Lyrics to
Depot, Depot

This version of Depot, Depot was released by Tom Waits in 1974.

Our About Tom Waits page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Depot, Depot from 1974 as well as all of the other lyrics from Tom Waits that we have in our lyrics database.

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Depot, depot, what am I doing here?
Depot, depot, what am I doing here?
I ain’t coming, I ain’t going
My confusion is showing
Outside the midnight wind is blowing Sixth Avenue
I’m gonna paint myself blue
At the depot

I watch the taxis pull up and idle
I can’t claim title to a single memory
He offered me a key
‘Cause opportunity don’t knock
He has no tongue and she cannot talk
You’re gonna shuffle when you walk
At the depot

This peeping-Tom needs a peephole
And an uptempo song
To move me along
When I find this depot baby
I’m on a roll just like a pool ball baby
I’m gonna be there at the roll call maybe
At the depot

Outside the midnight wind is blowing Sixth Avenue
Oh, tell me what a poor boy to do
At the depot
I’m on a roll just like a pool ball baby
I’m gonna be there at the roll call maybe
At the depot
The depot

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Tom Waits has released many songs over the years besides Depot, Depot. 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 1974 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Depot, Depot by Tom Waits

The lyrics to Depot, Depot are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Tom Waits used when the song was created in 1974. The lyrics to Depot, Depot have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Tom Waits and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Depot, Depot by Tom Waits. 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 Depot, Depot" means the words set to the music of Depot, Depot, 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 Depot, Depot and the lyrics to Depot, Depot 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 Depot, Depot, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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