Thomas Alan Waits(born December 7, 1949 in Pomona, California) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. He started his career in the early 70s as a singer in dirty bars. Initially, he was deeply influenced by the beat generation (poets like Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs) He could not make a living from his music although he was well accepted by the critics. The people at that time didn't like his classical bar music, pre-rock and americanastyles reminiscent of musical genres of the 50s and 40s, such as blues, jazz, and vaudeville.
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Black Wings Lyrics

Tom Waits

(tom waits/k. brennan)
Take an eye for an eye
Take a tooth for a tooth
Just like they say in the bible
Never leave a trace or forget a face
Of any man at the table
When the moon is a cold chiseled dagger
Sharp enough to draw blood from a stone
He rides through your dreams on a coach
And horses and the fence posts
In the midnight look like bones
Well theyve stopped trying to hold him
With mortar, stone and chain
He broke out of every prison
Boots mount the staircase
The door is flung back open
Hes not there for he has risen
Hes not there for he has risen
Well he once killed a man with a guitar string
Hes been seen at the table with kings
Well he once saved a baby from drowning
There are those who say beneath his coat there are wings
Some say they fear him
Others admire him
Because he steals his promise
One look in his eye
Everyone denies
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
He can turn himself into a stranger
Well they broke a lot of canes on his hide
He was born away in a cornfield
A fever beats in his head like a drum inside
Some say they fear him
Others admire him
Because he steals his promise
One look in his eye
Everyone denies
Ever having met him
Ever having met him