Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard Songtext
von Tom Waits

I come in on a night train
With an arm full of box cars
On the wings of a magpie
Cross a hooligan night
I busted up a chifforobe
Way out by the cocomo
Cooked up a mess a mulligan
And got into a fight

Whistlin' past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
A mean Mother Hubbard Papa One Eyed Jack


You probably seen me sleepin'
Out by the railroad tracks
Go on and ask the Prince Of Darkness
What about all that smoke
Come from the stack
Sometimes I kill myself a jackel
Suck out all the blood
Steal myself a stationwagon
Drivin' through the mud

I want to whistlin' past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm mean Mother Hubbard Papa One Eyed Jack

I know you seen my headlights
And the honkin' of my horn
I'm callin' out my bloodhounds
Chase the devil through the corn
Last night I chugged the Mississippi
Now that suckers dry as a bone
I'm Born in a taxi cab
I'm never comin' home

Whistlin' past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm mean Mother Hubbard Papa One Eyed Jack


My eyes have seen the glory
Of the drainin' of the ditch
I only come to Baton Rouge
To find myself a witch
I'm-ona snatch me up a
Couple of 'em every time it rains
You see a locomotive
Probably thinkin' its a train

Whistlin' past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm a mean Mother Hubbard Papa One Eyed Jack

What you think is the sunshine
Is just a twinkle in my eye
That ring around my finger
Called the 4th of July
When I get a little bit lonesome
And a tear falls from my check
There's gonna be an ocean in
The middle of the week

Whistlin' past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm mean Mother Hubbard Papa One Eyed Jack

I come into town on a night train
Arm full of box cars
On the wings of a magpie
Cross a hooligan night
I'm gona tear me off a rainbow
And wear it for a tie
I never told the truth
So I can never tell a lie

Whistlin' past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
A mean Mother Hubbard Papa One Eyed Jack