Tom Waits 'Invitation to the Blues' LIVE at the REX

Tom Waits Live at the Rex in Paris. By far the best recording of the 'Invitation to the blues' ever made.
Lyrics:

Well she's up against the register with an apron and a spatula,
Yesterday's deliveries, tickets for the bachelors
She's a moving violation from her conk on down to her shoes,
Well, it's just an invitation to the blues


And you feel just like Cagney, she looks like Rita Hayworth
At the counter of the Schwab's drugstore
You wonder if she might be single, she's a loner or likes to mingle
Got to be patient, try and pick up a clue


She said How you gonna like 'em, over medium maybe scrambled?,
Anyway's the only way, be careful not to gamble
On a guy with a suitcase and a ticket getting out of here
It's a tired bus station and an old pair of shoes
This ain't nothing but an invitation to the blues

But you can't take your eyes off her, get another cup of java,
It's just the way she pours it for you, joking with the customers
Mercy mercy, Mr. Percy, there ain't nothing back in Jersey
But a broken-down jalopy of a man I left behind
And the dream that I was chasing, and a battle with booze
An open invitation to the blues


But she used to have a sugar daddy and a candy-apple Caddy,
And a bank account and everything, accustomed to the finer things
He probably left her for a socialite, and he didn't 'cept at night,
And then he's drunk and never even told her that he cared
And they took the registration, they took her car-keys and her shoes
And left her with an invitation to the blues


Cause there's a Continental Trailways leaving local bus tonight, good evening
You can have my seat, I'm sticking round here for a while
Get me a room at the Squire, and the filling station's hiring,
And I can eat here every night, what the hell have I got to lose?
Got a crazy sensation, go or stay? now I gotta choose,
Im going to accept your invitation to the blues.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Tom
• Waits
• Invitation
• to
• the
• blues
• Live
• at
• Rex
• Paris

[doodookopoulos]

fantastic. there is an idiorythm greek composer called foivos delivorias who has sung it with greek lyrics. both versions make me cry and i am a tough man. in greek it is called ''xalia'' but it' ll be all greek to you... and please don ' t tell my friends anything about the crying situation. thanks for uploading greeknamed brother...

[hatzi88]

This is great. You should hear the greek cover called ''xalia'' by foivos delivorias its fantastic. Thanx uploader.

[thelaughingcat]

Excellent. I was at this concert in Paris. I distinctly remember because he was about to play The Ghosts Of Saturday Night but then changed his mind and played this instead.... glad he did...

[sonjaantke]

Tom Wait’s work reflects an international and distinct post WWII era of art. Generations from the 1960’s through 2011 continue to appreciate him from Paris to Prague to London to Belgrade to NYC to mid-western American culture…..(sort of like the international appreciation of Anton Chekhov that occurred in the early 1900's – unfortunately after Chekhov's life ended – i.e. 1860 – 1904).

[AnotherFanOfLife]

Τόσο συναισθηματικό...Απλά τέλειο

[jaelh75]

best lyrics ever written .

[darklydreamt]

Tom Waits is the greatest artist who has ever lived. He lets us know that it's okay to live. Okay to dream, and be depressed, and strive towards our goals even when they seem impossible. He gives me hope even when it's all fallen apart. He lets me know it's alright to fail. And that failure doesn't make me a lesser man. He gives me this sense of love, and hope; even when those closest to me have lost that, and given me up for worthless.

[slyme1711]

The Greeks for no apparent reason love Waits. This is another brilliant poem in it's own right, I think he's the best poet since Homer.... hey maybe that's the connection, hmmm.!