Tom Waits - The One That Got Away lyrics

The jigolo's jumpin salty

ain't no trade out on the streets

half past the unlucky

and the hawk's a front-row seat

dressed in full orquestration

stage door johnnys got to pay

and sent him home

talking bout the one that got away

could a been on easy street

could a been a wheel

with irons in the fire

and all them business deals

But the last of the big-time losers

shouted before he drove away

I'll be right back as soon as I crack

the one that got away

the ambulance drivers don't give a shit

they just want to get off work

and the short stop and the victim

have already gone berserk

and the shroud-tailor measures him

for a deep-six holiday

the stiff is froze, the case is closed

on the one that got away

Jim Crow's directing traffic

with them cemetery blues

with them peculiar looking trousers

them old Italian shoes

the wooden kimona was all ready

to drop in San Francisco Bay

but now he's mumbling something

all about the one that got away

Costello was the champion

at the St. Moritz Hotel

and the best this side of Fairfax,

reliable sources tell

but his reputation is at large

and he's at Ben Frank's every day

waiting for the one that got away

he's got a snake skin sportshirt,

and he looks like Vincent Price

with a little piece of chicken

and he's carving off a slice

but someone tipped her off

she'll be doing a Houdini now any day

she shook his hustle

and a Greyhound bus'll

take the one that got away

Andre is at the piano

behind the Ivar in the sewers

with a buck a shot for pop tunes,

and a fin for guided tours

He could of been in Casablanca

he stood in line out there all day

but now he's spilling whiskey

and learning songs about a one that got away

well I've lost my equilibrium

my car keys and my pride

tattoo parlor's warm

and so I huddle there inside

the grinding of the buzz saw

whatchuwanthathingtosay

just don't misspell her name

buddy she's the one that got away