Lyrics for 9th & Hennepin as interpreted by archmastermind

9th & Hennepin Lyrics
Well it's Ninth and Hennepin
All the doughnuts have names that sound like prostitutes
And the moon's teeth marks are on the sky
Like a tarp thrown all over this
And the broken umbrellas like dead birds
And the steam comes out of the grill
Like the whole goddamn town's ready to blow...
And the bricks are all scarred with jailhouse tattoos
And everyone is behaving like dogs
And the horses are coming down Violin Road
And Dutch is dead on his feet
And all the rooms they smell like diesel
And you take on the dreams of the ones who have slept here
And I'm lost in the window, and I hide in the stairway
And I hang in the curtain, and I sleep in your hat...
And no one brings anything small into a bar around here
They all started out with bad directions
And the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear
"One for every year he's away", she said
Such a crumbling beauty, ah
There's nothing wrong with her that a hundred dollars won't fix
She has that razor sadness that only gets worse
With the clang and the thunder of the Southern Pacific going by
And the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet
'til you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin
And you spill out over the side to anyone who will listen...
And I've seen it all, I've seen it all
Through the yellow windows of the evening train...

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Horse_Krazy
05-01-2004

Rated -1 
I don't know why no one has commented on this song..it's great..one of my favourites my Tom Waits.

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SoCoRocks14
10-10-2004

Rated -1 
I too am surprised no one else has commented...Tom Waits has been around for a while...this song is great though, one of my favorites as well.

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charrbin
05-22-2005

Rated 0 
This song is descriptive enough to be an entire movie. I imagine a black and white movie with the narroter introducing a bar while a couple step off of a train, before they head there because of "bad directions." Then they witness a murder, get lost, can't escape, etc.

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delial
01-07-2006

Rated 0 
"the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear
'one for every year he's away,' she said,"

beautiful.

i agree with charrbin...descriptive reaches a whole new level in this. it has that slinking detective vibe going on. you can almost imagine him taking a drag from a cigarette as he goes from each part, smoke forming a halo around whatever lightbulb is hanging from the ceiling, swaying as he exhales.

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goodmorningmisterben
06-05-2006

Rated 0 
I'm a big ol' poser, so I don't know Tom Waits the way I should. Is this song about 9th and Hennepin in Minneapolis?

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voltafan101
08-08-2006

Rated 0 
I was told odds are it is goodmorning. he sings of minneapolis in "christmas card from a hooker..." also. You should listen to that one as well if you haven't already. It's just as descriptive and it brings a tear to my eye every listen.

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iainrobot
08-10-2006

Rated 0 
This guy tells stories soooo beautifully, but listen to it, its about dark and death. still i can easily listen to it before goin to sleep it is relaxing and dark! HOW DOES HE DO IT"!

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jezbo
09-28-2006

Rated 0 
"Such a crumbling beauty" ahh what a way with words. A beautiful lyricscape he conjures up.

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Irishmonk
10-26-2007

Rated 0 
"til you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin..." My favourite line but the whole piece shimmers with endlessly evocative images and states of mind. It's difficult to do the song justice by trying to craft additonal words about it. Either you're hooked by it or you're not. One thing I've always been curious about are Tom Waits' possible Minneapolis connections--he writes about the city a fair bit. Anyone with info on this?

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wicked123
05-13-2008

Rated 0 
They cut this out of "eternel sunshine of the spotless mind". They talk about it because she brings up "blue ruin" on the train :-)

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morbid morag
07-25-2008

Rated 0 
Wish I knew the names of those doughnuts...

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relephant23elephant
11-03-2009

Rated 0 
I actually wrote a short story for school based on the tattoo tear line.

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