Lyrics for Underground as interpreted by archmastermind

Underground Lyrics
Rattle Big Black Bones
in the Danger zone
there's a rumblin' groan
down below
there's a big dark town
it's a place I've found
there's a world going on
UNDERGROUND
they're alive, they're awake
while the rest of the world is asleep
below the mine shaft roads
it will all unfold
there's a world going on
UNDERGROUND
all the roots hang down
swing from town to town
they are marching around
down under your boots
all the trucks unload
beyond the gopher holes
there's a world going on
UNDERGROUND

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  • 6 Comments
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Gigsley
06-30-2006

Rated 0 
i first heard this song on ROBOTS and i knew right away that it was waits. he is well known for his stories like this with dark settings.

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Zemi
10-02-2006

Rated 0 
I've been a fan of Tom Waits since I heard "God's Away on Business", and I've sort of been struggling to consume as much of his music as I can all at once, but this one rings as my personal favorite. I'm of two minds on the content; on one hand, it seems to be a song about a sort of underlying seediness (omnipresent in Waits' work throughout, especially his newer stuff), some kind of quiet, rolling hum beneath the Ivory Tower, perhaps the working class or the underbelly of any given city or society. On the other hand, it also reminds me distinctly of my night-shift work, which, I guess, ties into the 'working class' feel. I could be wrong, but, that's the vibe I get from it. It's about the metal-fire and the chemical stink of the high industrial guts of any major metropolis.

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Ex Abrupto
07-09-2007

Rated 0 
Like Zemi said it is probably about some " lower class beings ". It could also be about ants. But of course it has a double meaning. We humans think we own the earth, but ants are much more numerous than we are, and they are almost everywhere on the planet. Perhaps, if all humanity dies, they will still live. It's about fearing people who work harder than you. One time or another, they will throw you out of your throne and you will find yourself UNDERGROUND!

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jpr227
05-05-2008

Rated 0 
It could also be about the underground music scenes, Tom Waits is an underground musician afterall...

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TheKylePhractor
10-21-2008

Rated 0 
Imho this is a song about the unseen industrialism in many major cities not just in the U.S. but in many countries. Little sweat-shop areas where the normal citizen would never consider acknowledging.

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wolfticket
03-21-2009

Rated 0 
This (being the first track on Swordfishtrombones) actually marks the turning point in Tom Waits' music moves from his early style to his later, more Waitsian (is there any other word you can use to describe it?) work.

So maybe this song is autobiographical, documenting the point where his eyes are suddenly opened to a new world that has been there all along but has been invisible until now.
"there's a big dark town/it's a place I've found/there's a world going on/underground"

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