Kentucky Avenue
Tom Waits
Kentucky Avenue note: for most of the song there’s this B-A quaver appoggiatura thing that plays in all of the / and chords. Intro: /# (repeated) Eddie Grace’s buick got four bullet holes in the side Charley Delisle is sittin’ at the top of an avocado tree Mrs Storm will stab you with a steak knife if you step on her lawn I got a half a pack of lucky strikes man so come along with me Let’s fill our pockets with macadamia nuts And go over to Bobby Goodmanson’s and jump off the roof Hilda plays strip poker when her mama’s across the street Joey Navinsky says she put her tongue in his mouth Dicky Faulkner’s got a switchblade and some gooseneck risers That eucalyptus is a hunchback there’s a wind down from the south So let me tie you up with kite string I’ll show you the scabs on my knee Watch out for the broken glass put your shoes and socks on and come along with me Let’s follow that fire truck I think your house is burning down Then go down to the hobo jungle and kill some rattlesnakes with a trowel And we’ll break all the windows in the old Anderson place We’ll steal a bunch of boysenberries and smear ’em on your face I’ll get a dollar from my mama’s purse buy that skull and crossbones ring And you can wear it round your neck on an old piece of string Then we’ll spit on Ronnie Arnold and flip him the bird Slash the tires on the school bus now don’t say a word I’ll take a rusty nail scratch your initials in my arm I’ll show you how to sneak up on the roof of the drugstore 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 Just put a church key in your pocket We’ll hop that freight train in the hall We’ll slide all the way down the drain To New Orleans in the fall / / / / End
