Billy's Band The One that got away Lyrics

Well, this gigolo is jumpin' salty(1), ain't no trade out on the streets
Half past the unlucky(2), and the hawk's a front-row seat
Dressed in full orchestration, stage-door Johnny's(3) got to pay
And send him home and talkin' about the one that got away

Could have been on Easy Street(4), could have been a wheel(5)
With irons in the fire and all them business deals
But the last of the big time(6) losers shouted before he drove away
'I'll be right back, as soon as I crack the one that got away'

The ambulance drivers they don't give a s___, they just wanna get off work
And the short stop(7) and the victim already gone berserk
And the shroud tailor measures him for a deep six holiday(8)
The stiff is froze, the case is closed on the one that got away

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(1) Jump salty v.: To become angry; enraged; to become malicious. Negro use; orig, jive and teenage street-gang use (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner)

(2) Half past the unlucky: Midnight on Friday (Source: The Jive Glossary in "Really the Blues" by Mezz Mezzrow and Bernard Wolfe, Random House Inc.1946. Submitted by Mikael Borg, 2007)

(3) Stage-door Johnnie/ Johnny: n. [late 19C+] a man, poss. rich, who hangs around theatre stage doors hoping to meet his female idols (Source: "Cassell's Dictionary Of Slang". Jonathon Green. Cassel & Co., 1998. ISBN: 0-304-35167-9)

(4) Easy street: 1. Financial independance 2. A way of life characterized by wealth and luxury; a pleasant and successful life; successful business dealings (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner)

(5) Wheel
- n.: A person in authority (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner).
- Big wheel: n. [1930s] an important, influential person, esp. in business [the image of a smooth-running powerful machine] (Source: "Cassell's Dictionary Of Slang". Jonathon Green. Cassel & Co., 1998. ISBN: 0-304-35167-9).
- Also mentioned in Paradise Alley, 1978: "And come on, you old scarecrow, and be a wheel, not a lamppost."

(6) Big Time: adv. [1950s+] (US black) very much, completely, absolutely, e.g. she really loves him big time (Source: "Cassell's Dictionary Of Slang". Jonathon Green. Cassel & Co., 1998. ISBN: 0-304-35167-9)

(7) Short stop: [1969's-70s] a fool, a dupe, a coward. [baseball imagery] (Source: Cassel's Dictionary of Slang. Jonathon Green 1998. Cassel & Co., 2000)

(8) Deep six, deep-six
- n. [1920s-40s] a grave[it is six feet under]
- v. [1940s+] (orig. US) to get rid of, to abandon.
- v. [1950s+] (orig. US) to ruin, to destroy (Source: "Cassell's Dictionary Of Slang". Jonathon Green. Cassel & Co., 1998. ISBN: 0-304-35167-9). From the phrase "give (something) the deep six," an extension of the nautical term "deep six," burial at sea prob. in six or more fathoms of water (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang - Supplement, Wentworth/ Flexner).
- Also refered to in No One Knows I'm Gone: "Six feet underground."

(9) Jim Crow: 1. [early 19C+] a complaisant, subservient Black person (Source: "Cassell's Dictionary Of Slang". Jonathon Green. Cassel & Co., 1998. ISBN: 0-304-35167-9) 2. (derog.) A Negro (Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner) 3. Brought out at the Adelphi in 1836. The character of Jim Crow played by T. D. Rice, as the original of the "n_____ minstrels" since so popular. A renegade or turncoat is called a Jim Crow, from the burden of the song, Wheel about and turn about. (Source: "The First Hypertext Edition of The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable", E. Cobham Brewer. © 1997-99 Bibliomania.com Ltd)

(10) Wooden kimona, wooden kimono
- A coffin. Some underworld and fictional use since c1920 (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner)
Steve Oney (1988): "What are some of your other favorite bits of slang, phrases you'd like to see get more everyday use? TW: For starters, I'd like to see the term wooden kimono return to the lexicon. Means coffin. Think it originated in New Orleans, but I'm not certain..." (Source: "Tom Waits 20 questions". Playboy magazine: Steve Oney. -- March 1988)

(11) St. Moritz Hotel:
- George Duke: "Ladies and gentlemen, direct from the St. Moritz Hotel on the Sunset Strip, a friend of ours from Los Angeles, Mister Tom Waits! Sodden and wistful as he might be. How are you doing, buddy? Your beard's getting very good. He holds the distinction of being the only person at the St. Moritz Hotel in Los Angeles able to room next to Ray Collins for longer than three weeks at a time." (Transcription by Ulf Berggren as sent to Tom Waits eGroups discussionlist, 2000)

St. Moritz Hotel, Los Angeles. Photo credit: Dorene LaLonde

(12) Ben Frank's: Coffeeshop bar-restaurant in Los Angeles, 8585 Sunset Boulevard. Untill 1965 this was a famous gathering place within the bohemian scene. After circa 1966 it was populated by the rising hippie-generation.

