Eyeball Kid Well, Zenora Bariella and Coriander Pyle They had sixteen children in the usual style They had a curio museum and they had no guile All they ever wanted was a showbiz child The seventh of December nineteen fortynine They got what they’d been wishing for all of the time He grew up in a trailer, by the time he was nine He rolled off to join the circus, telling fortunes on the side Hail Hail The Eyeball Kid Well, the first time I saw him was a Saigon jail Cost me twentyseven dollars just to go his bail I said your name will be in lights, and there’s no doubt But you got to have a manager, that’s what it’s all about Yeah yeah yeah The people would point, the people would stare I’ll always be here to protect you and to cut down on the glare I know you can’t speak, I know you can’t sign So cry right here on the dotted line Hail hail The Eyeball Kid Well, he was born without a body, not even a brow I made the kid a promise, I made the kid a vow He’s not conventionally handsome, he’ll never be tall He said, ‘All you got to do is book me into Carnegie Hall’ He’s just a little bitty thing, he’s just a little guy But women go crazy for the big blue eye How does he dream, how does he think When he can’t even speak and he can’t even blink I said Hail Hail The Eyeball Kid Hail Hail The Eyeball Kid Hail Hail Eyeball Kid Give it up and throw me down a couple of quid Everybody wants to see the Eyeball Kid They say, how does he dream, how does he think When he can’t even speak, and he can’t even blink We’re all lost in the wilderness, we’re blind as can be He came down to teach us how to really see Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah So give it up and throw me down a couple of quid Everybody wants to see the Eyeball Kid Give it up and throw me down a couple of quid Everybody wants to see the Eyeball Kid Give it up Give it up Give it up and throw me down a couple of quid Everybody will want to see the Eyeball Kid Eyeball Kid Eyeball Kid Ooh Eyeball Kid Words and music by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan ©1999 Jalma Music (ASCAP)

Produced by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan Recorded and mixed by Oz Fritz and Jacquire King 2nd engineer: Jeff Sloan Recorded at Prairie Sun Recording Studios, Cotati, CA Tom Waits: Vocals and percussion Greg Cohen: Percussion Marc Ribot: Guitar Larry Rhodes: Bassoon Ralph Carney: Bass clarinet DJ M. Mark ‘The III Media’ Reitman: Turntable Turntable samples: ‘Wings over Jordan Gospel’ ‘Bali Eternal’ Time: 4.25 Track 10 on the album ‘Mule Variations’ 1999 Click here for live versions