Tom Waits - Shore Leave

Well with buck shot eyes and a purple heart
I rolled down the national stroll
And with a big fat paycheck
Strapped to my hip sack
And a shore leave wristwatch underneath
My sleeve
In a hong kong drizzle on cuban heels
I rowed down the gutter to the blood bank
And I’d left all my papers on the ticonderoga
And was in a bad need of a shave
And so I slopped at the corner on cold chow mein
And shot billards with a midget
Until the rain stopped
And I bought a long sleeved shirt
With horses on the front
And some gum and a lighter and a knife
And a new deck of cards (with girls on the back)
And I sat down and wrote a letter to my wife

And I said baby, I’m so far away from home
And I miss my baby so
I can’t make it by myself
I love you so

Well I was pacing myself
Trying to make it all last
Squeezing all the life
Out of a lousy two day pass
And I had a cold one at the dragon
With some filipino floor show
And talked baseball with a lieutenant
Over a singapore sling
And I wondered how the same moon outside
Over this chinatown fair
Could look down on illinois
And find you there
And you know I love you baby

And I’m so far away from home
And I miss my baby so
I can’t make it by myself
I love you so

Shore leave...
Shore leave...