A Sight For Sore Eyes on Banjo

Cover of Tom Waits' A Sight for Sore Eyes on banjo. Its in G tuning capoed at 2nd fret. 3/4 time! Theres a bit of Auld Lang Syne at the start

G C G
Sight for sore eyes it's a long time no see Em Am D7
Workin' hard hardly workin' hey man you know me G C G
Water under the bridge, did you see my new car?
G Em Am D7
Well it's bought and it's paid for parked outside of the bar


Chorus G C G
And hey barkeeper what's keepin' you keep pourin' drinks Em Am D7
For all these palookas, "Hey you know what I thinks G C G
That we toast to the old days and Dimaggio too" G Em Am D7 G
And old Drysdale and Mantle Whitey Ford and to you

No the old gang ain't around everyone has left town
'Cept for Thumm and Giardina said they just might be down
Oh half drunk all the time and I'm all drunk the rest
Yeah, Monk's till the champion but I'm the best

Chorus

Guess you heard about Nash he was killed in a crash
Oh that must have been two or three years ago now
Yeah, he spun out and he rolled, he hit a telephone pole
And died with the radio on

Now she's married and with a kid finally split up with Sid
He's up north for a nickle's worth for armed robbery
And I'll play you some pinball, no you ain't got a chance
Well then go on over and ask her to dance

Chorus

Category:

Music

Tags:

• tom
• waits
• cover
• folk
• rock
• blues
• baseball
• dimaggio
• mantle
• palooka
• sight
• for
• sore
• eyes
• banjo
• frailing
• 3/4
• time
• Auld
• Lang
• Syne
• Robert
• Burns

[Blindingham]

Massively enjoyed this; I confess I didn't know the song before, but I may have to toddle off and have a crack at playing it myself now.

[jmmquah]

I like the use of the word 'palooka" which I think is a losing, punch drunk prize fighter. Thanks!

[jmmquah]

Thank you Lew, I'm very flattered

[tylercornett86]

Tom just oozes cool, I can tell this is from his heart-on-sleeve piano times, most of which I really like. "Tom Traubert's Blues" is probably my favorite, in fact Small Change is probably my favorite album of his. You sang and played that very well, did you learn the melodies at the start and in between choruses from ear? Or did you just throw in slides and hammer-ons?

[jmmquah]

Thanks Tyler, I'll have to get that album - I've got a lot of the later stuff which I really like. Might try Tom Traubert, but its very long! i worked out those bits myself - i dont think they are what he plays on the record but i'll tab it out for you if you like. I just have to figure out how to do that! Cheers James

[doogey9]

jmmquah,

lovely timing and pickin'.....very well done friend.....what period of waits' stuff is this?.....sounds like his earlier stuff.....

[jmmquah]

Thanks Todd! Yeah its early Waits - I've got it on the Used Songs compilation, not sure what album it was on originally

[MissMatwild]

I loved this! I'm an HUGE fan of waits and you did a great job, thanks for putting up beautiful music like this!

[djgiakos]

This is amazing. Thanks for the tabs as well. Great work, I can't stop listening to it. Youtube needs a "repeat" function.

[thantobea]

Your light touch really brings out the virtues of the banjo as accompaniment to the solo voice. I'm impressed especially with how easily you handle 3/4 time. That's something that I'm working on with my banjo. Thanks! Jim

[YoppyKyabetsu]

Why haven't I commented on this yet?

Banjo is spot on, excellent opening, and you sang it very well. Waits on banjo is one of my favorite things.

[lewdite]

Beautifully sung and played...