Lyrics to
Grapefruit Moon

This version of Grapefruit Moon was released by Tom Waits in 1973.

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Grapefruit moon, one star shining, shining down on me.
Heard that tune, and now I’m pining, honey, can’t you see?
‘Cause every time I hear that melody, well, something breaks inside,
And the grapefruit moon, one star shining, can’t turn back the tide.

Never had no destination, could not get across.
You became my inspiration, oh but what a cost.
‘Cause every time I hear that melody, well, something breaks inside,
And the grapefruit moon, one star shining, is more than I can hide.

Now I’m smoking cigarettes and I strive for purity,
And I slip just like the stars into obscurity.
‘Cause every time I hear that melody, well, puts me up a tree,
And the grapefruit moon, one star shining, is all that I can see.

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Tom Waits has released many songs over the years besides Grapefruit Moon. 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 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1973 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Grapefruit Moon by Tom Waits

When you decide to study the lyrics to Grapefruit Moon, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1973 song by Tom Waits. Some of the lyrics to Grapefruit Moon have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Tom Waits and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Grapefruit Moon if you take apart the structure of the words. 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 Grapefruit Moon" means the words set to the music of Grapefruit Moon, 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 Grapefruit Moon and the lyrics to Grapefruit Moon 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 Grapefruit Moon, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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