11 de dezembro de 2007

No one speaks English and everything's broken: evocando Tom Waits

Há muito tempo que não ouvia Tom Waits. Lembrei-me dele ao passar pelo irmão lúcia.

Nada melhor, então, que Waltzing Matilda, numa gravação com mais de três décadas.

Letra de Tom Traubert’s Blues, aka Waltzing Matilda. Recomendo a Tom Waits Library aos leitores que quiserem rever Tom Waits ou aprender sobre Tom Waits, uma figura ímpar com uma impressionante e multifacetada carreira. Enfim, caminho.

Wasted and wounded

It ain’t what the moon did

I’ve got what I paid for now

See ya tomorrow

Hey Frank, can I borrow

A couple of bucks from you…

To go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda

You’ll go waltzing Matilda with me

I’m an innocent victim of a blinded alley

And I’m tired of all these soldiers here

No one speaks English

And everything’s broken

And my Stacys are soaking wet…

To go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda

You’ll go waltzing Matilda with me

Now the dogs are barking

And the taxi cab’s parking

A lot they can do for me

I begged you to stab me

You tore my shirt open

And I’m down on my knees tonight

Old Bushmill’s I staggered

You buried the dagger in

Your silhouette window light…

To go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda

You’ll go waltzing Matilda with me

Now I lost my Saint Christopher

Now that I’ve kissed her

And the one-armed bandit knows

And the maverick Chinamen

And the cold-blooded signs

And the girls down by the strip-tease shows…

Go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda

You’ll go waltzing Matilda with me

No, I don’t want your sympathy

The fugitives say that the streets aren’t for dreaming now

Manslaughter dragnets and the ghosts that sell memories

They want a piece of the action anyhow…

Go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda

You’ll go waltzing Matilda with me

And you can ask any sailor

And the keys from the jailor

And the old men in wheelchairs know

That Matilda’s the defendant

She killed about a hundred

And she follows wherever you may go…

Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda

You’ll go waltzing Matilda with me

And it’s a battered old suitcase

To a hotel someplace

And a wound that will never heal

No prima donna

The perfume is on

An old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey

And goodnight to the street sweepers

The night watchman flame keepers

And goodnight to Matilda too

Publicado em 11 de dezembro de 2007 às 08:30 na coleção Miscelânea