After some sleep and dream songs, a lugubrious song by the inimitable raspy-voiced one is somewhere between surreal dream and nightmare, except it matches the chaos of recent events. Never mind god, as ever in the world of politics, the lunatics have certainly taken over the asylum, often replaced by others, and there's no one better, as an outsider, to capture the clanky chaos of it all as Waits shakes his crazed, musical stick. As he puts it:
There's leak, there's a leak, in the boiler room
The poor, the lame, the blind
Who are the ones that we kept in charge
Killers, thieves, and lawyers.
This is from his 2002 album Blood Money, his 13th studio recording and is among songs written for the play Woyzeck, based Georg Büchner's play, with, like Waits' other album The Black Rider was also a theatrical adaptation directed by Robert Wilson.
I'd sell your heart to the junkman baby
For a buck, for a buck
If you're looking for someone to pull you
Out of that ditch
You're out of luck, you're out of luck
The ship is sinking
The ship is sinking
The ship is sinking
There's leak, there's a leak, in the boiler room
The poor, the lame, the blind
Who are the ones that we kept in charge
Killers, thieves, and lawyers
God's away, God's away
God's away on business
Business
God's away, God's away
God's away on business
Business
Digging up the dead with a shovel and a pick
It's a job, it's a job
Bloody moon rising with a plague and a flood
Join the mob, join the mob
It's all over, It's all over, It's all over
There's a leak, there's a leak, in the boiler room
The poor, the lame, the blind
Who are the ones that we kept in charge?
Killers, thieves, and lawyers
God's away, God's away
God's away on business, business
God's away, God's away
God's away on business
Goddamn there's always such a big temptation
To be good, to be good
There's always free cheddar in a mousetrap, baby
It's a deal, it's a deal
God's away, God's away
God's away on business, business
I narrow my eyes like a coin slot baby
Let her ring, let her ring
God's away, God's away
God's away on business, business.
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