Lyrics to
Better Off Without A Wife

This version of Better Off Without A Wife was released by Tom Waits in 1975.

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Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Tom Waits or about the 1970s in general.

all my friends are married
every Tom and Dick and Harry
you must be strong
to go it alone
here’s to the bachelors
and the bowery bums
and those who feel that they’re the ones
who are better off without a wife

I like to sleep until the crack of noon
midnight howlin’ at the moon
goin’ out when I wanto, comin’ home when I please
I don’t have to ask permission
if I want to go out fishing
and I never have to ask for the keys

never been no Valentino
had a girl who lived in Reno
left me for a trumpet player
didn’t get me down
he was wanted for assault
though he said it weren’t his fault
well the coppers rode him right
out of town

selfish about my privacy
as long as I can be with me
we get along so well I can’t believe
I love to chew the fat with folks
and listen to all your dirty jokes
I’m so thankful for these friends
I do receive

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Tom Waits has released many songs over the years besides Better Off Without A Wife. Tom Waits released songs from 1973 to 2004 spanning across albums like Closing Time, The Heart Of Saturday Night, Nighthawks At The Diner, Small Change, Foreign Affairs, Blue Valentine, Heartattack And Vine, Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, Franks Wild Years, The Early Years Vol. 1, Bone Machine, The Black Rider, The Early Years Vol. 2, Mule Variations, Blood Money, Alice, and Real Gone. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Tom Waits.

If you're a fan of the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1975 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Better Off Without A Wife by Tom Waits

The lyrics to Better Off Without A Wife are the words, verses and chorus for the song released by Tom Waits in 1975. Elements of the lyrics to Better Off Without A Wife are both direct in meaning and also metaphorical with the real meanings of the song only known by Tom Waits and any collaborating writers working on the lyrics for Better Off Without A Wife back when it was created.

Some people have an interest in the etymology behind words and phrases. You can take apart the lyrics to Better Off Without A Wife by Tom Waits in a number of ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Better Off Without A Wife" means the words set to the music of Better Off Without A Wife, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Tom Waits. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Better Off Without A Wife and the lyrics to Better Off Without A Wife are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Tom Waits who came here looking just for the lyrics to Better Off Without A Wife, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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