Lyrics to
Ice Cream Man

This version of Ice Cream Man was released by Tom Waits in 1973.

Our Tom Waits Songs profile has Ice Cream Man lyrics from 1973 and most if not all of the lyrics by Tom Waits that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

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

I’ll be clickin’ by your house about two forty-five
Sidewalk sundae strawberry surprise,
I got a cherry popsicle right on time
A big stick, mamma, that’ll blow your mind

‘Cause I’m the ice cream man, I’m a one-man band (yeah)
I’m the ice cream man, honey, I’ll be good to you.

Baby, missed me in the alley, baby, don’t you fret
Come back around and don’t forget,
When you’re tired and you’re hungry and you want something cool,
Got something better than a swimming pool

‘Cause I’m the ice cream man, I’m a one-man band
I’m the ice cream man, honey, I’ll be good to you.
‘Cause I’m the ice cream man, I’m a one-man band
I’m the ice cream man, honey, I’ll be good to you.

See me coming, you ain’t got no change
Don’t worry baby, it can be arranged:
Show me you can smile, baby just for me
Fix you with a drumstick, I’ll do it for free

‘Cause I’m the ice cream man, I’m a one-man band
I’m the ice cream man, honey, I’ll be good to you.
Be good to you, be good to you,
Good to you yeah, good to you yeah, good to you yeah, good to you yeah,
Good to you yeah, good to you, I’ll be good to you, I’ll be good to you…

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Want more lyrics and songs by Tom Waits?

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

About Lyrics and Ice Cream Man by Tom Waits

The lyrics for Ice Cream Man are defined as the words making up the song released by Tom Waits in 1973. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to Ice Cream Man have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Tom Waits and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to Ice Cream Man by Tom Waits if you think through it. 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 Ice Cream Man" means the words set to the music of Ice Cream Man, 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 Ice Cream Man and the lyrics to Ice Cream Man 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 Ice Cream Man, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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