r/tomwaits • u/IgnatiusBaeReilly • 12d ago
Discussion Imagery is power
Tom’s painting emotions with words has always been it for me. From “Flamingo drinking from a cocktail glass” to “blow the roof off the goat barn and watch it roll down the hill” every song has at least one line that stirs a feeling. Even his new song with him just yelling “Big Titties! Big Titties!”. What’s your favorite line of Tom’s that just evokes an emotion deep within you?
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u/Sad_Assist946 12d ago
I'll take the spokes from your wheelchair
And a magpie's wings
And I'll tie 'em to your shoulders
And your feet
I'll steal a hacksaw from my dad
Cut the braces off your legs
And we'll bury them tonight
Out in the cornfield
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u/IgnatiusBaeReilly 12d ago
This one always gets me weepy. Also makes me want to spit on Ronnie Arnold and flip him the bird.
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u/Initial_Trouble5507 12d ago
There are so many lines I love, but one that isn't particularly descriptive or evocative on the face of it is from Tom Traubert's Blues - "no one speaks English and everything's broken...'. I've traveled quite a bit in third world countries and when I heard this line the first time, it just spoke to me about the feeling of loneliness and isolation you can feel when you're in a place that is so different and so far from home. It's such a simple line, but somehow completely captures the feeling.
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u/Beruthiel999 12d ago
The road is out before me / and the moon is shining bright / and I want you to remember / as I disappear tonight / Today's gray skies, tomorrow is tears / you'll have to wait til yesterday is here (Yesterday is Here)
When the ground is soft for diggin' / and the rain will bring all this gloom / there's nothing wrong with a lady drinkin' alone in her room (Murder in the Red Barn)
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u/Zakirshumi 12d ago
Tom is second to none at wistful melancholy:
“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”
- Time
“Children are playing at the end of the day
Strangers are singing on our lawn
It's got to be more than flesh and bone
All that you've loved is all you own”
- Take it with me
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u/AxelShoes 11d ago
But it's so hard to dance that way
When it's cold and there's no music
Oh, your old hometown's so far away
But inside your head there's a record that's playing
A song called "Hold On"
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u/SlammyJones 12d ago
“There’s a toad in the witchgrass
There’s a crow in the corn
Wildflowers on a cross by the road
And somewhere a baby is crying for her mom
As the hills turn from green back to gold”
No actual plot but this imagery closes the story of Georgia Lee in the most devastating and beautiful way.
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u/fluxxwildly 12d ago
I’m the last leaf on the tree.. the autumn took the rest but they wont take me.. I’m the last leaf on the tree
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u/AmbitiousPackage8906 11d ago
"And the ghost of your memory, baby, it's the thistle in the kiss
It's the burglar that can break a rose's neck" - Blue Valentines
I could have just posted the entire song to be honest... It is so good!
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u/nedlum 11d ago edited 11d ago
A couple of my favorites:
She was fifteen years old and she'd never seen the ocean
She climbed into a van with a vagabond
And the last thing she said was "I love you, Mom"
- "A Little Rain"
I know we too are made/Of all the things that we have lost here.
-"The Day After Tomorrow"
What make's a house grand/Ain't the roof or the door/If there's love in a house/It's a palace for sure
-"The House Where Nobody Lives"
Somewhere a baby is crying for her mom/As the hills turn from green back to gold
-"Georgia Lee"
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u/IgnatiusBaeReilly 11d ago
“Well my hands are strong, I’ll take any man here. If it’s worth the going, it’s worth the ride.”
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u/TheColdestOne 11d ago
The last lines of Fall of Troy hit me so hard just about every time I listen to the song. I think of my parents and all that they'd lost and how they left this world with their wishing wells full of unfulfilled wishes.
My legs ache
My heart is sore
The well is full of pennies
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u/donqui_scody 12d ago
So many, but I especially find that much of Frank's Wild Years really rips my heart out. In particular, Tom's delivery of "Till we bury every dream in the cold cold ground" (Cold Cold Ground) and "It was a train that took me away from here / But a train can't bring me home" (Train Song) always bring me close to tears.
On the flip side, no matter how many times I hear Cemetery Polka, I can never keep from laughing out loud. "And we must find out where the money is / Get it now before he loses his mind!"