There is this young free spirited girl who realizes she needs to change her setting to where all the cool cats go. She goes to hollywood. She comes from a flea bitten small town big on the bible and not big on hollywood.
So she's feels the call and she's already got a guy. Come along with me Jim. Cmon. Let's try it! It will be great (I promise) hahah.
She gives him a ra ra speech. Let's grab the bull by the horns and just hold on to one another, it will be alright. What do these small town backwoods people know.
So now they are in the big city. He gives her everything he can, but it looks like pathetic small town stuff in a sense and doesn't impress her. He feels less like a man because he can't provide or impress his woman. He get's defensive about it and is just like, hey tough luck you married me this is what you are getting for better or worse you are stuck with me.
OK This next part I'm not sure about. Does she say this part? Or is he saying it to her?
Well, go ahead and call the cops
You don't meet nice girls in coffee shops
Maybe he got mad and beat her up a bit and she threatened the cops and he's like muttering under his breath, well guess this is what I get, should of figured I would get a no class tramp meeting her in a no class place.
That's my best guess.
But then again, maybe she's leaving him at this point and he's whining about calling the cops and she's pointing out they are different.
Regardless at this point of the song, they break up. And shes like oh but dont worry I still love you. I will always love you. But see you later babe and out the door she goes, he's crying and heartbroken, she goes to chase her fame.
So the chorus remains. And hold on... And its haunting because its like just hold on babe and everything will work out. You gotta hold on. And that chorus is indeed a wonderful positive way to look at the world. Hey if we can just hold on, we will make it, things will work out. And we can all related to this. Only, as you get older you realize even though sometimes you really want stuff to work out really bad and you do hold on hard as hell, sometimes things in fact do not work out (and yes I've been this dude crying in real life I'm sure, haha!).
So now he's in St Louis and just heartwrecked, still loves her, misses the heck out of her. She took him to such a high (build it up) and then she thrashes him when she dumps him and moves on.
There's nothing left to keep you here (he realizes he is not flashy enough for her, and of course he's selling himself short because he thinks so highly of her).
Then funny enough he gives her encouragement to hold on. Keep chasing that dream babe. I love you no matter what. Drive a truck over me. Hold on and it will all work out for you baby.
Now the twist, here he is broken all jacked up. But surprise she didn't make it either. She failed. She wasn't that hot stuff after all. And after ditching the dude, there she is in buttville and all she can do is dance around doing her drugs and hanging out with the whinos, now just impressing the other junkies.
And once again the chorus, hold on, hold on. Now quite ironic, in fact "holding on" doesn't always fix stuff. And it wouldn't have hurt that biotch to have a heart along the way, she would ended off better if she had held on to to the dude in the little old town.
yes! haha. No idea how far I am off, but took a stab. Anyway, to me this song is purely a sad song obviously. But I don't even know who Tom Waits is. Just heard this song on The Zombie show!
"go ahead call the cops" (confession of guilt) is like saying, ok, I own up, stupid, I admit it, but I knew the score, met her in a coffee shop, warts and all. But he loves her. You're right about her grabbing her bags and her man and just getting out of the place, looking for dreams, hope, making their own lives and not the ones they were handed. But how do they do this, with a dime store watch and a hacked up ring. So that's what you get when a girl from a coffee...
"go ahead call the cops" (confession of guilt) is like saying, ok, I own up, stupid, I admit it, but I knew the score, met her in a coffee shop, warts and all. But he loves her. You're right about her grabbing her bags and her man and just getting out of the place, looking for dreams, hope, making their own lives and not the ones they were handed. But how do they do this, with a dime store watch and a hacked up ring. So that's what you get when a girl from a coffee shop drags a man with next to nothing out from the small town into the world. the dreams go bust, the illusion fades, they part and get left with nothing except bits of the dreams they started with, as sentiment, as memories. The last verse she is out in the cold and the cold is the whole distance away from those dreams, from her old home, childhood, etc. Yet it's surprising how long that song plays, hold on, just hold on. We survive, make rings from watches and dreams from nothing. Your interpretation is a good take on it. It's bound to mean different things to different people. I don't think Tom mentions drugs anywhere in teh song and on this occasion no booze either. Though they could be involved with either (or neither). There's a tendency for folks to relate to those circumstances these days because those things are so prevalent. But hard times and broken hearts can happen merely through poverty, lack of education and the breakdown of the labour market. there's another song, an old English one that goes "It's the same the whole world over, ain't it just a bloomin' shame; it's the rich wot gets the pleasure, it's the poor wot gets the blame".
