“Phone’s off the hook, no one knows where we are
It’s a long time since I drank champagne
The ocean is blue as blue as your eyes
I’m gonna take it with me when I go
Old long since gone now way back when
We lived in Coney Island
Ain’t no good thing ever dies
I’m gonna take it with me when I go
Far far away a train whistle blows
Wherever you’re goin wherever you’ve been
Waving good bye at the end of the day
You’re up and you’re over and you’re far away
Always for you, and forever yours
It felt just like the old days
We fell asleep on Beaula’s porch
I’m gonna take it with me when I go
All broken down by the side of the road
I was never more alive or alone
I’ve worn the faces off all the cards
I’m gonna take it with me when I go
Children are playing at the end of the day
Strangers are singing on our lawn
It’s got to be more than flesh and bone
All that you’ve loved is all you own
In a land there’s a town and in that town there’s a house
And in that house there’s a woman
And in that woman there’s a heart I love
I’m gonna take it with me when I go
I’m gonna take it with me when I go”
- Tom Waits, “Take It With Me” from “Mule Variations”, 1999
I first heard this song at a Patty Griffin concert in Alexandria, VA with your Uncle Patrick in early 2004. It was the last song she played that night and it absolutely blew me away. Patrick and I were walking out at the time to beat the traffic, but we stopped and heard it out. She explained that she thought it was so great that Tom Waits wrote this song with his wife Kathleen Brennan, which I always found really interesting. It may be my favorite song lyrically of all time, which is why I can’t really pick a section of the song to quote.
I even attempted to play it for your Mom on our wedding day, which, coincidentally, was 4 years ago today.
no pic today, just listen.