(13) Price, Vincent: Born: 1911; St Louis, Missouri. Died: 1993. Vincent Price is best remembered for his roles in horror movies, specifically the Roger Corman adaptations from Edger Allan Poe. Although these gave him a wide variety of characters to play and were striking enough, they type cast him for the remainder of his career. Price's love of art never left him and he used his education to good advantage. He was responsible, in 1951, for founding the Vincent Price Gallery on the campus of East Los Angeles College. Price's niche in the horror movie genre was carved in 1960 with the classic movie "The Fall of the House of Usher". In his later years, Price became involved with the rock industry, he was involved in music videos with performers including Alice Cooper, Ringo Starr, and Michael Jackson.

(14) Tip off: To warn of something impending; to put someone wise; to inform, to forewarn; also, to point out a victim to a crook (Source: Dictionary Of American Slang, Wentworth/ Flexner)

(15) Do a Houdini/ pull a Houdini:
- phr. [20C] (US) to escape, to vanish suddenly [do + escapologist Harry Houdini] (Source: "Cassell's Dictionary Of Slang". Jonathon Green. Cassel & Co., 1998. ISBN: 0-304-35167-9).
- Houdini: Erich Weiss. Born: Appleton, WI, 1874 - Died: Detroit, 1926. American magician/ actor. He became famous for sensational stunts, escaping from: cuffs, ropes, chains, straitjackets and locked suitcases, submerged in water.
- Also mentioned in The Part You Throw Away (Punishing Kiss, 2000. Blood Money, 2002): "St. Mary's prayers, Houdini's hands."

(16) Behind the Ivar in the Sewers
- Ross MacLean (2004): "The T. Waits quote, "André is at the piano behind the Ivar in the sewers" (The One That Got Away, 1976) probably refers to a piano player at a gay bar, located down the alley by the stage door, called "The Sewer of Paris." There was a garbage dumpster in the corner between the two doorways, and girls could go from the theater straight to the bar. The bar held 70's glitter queens, lots of ageing closet cases, servicemen (the U.S.O. was half block down the street from the Ivar), runaways fresh from the Greyhound bus station who had come to Hollywood to become famous, thugs fresh out of jail, and drag queens of any race. I had a couple pretty scarey nights there." (Source: email message by Ross MacLean to Tom Waits Library. February, 2004. Ross J. MacLean is a produced & published playwright. Ross has written a memoir on the Ivar, and is completing a play on the same subject.)
- Tom Waits (1981) on the Ivar Theatre: "A burlesque house in Hollywood, right next door to the library. It was originally a legitimate theatre. Lord Buckley and Lenny Bruce played there. Now it's just a strip joint, full of transsexuals. Behind the Ivar is another nightclub called The Gaslight. Used to be called the Sewers Of Paris. (Source: "Tom Waits: Waits And Double Measures" Smash Hits magazine by Johnny Black. March 18, 1981)
- Read full story: Ivar Theatre

(17) Buck a shot for pop tunes, and a fin for guided tours
- One dollar tip per song, five dollar tip for a medeley (Source: Submitted by El RayoX. Raindogs Listserv discussionlist. September, 2000)
- One dollar for popular tunes, five dollar with the story to go with them (tips for the piano player) (Submitted by Mark/PETSKI1, Raindogs Listserv discussionlist. September, 2000)

(18) Hustle: The "hustle" in the last verse should really be "huddle". And so it is in all the live versions. Not on 'Small Change' though. (Submitted by Ulf Berggren. Tom Waits eGroups discussionlist, 2000)

(19) The One That Got Away:
- Dan Forte (1977): "One of the reasons Waits is able to pull off such an anachronous deception is that he spends a lot of time blending in at such haunts as pool halls, all-night diners, movie houses, and places where he is usually surrounded by men two or three decades his senior. One such hangout is the local musicians' union hall: "You go down there on Thursday afternoon " he details, "walk into the rec room downstairs. All these old cats smoking cheap cigars, checkin' out the billboard, playing snooker, and telling stories about the one that got away"(Source: "Tom Waits - Offbeat Poet And Pianist" Contemporary Keyboard magazine, by Dan Forte. April, 1977)
- This song was used for the 1978 animated short "Tom Waits For No One" by John Lamb and Bruce Lyon. Full story: Tom Waits For No One

Now Jim Crow's(9) directin' traffic with them cemetery blues
With them peculiar looking trousers, them old Italian shoes
And a wooden kimona(10) was all ready to drop in San Francisco Bay
But he's mumblin' something all about the one that got away

Costello was the champion at the St. Moritz Hotel(11)
And the best this side of Fairfax, reliable sources tell
But his reputation is at large, and he's at Ben Frank's(12) every day
Waiting for the one that got away

He's got a snake skin sports shirt, and he looks like Vincent Price(13)
With a little piece of chicken, and he's carvin' off a slice
Someone tipped her off(14), and she'll be doin' a Houdini(15) now any day
She shook his hustle, and a Greyhound bus'll take the one that got away

Andre's at the piano behind the Ivar(16) in the Sewers
With a buck a shot for pop tunes(17), and a fin for guided tours
He could've been in 'Casablanca', he stood in line out there all day
Now he's spillin' whiskey and learnin' songs about the one that got away

Well, I've lost my equilibrium and my car keys and my pride
The tattoo parlor's warm, and so I hustle(18) there inside
And the grindin' of the buzz-saw, 'What you want that thing to say?'
I say, 'Just don't misspell her name, buddy, she's the one that got away'