Waiting - Greg Brown

Everybody just a-waitin' an' a-waitin'

Everybody just a-waitin' an' a-waitin'

Everybody just a-waitin' an' a waitin' and a-waitin'

Everybody just waitin' their time away

Some are waitin' for the county fair

Some are waitin' for a guy name Joe comin' in

Joe’s comin' in from the coast

You know, haven’t seen ol' Joe for a real long time

I hope that Joe’s got news that things been goin' better out there

Than they have been 'roun' here

Everythin’s been a little slow in the middle

Everybody, I mean everybody, I mean everybody, I mean

Everybody been a-waitin'

Some are waitin' for their sandwich

Some are waitin' on tables

An' then the tables

Ah the tables they get real inspired an' they get up an' they start

Dancin' that boogaloo with the chairs

Salt an' pepper shaker keepin' time

Window shade rollin' up, rollin' down

Seems like some of those tables and chairs got a lot more spunk than the

People sittin' in 'em, at 'em, all arou' 'em

Everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody

I mean…

Waitin' for a bran' new day

Some are waitin' for a truck to come

Some are waitin' for a bus to stop, take 'em out to San Francisco

Jus' about twelve years ago

So they can walk into little paperback store

Look at a big glossy oversize paperback book

All about the Wheel of Time an' mantras

An' Baba Ram Dass, Baba Ram Dass, Baba Ram…

Gonna tell ya' what it’s all about

Maybe some a' you read about it in a magazine

Maybe some of you were there making the scene

We didn' know, we didn' know

I swear

We didn' know that we was jus' waiting for now

Yeah, but, everybody been a-waitin' an' a-waitin

Everybody been a-waitin' an' a-waitin'

An' a-waitin' an' a-waitin' an' a-waitin, heavy waitin'

Waitin' in the water, jus' like John

Everybody been waitin' their time away

Some are waitin' for a new kind of lover

Some are waitin' to move it on over to a new kind-a job

You know, even ol' Tom Waits is

You know, you know even ol', you know (sinks into Tom Waits voice)

You know even ol', you know even

You know even ol' Tom Waits, uh…

You know even ol' Tom Waits has been…

You know even ol' Tom Waits has been waitin'

He been waitin' down by the docks

Diners, uh…

Gotta copy of the poems of Jacques Prevert or sumthin…

Back pocket, he’s waitin' down…

Lookin' for a blond to come in with big tits an' bad teeth…

Uh, ah waitin' aroun'…

Bee bop diddily uh kee bop

He’s waitin' for his voice to clear up!

So he can say «good mornin'» to some real, original, authentic wino-type guy

Ya' know a lotta people might look like a wino these days

But you gotta check 'em out

Gotta get a wino card

Say «good mornin' «to 'em an' then that wino guy… he's…

He looks at Tom an' then he says…

I ain’t gonna say what he says…

But…

Tom, he writes it down in a little book

Writes it all down in a little book

Doin' awright, doin' awright, doin'-an-a-doin'-an-a-doin' awright

Jus' waitin' his time away

Some are waitin' for the new Galileo

Some are waitin' for the new Picasso

Some are waitin' for the new Mr. Freud

He was 'sposed to be here about an hour ago

I was hopin' he could clear up for us jus' what’s so funny about this

Garbage disposal we got here’s

We know it means more than just a garbage disposal, it’s a…

It’s a symbol, it could be a metaphor

Might be a simile

We gotta wait 'til Sigmund gets here…

Some are waitin' for the green

Some are waitin' for the blue

Some are waitin' for the green, some are waitin' for the blue…

You been waitin' for me, I been waitin' for you

But then now you know