Clap Hands (live version)


Wine, wine, why, the goose drank wine
And the monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line
Now the line broke
And the monkey got choked
And they all went to heaven in a little row boat
Clap hands!

Sane, sane, they’re all insane
The fireman’s blind, the conductor is lame
Cincinnati jacket and a sad luck dame
Hangin’ out the window with a bottle full of rain

Clap hands
Oh, clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands

That's a roar, it's a thunder and a roar
I ain't never comin’ back here no more
That's a moon in the window, a bird on the pole
I can always find a millionaire to shovel all that coal

Clap hands, baby
Clap hands
Clap hands

That's a steam, it's a hundred bad dreams
Goin’ up to Harlem with a pistol in my jeans
Cincinnati jacket and a sad luck dame
Hangin’ out the window with a bottle full of rain

That's a roar, it's a thunder and a roar
I ain't comin’ back no more
I got a moon in the window, a bird on the pole
I can always find a millionaire to shovel all that coal

Clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands

Shine, shine, a Roosevelt dime
All the way to Baltimore, runnin’ out of time
Salvation Army seemed to wind up in the hole
They all went to Heaven in a little row boat

That's a roar, it's a thunder and a roar
I ain't never comin’ back no more
Moon in the window, a bird on the pole
I can always find a millionaire to shovel all that coal

Clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands

Clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands, yeah
Clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands
Clap hands

Clap hands
Clap hands


Words and music by Tom Waits
©1988 Island Visual Arts



Produced by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan
Recorded and mixed live to cassette by John Oster
Recorded at RCA studios


Tom Waits: Vocals
Marc Ribot: Guitar
Greg Cohen: Bass
Ralph Carney:
Michael Blair: Drums


Time: 4.43

Track 16 on the album ‘Rain Dogs’ 1985

Another version is included in the movie 'Big Time' 1988, with the same personnel, and more or less the same lyrics


More live versions available on these bootlegs:

The Playhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland, October 14, 1985
Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada, October 6, 1987
Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada, October 7, 1987
Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada, October 8, 1987
The Outremont Theatre, Montreal, Canada, October 11, 1987
The Eugene O’Neill Theatre, New York, October 10, 1987
The Eugene O’Neill Theatre, New York, October 18, 1987
The Warner Theatre, Washington, DC, October 22, 1987
The Chicago Theatre, Chicago, October 31, 1987
The Power Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1987
The Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis, November 1, 1987
The Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, November 5, 1987
The Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, November 9, 1987
The Olympic Theatre, Dublin, Ireland, November 17, 1987
The Hammersmith Odeon, London, November 19, 1987
Draken, Stockholm, Sweden, November 26, 1987
Boot title: More Than Rain
Draken, Stockholm, Sweden, November 27, 1987
Audimax, Hamburg, Germany, December 5, 1987
Freie Volksbuehne, Berlin, Germany, December 7, 1987
Freie Volksbuehne, Berlin, Germany, December 8, 1987
Center for the Performing Arts, San Jose, December 30, 1990
Rehearsals, San Francisco, December 31, 1990
The Orpheum Theatre, San Francisco, December 31, 1990
LA Riot Benefit, The Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, May 30, 1992