Well, a crest fallen sidekick in an old cafe
Never slept with a dream before he had to go away
There’s a bell in the tower, Uncle Ray bought a round
Don’t worry about the army in the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
Now don’t be a cry baby when there’s wood in the shed
A bird in the chimney and a stone in my bed
When the road’s washed out, we pass the bottle around
Wait in the arms of the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
There’s a ribbon in the willow and a tire swing rope
A briar patch of berries takin’ over the slope
The cat’ll sleep in the mailbox and we’ll never go to town
Bury every dream in the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
Gimme a Winchester rifle and a whole box of shells
Blow the roof off the goat barn, let it roll down the hill
The piano is firewood, Times Square is a dream
Lay down together in the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
Call the cops on the Breedloves, bring a Bible and a rope
A whole box of Rebel and a bar of soap
Make a pile of trunk tires and burn ‘em all down
Bring a dollar with you, baby, in the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground
Words and music by Tom Waits
©1988 Island Visual Arts
Produced by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan
Recorded live and remixed by Biff Dawes
Tom Waits: Vocals
Willie Schwarz: Accordion
Marc Ribot: Guitar
Greg Cohen: Bass
Ralph Carney: Horn
Michael Blair: Percussion
Time: 3.25
Track 4 on the album ‘Big Time’ 1988
Track 7 in the movie ‘Big Time’ 1988
Track 15 on the compilation album ‘Beautiful Maladies’ 1998
Intro from the movie:
It’s good to be back in the land of wigs and novelties
Go ahead and laugh, but when you need wigs and novelties and you're in Indiana... you can hang it up, buddy!
I looked everywhere
Woke up in a cold sweat, one thing on my mind
I wanted a cigarette lighter as big as an encyclopedia
You know those? You open the top and it goes CLINK
And then WHOOM
It’s thrilling
It’s good to be in the Wilshire district, you know
You know, close to everything
Shopping and that type of thing
All real important things with us
Actually, Wilshire’s a little snooty
Western’s very friendly
So we’re kind of... we’re kind of...
Would you say we’re on the corner of Friendly and Snooty?
The two missing seven dwarfs, Friendly and Snooty
All right, this is a song about a little guy who lives in a little house...
