can\'t Wait To Get Off Work   I Can\'t Wait To Get Off Work (And See My Baby On ...   I Can\'t Wait To Get Off Work (And See My Baby On ...   I Can’t Wait To Get Off To Work   I Can’t Wait To Get Off Work (And See My Baby On...   I Cant Wait To Get Off Work (And See My Baby On Mo...   I Don't Wanna Grow Up   I Don\'t Wanna Grow Up   I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You   I Hope That I Don\'t Fall In Love With You   I Miss You So Much   I Need That *   I Never Talk to Strangers   I Want You   I Wish I Was in New Orleans   I Wish I Was In New Orleans (In The Ninth Ward)   I Wish I Was In New Orleans – Small Change   I'll Be Gone   I'll Shoot the Moon   I'll Take New York   I'm Still Here   I'm Your Late Night Evening Prostitute   I\'ll Be Gone   I\'ll Shoot The Moon   I\'ll Take New York   I\'m Good at Being Bad   I\'m Still Here   I\'M YOUR LATE NIGHT EVENING PROSTITUDE   I\'m Your Late Night Evening Prostitute   Ice Cream Man   If I Have To Go   If I Was Your Girlfriend   If They Knew   In Between Love   In the Colosseum   In the Neighborhood   In Your Arms Tonight   Innocent When You Dream   Innocent When You Dream Barroom   Invitation to the Blues   Invitation To The Blues – Eggs And Sausage   Is There Any Way Out Of This Dream   Jack & Neal – California, Here I Come   Jack and Neal   Jersey Girl   Jesus Gonna Be Here   Jitterbug Boy   Jitterburg Boys   Jockey Full Of Bourbon   Johnsburg, Illinois   Just the Right Bullets   Kentuchy Avenue   Kentucky Anvenue   Kentucky Avenue   Kick Your Game   King Kong   Kiss Me   Komme Nie Zu Spät   Kommienezuepadt   Kommienezuspadt   Last Leaf   Let\'s Do it Again   Little Boy Blue   Little Drop Of Poison   Little Trip To Heaven   Little Trip to Heaven (On the Wings of Your Love)   Live Circus   Lonely   Long Way Home   Looking For, The Heart Of Saturday Night   Looks Like I'm Up Shit Creek Again   Looks Like I\'m Up Shit Creek Again   Lost In The Harbor   Lost In The Harbour   Lovesick   Lowside Of The Road   Lucinda / Ain't Goin Down   Lucky Day   Lucky Day Overture   Lullaby   Make It Rain   Martha   Medley: Jack & Neal/California, Here I Come   Medley: Jack & Neal/California, Here I Come   Metropolitan Glide   Midnight Lullaby   Midnight Lullabye   Misery Is The River Of The World   Mockin' Bird   Mockin\' Bird   More Than Rain   Mr. Henry   Mr. Siegal   Murder in the Red Barn   Muriel   My Life   My Secret Enemy   New Coat of Paint   New Year's Eve   New Year\'s Eve   New York Theme   New York Theme (instrumental)   Nighthawk Postcards   Nighthawk Postcards (From Easy Street)   Nighthawk Postcards From Easy Street   No One Knows I'm Gone   No Scrubs (LP Version)   Nobody   November   Oily Night   Ol '55   Ol' 55   Ol\' 55   Old Boyfriends   Old Shoes   Old Shoes (& Picture Postcards)   Old Shoes (And Picture Postcards)   On a Foggy Night   On the Nickel   On the Other Side of the World   On The Road   Once Upon A Time (Empty Pockets)   Once Upon a Town   Once Upon A Town/Empty Pockets   Open Intro   Over Me   Pasties and a G-string   Pasties And A G-String (At The Two O’Clock Club)   Pasties Gstrin   Picking Up After You   Picture In A Frame   Please Call Me, Baby   Please Wake Me Up   Poncho's Lament   PONCHO\'S LAMENT   Pony   Poor Edward   Potter's Field   Putnam County   Quickie   Rain Dogs   Red Light Special   Red Shoes by the Drugstore   Reeperbahn   Rockin Chair   Rockin' Chair   Romeo Is Bleeding   Rosie   Ruby's Arms   Ruby\'s Arms   San Diego Serenade   Saving All My Love for You   Semi Suite   Shake It   She Stole The Blush   Shiver Me Timbers   Shock Dat Monkey   Shore Leave   Shout   Singapore   Sins of My Father   Sins Of The Father   Sleigh Ride   Small Change   Small Change (Got Rained On With His Own .38)   Small Change\/Hey Big Spender   So It Goes   So Long I'll See Ya   So Long I\'ll See Ya   So So Dumb   Soldier's Things   Soldier\'s Things   Somethin\' You Wanna Know   Somewhere   Somewhere (from West Side Story)   Spare Parts   Spare Parts I   Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission)   Spare Parts I A Nocturnal Emission   Standin’ On The Corner   Starving In The Belly Of A Whale   Step Right Up   Story   Straight to the Top   Straight To the Top (Rhumba)   Straight To the Top (Vegas)   Strange Weather   Strange Weather (Live)   Such A Scream   Switch   Swordfishtrombone   Swordfishtrombones   T'ain't No Sin   T\'ain\'t No Sin   Table Top Joe   Tabletop Joe   Take It With Me   Take Me Home   Take One Last Look   Take Our Time   Talking At The Same Time   Tango 'Til They're Sore   Tango \'til They\'re Sore   Tango Til They’re Sore   Tango Till They're Sore   Tango Till They\'re Sore   Telephone Call From Istanbul   Tell Me   Temptation   That Feel   That's the Way   That\'s The Way   The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)   The Black Rider   The Briar and the Rose   The Ghosts Of Saturday – The Heart Of Saturday N...   The Ghosts of Saturday Night   The Ghosts Of Saturday Night (after Hours At Napol...   The Ghosts Of Saturday Night (After Hours At Napol...   The Ghosts Of Saturday Night (After Hours At Napol...   The Heart of Saturday Night   The Last Rose of Summer   The Ocean Doesn't Want Me   The Ocean Doesn\'t Want Me   The One That Got Away   The Other Side Of The World   The Part You Throw Away   The Piano Has Been Drinking   The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)   The Piano Has Been Drinking Not Me   The Return of Jackie and Judy   The Wages of Love   There's Only Alice   This is How it Should Be Done   This is How it Works   This One's From the Heart   This One\'s From the Heart   Til The Money Runs Out   Time   Time (Live)   Tom Traubert's Blues   Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In C...   Tom Traubert\'s Blues   Tom Traubert’s Blues   Top Of The Hill   Town With No Cheer   Train Song   Trampled Rose   Trouble's Braids   Trouble\'s Braids   Twenty Nine Dollars   U in Me (Bonus Track)   Underground   Union Square   Unpretty   Unpretty (Don\'t Look Any Further Remix With Rap)   Virginia Ave   Virginia Ave.   Virginia Avenue   Walk Away   Walking Spanish   Warm Beer and Cold Women   Watch Her Disappear   Waterfalls   Way Down in the Hole   Way Down Inthe   We're All Mad Here   What About Your Friends   What Keeps Mankind Alive   What's He Building?   What\'s He Building?   When You Ain't Got Nobody   WHEN YOU AIN\'T GOT NOBODY   Whislin Past The Graveyard   Whistle Down the Wind   Whistlin' Past the Graveyard   Whistlin'past The Graveyard   Whistlin\' Past The Graveyard   Who Are You   Woe   Wrong Side of the Road   Yesterday Is Here   You Can't Unring a Bell   You Can\'t Unring a Bell

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