There is this young free spirited girl who realizes she needs to change her setting to where all the cool cats go. She goes to hollywood. She comes from a flea bitten small town big on the bible and not big on hollywood.
So she's feels the call and she's already got a guy. Come along with me Jim. Cmon. Let's try it! It will be great (I promise) hahah.
She gives him a ra ra speech. Let's grab the bull by the horns and just hold on to one another, it will be alright. What do these small town backwoods people know.
So now they are in the big city. He gives her everything he can, but it looks like pathetic small town stuff in a sense and doesn't impress her. He feels less like a man because he can't provide or impress his woman. He get's defensive about it and is just like, hey tough luck you married me this is what you are getting for better or worse you are stuck with me.
OK This next part I'm not sure about. Does she say this part? Or is he saying it to her? Well, go ahead and call the cops You don't meet nice girls in coffee shops Maybe he got mad and beat her up a bit and she threatened the cops and he's like muttering under his breath, well guess this is what I get, should of figured I would get a no class tramp meeting her in a no class place. That's my best guess. But then again, maybe she's leaving him at this point and he's whining about calling the cops and she's pointing out they are different. Regardless at this point of the song, they break up. And shes like oh but dont worry I still love you. I will always love you. But see you later babe and out the door she goes, he's crying and heartbroken, she goes to chase her fame.
So the chorus remains. And hold on... And its haunting because its like just hold on babe and everything will work out. You gotta hold on. And that chorus is indeed a wonderful positive way to look at the world. Hey if we can just hold on, we will make it, things will work out. And we can all related to this. Only, as you get older you realize even though sometimes you really want stuff to work out really bad and you do hold on hard as hell, sometimes things in fact do not work out (and yes I've been this dude crying in real life I'm sure, haha!).
So now he's in St Louis and just heartwrecked, still loves her, misses the heck out of her. She took him to such a high (build it up) and then she thrashes him when she dumps him and moves on.
There's nothing left to keep you here (he realizes he is not flashy enough for her, and of course he's selling himself short because he thinks so highly of her).
Then funny enough he gives her encouragement to hold on. Keep chasing that dream babe. I love you no matter what. Drive a truck over me. Hold on and it will all work out for you baby.
Now the twist, here he is broken all jacked up. But surprise she didn't make it either. She failed. She wasn't that hot stuff after all. And after ditching the dude, there she is in buttville and all she can do is dance around doing her drugs and hanging out with the whinos, now just impressing the other junkies.
And once again the chorus, hold on, hold on. Now quite ironic, in fact "holding on" doesn't always fix stuff. And it wouldn't have hurt that biotch to have a heart along the way, she would ended off better if she had held on to to the dude in the little old town.
yes! haha. No idea how far I am off, but took a stab. Anyway, to me this song is purely a sad song obviously. But I don't even know who Tom Waits is. Just heard this song on The Zombie show!
"go ahead call the cops" (confession of guilt) is like saying, ok, I own up, stupid, I admit it, but I knew the score, met her in a coffee shop, warts and all. But he loves her. You're right about her grabbing her bags and her man and just getting out of the place, looking for dreams, hope, making their own lives and not the ones they were handed. But how do they do this, with a dime store watch and a hacked up ring. So that's what you get when a girl from a coffee...
"go ahead call the cops" (confession of guilt) is like saying, ok, I own up, stupid, I admit it, but I knew the score, met her in a coffee shop, warts and all. But he loves her. You're right about her grabbing her bags and her man and just getting out of the place, looking for dreams, hope, making their own lives and not the ones they were handed. But how do they do this, with a dime store watch and a hacked up ring. So that's what you get when a girl from a coffee shop drags a man with next to nothing out from the small town into the world. the dreams go bust, the illusion fades, they part and get left with nothing except bits of the dreams they started with, as sentiment, as memories. The last verse she is out in the cold and the cold is the whole distance away from those dreams, from her old home, childhood, etc. Yet it's surprising how long that song plays, hold on, just hold on. We survive, make rings from watches and dreams from nothing. Your interpretation is a good take on it. It's bound to mean different things to different people. I don't think Tom mentions drugs anywhere in teh song and on this occasion no booze either. Though they could be involved with either (or neither). There's a tendency for folks to relate to those circumstances these days because those things are so prevalent. But hard times and broken hearts can happen merely through poverty, lack of education and the breakdown of the labour market. there's another song, an old English one that goes "It's the same the whole world over, ain't it just a bloomin' shame; it's the rich wot gets the pleasure, it's the poor wot gets the blame".