Ask For Tom

A tribute to Tom Waits

                    Ask for Tom

 

In a dingy old dive in new orleans

Well off of the beaten path 

Sits an old war torn piano 

and a stumblebum plinking its keys

 

Throwback vaudevillian banter

he'll throw around 

and once in a while a slug

off a tarnished old flask

 

A living Local legend by trade 

A minstrel in all the wrong ways 

This gadabout's making his name 

And all the hobos cry 

 

Ask for tom 

He belt out a magnificent song 

And if you're a lucky one 

He might ask you to sing along

Hell croon till close or he passes out

Whichever the case may be 

But be sure to ask for tom 

And when you do 

buy him a drink for me 

 

Tom has a way of spinning a yarn

just as fine as they come 

With talks o romance and voodoo

And revolutions yet begun

 

The tune may be slightly tweaked

As he slouches over the keys 

And his voice could bend

the moral codes of the most devout

But no finer player has graced these shores

of that you can bet

I suggest you take a listen yourself 

 

Just be sure that you 

 

Ask for tom

Reviews

[kmf]

hearing his "Temptation" in my head, all the richer for backstory
lovely tribute to a legendary poet and fine musician
stumblebum, indeed