Lyrics to
The One That Got Away

This version of The One That Got Away was released by Tom Waits in 1976.

Our Decade Lyrics Tom Waits profile has all of the The One That Got Away lyrics from 1976 and many more songs from the Tom Waits discography that we have on file.

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Well this gigolo’s jumping salty, ain’t no trade out on the streets,
Half past the unlucky, and the hawk’s a front-row seat
Dressed in full orchestration, stage-door Johnny’s got to pay,
And sent him home talking ’bout the one that got away

Could have been on Easy Street, could have been a wheel,
With irons in the fire and all them business deals
But the last of the big-time losers shouted before he drove away,
“I’ll be right back, as soon as I crack the one that got away”

Well, the ambulance drivers, they don’t give a shit,
They just want to get off work, and
The short stop and the victim are already gone berserk
And the shroud-tailor measures him for a deep-six holiday,
The stiff is froze, the case is closed on the one that got away

Now Jim Crow’s directing traffic with them cemetery blues,
With them peculiar-looking trousers, them old Italian shoes
And a wooden kimono that was all ready to drop in San Francisco Bay
But he’s mumbling something all about the one that got away

And Costello was the champion at the St. Moritz Hotel,
And the best this side of Fairfax, reliable sources tell
But his reputation is at large, and he’s at Ben Frank’s every day,
Waiting for the one that got away

He got a snakeskin sportshirt, and he looks like Vincent Price,
With a little piece of chicken, and he’s carving off a slice
Someone tipped her off, and she’ll be doing a Houdini now any day
She shook his hustle, and a Greyhound bus’ll take the one that got away

Well, Andre’s at the piano behind the Ivar in the sewers,
With a buck a shot for pop tunes, and a fin for guided tours
He could-a been in “Casa Blanca”, he stood in line out there all day
Now he’s spilling whiskey and learning songs about a one that got away

Well I’ve lost my equilibrium and my car keys and my pride,
The tattoo parlor’s warm, and so I hustle there inside
And the grinding off the buzz-saw, “What you want that thing to say?”
I says, “Just don’t misspell her name, buddy, she’s the one that got away”

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Tom Waits has released many songs over the years besides The One That Got Away. 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 1976 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and The One That Got Away by Tom Waits

The lyrics for The One That Got Away are defined as the words making up the song released by Tom Waits in 1976. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to The One That Got Away 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 The One That Got Away 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 The One That Got Away" means the words set to the music of The One That Got Away, 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 The One That Got Away and the lyrics to The One That Got Away 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 The One That Got Away, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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