Lyrics to
Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission)

Released by Tom Waits in 1975
From the Album: Nighthawks At The Diner |

This version of Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission) was released by Tom Waits in 1975.

Our About Tom Waits page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission) from 1975 as well as all of the other lyrics from Tom Waits that we have in our lyrics database.

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

well the damn cracked hard just like a bull whip
cause it wasn’t takin’ no lip from the night before
as it shook out the street, the stew bums showed up
just like bounced checks, rubbin’ their necks
and the sky turned the color of Pepto-Bismol
and the parking lots growled
and my old sports coat full of promissory notes
and a receipt from a late night motel
and the hawk had his whole family out
there in the wind, and he’s got a message
for you to beware cause he be kickin’ your
ass in, in a cold blooded fashion
dishin’ out more than a good man can bear
I got shoes untied, shirt tail’s out, ain’t got a
ghost of a chance with this old romance
just an apartment for rent down the block
Ivar Theater with live burlesque
and the manager’s scowlin’, feet on his desk
boom boom against the curtain
you’re still hurtin’
and then push came to shove, shove came to biff
girls like that just lay you out stiff
maybe I’ll go to Cleveland or
get me a tattoo or somethin’, my brother
in law’s there
skid mark tattoo on the asphalt blue
was that a Malibu
Liz Taylor and Montgomery Clift
cumming on to the broads with the
same ol’ riff. Hey baby come up to
my place, we’ll listen to some
smooth music on the stereo, no thank you
got any Stan Getz records
no I got Smothers Brothers
so I combed back my Detroit
jack up my pegs, wiped my Stacy Adams
jacknifed my legs, yea I got designs
on a moving violation
hey baby, you put me on hold and I’m
out in the wind and it’s getting
mighty cold…
colder than a gut shot bitch wolf dog
with 9 sucking pups pullin’ a 4 trap
up a hill in the dead of winter
in the middle of a snowstorm
with a mouth full of porcupine quills

(scat)

yea well I don’t need you baby
It’s a well known fact
I’m 4 sheets to the wind
I’m glad you’re gone
I’m glad you’re gone
I’m finally alone
glad you’re gone, but I
wish you’d come home
and I struggled out of bed
cause the dawn was crackin’ hard like a bullwhip
cause it wasn’t takin’ no lip from the night before
as it shook out the streets the stew bums
showed up just like bounced checks
rubbin’ their necks, and the sky turned the
color of Pepto-Bismol
and my old sports coat full of promissory notes
and the hawk had his whole family out there
in the wind, he got a message for you to beware
kickin’ your ass in, in a cold blooded fashion
he be dishin’ out more than a good man can bear
well hey baby let’s take it to Bakersfield
get a little apartment somewhere

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Want more lyrics and songs by Tom Waits?

Tom Waits has released many songs over the years besides Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission). 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 popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1975 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission) by Tom Waits

The lyrics for Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission) are defined as the words making up the song released by Tom Waits in 1975. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission) 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 Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission) 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 Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission)" means the words set to the music of Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission), 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 Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission) and the lyrics to Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission) 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 Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission), but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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