Músicas para um Natal Alternativo II

Tom Waits - On the Nickel

Esta é para ouvir já na madrugada da consoada, quando todos os tios se foram deitar e resta uma lágrima de Porto no copo, e a lareira ainda deita umas centelhas de luz fantasmagórica sobre as  paredes na obscuridade.

Explicação de Tom Waits:
"This song here is entitled "On the nickel" . In downtown Los Angeles, there's a place called fifth street, it's a place where all the hoboes are, and they call it "on the nickel"."

Christmas punch line:
"And if you chew tobacco /and wish upon a star / You'll find out where the scarecrows sit / just like punch lines between the cars"

Do álbum "Heartattack and Vine", de 1979



Sticks and stones will break my bones
I always will be true
And when your mama's dead and gone
I'll sing this lullaby just for you

And what becomes of all the little boys
who never comb their hair
They're lined up all around the block
on the Nickel over there

So better bring a bucket
there's a hole in the pail
And if you don't get my letter
 then you'll know that I'm in jail

And what becomes of all the little boys
 who never say their prayers
They're sleepin' like a baby
on the Nickel over there

And if you chew tobacco
and wish upon a star
You'll find out where the scarecrows sit
 just like punch lines between the cars

And I know a place where a royal flush
can never beat a pair
And even Thomas Jefferson
is on the Nickel over there

So ring around the rosy,
sleepin' in the rain
And you're always late for supper,
man you let me down, let me down again

And I thought I heard a mockingbird
Roosevelt knows where
You can skip the light with Grady Tuck,
on the Nickel over there

So what becomes of all the little boys
who run away from home
The world just keeps gettin' bigger 

once you get out on your own

So here's to all the little boys
the sandman takes you where
You're sleepin' with a pillow man
on the Nickel over there

So climb up through that button hole
and fall right up the stairs
And I'll show you where the short dogs grow
on the Nickel
Over there