Lyrics Dictionary

refer to Thirty Ought Six below.

English-made motorcycle of mythic renown.

86



Common phrase in diners to denote the absence or lack of an item. (e.g. Instead of ordering a hamburger with no mustard, you may just say '86 the mustard').

9th and Euclid (in Minneapolis) doesn't seem to exist. However, at least one dirty bookstore on Ninth Street is at the corner of, you guessed it, Ninth and Hennepin. This might have been Tom's mistake (or poetic license) or it might be an early clue that the hooker's postcard isn't the truth.

street corner near downtown Minneapolis. Used to be the red light district until the police cracked down and moved the strip to somewhere else in the town.

Abel

[Dirt in the Ground/Bone Machine]

a son of Adam and Eve killed by his brother Cain

(Holy Bible)

Ballantine's

[Swordfishtrombones/Swordfishtrombones]

a brand of blended Scotch.

Ben Frank's

[The One That Got Away/Small Change]

Ben Frank's was a very popular diner on the Sunset Strip. Around 1995, it was closed down, and a few months later, remodeled and opened as "Mel's drive-in". It is still quite popular.

big time

[Big Time album]

1: a high-paying vaudeville circuit requiring only two performances a day

2: the top rank

(Websters Dictionary)

Beulah land

[????/????]

Beulah is referred to in Isaiah 62:4

(Holy Bible) In Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress it is that land of heavenly joy where the pilgrims tarry till they are summoned to enter the celestial city. (Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable)

black maria

[Big Black Mariah/Rain Dogs]

This term comes from a black woman (aptly) named Maria who owned a lodging house in England and was in close with the police, turning in any lodgers who might be engaging in illicit activities. Anyway, somehow through this "Black Maria" came to be synonymous with the paddy wagon that takes convicts to the courthouse/jail. patrol car

(Merriam-Webster) hearse (1954-1960)

(Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang)

blind pig



speakeasy or cheap bar

blind tiger

[Big Black Mariah]

speakeasy

braingels

[The Ocean Doesn't Want Me/Bone Machine]

"a start foreward; a fit of temper"???

(Websters Dictionary)

Breedloves

[Telephone Call From Istanbul/Franks Wild Years]

Craig Breedlove briefly held the World Land Speed Record in his Spirit of America jet car. (around 600mph?)

name of a family in the book by Toni Morrison "The Bluest Eye".

Brennan's Glenn

[The Briar and the Rose/The Black Rider]

Tom's wife is Kathleen Brennan or is there some other Brennan's Glann?

brodys

[Romeo is Bleeding/Blue Valentine]

a fast turn in an automobile where the rear end breaks loose, tires squeal, gravel flies, lots of fun.

Brougham DeVille

[Swordfishtrombones/Swordfishtrombones]

a brand of Cadillac

Buffalo Squeeze

[Pastie's and a G-String/Small Change]

???

Burma Shave

[Burma Shave/Blue Valentine]

name of a company with a popularized advertising slogan which was spread by a word or phrase on consecutive billboards along the American highways

Bury the Carnival

[Who Are You/Bone Machine]

????

Cain

[Dirt in the Ground/Bone Machine]

a son of Adam and Eve who killed his brother Abel

(Holy Bible)

Cagney

on the screen [Romeo is Bleeding/Blue Valentine]

[Invitation to the Blues/Small Change]

refers to James Cagney, a popular film actor who portrayed the mob gangster tough guy

cane break

[Black Mariah/Rain Dogs]

a field that is not planted between two fields that are planted with sugar cane.

chifforobe

[Whistlin Past the Graveyard/Blue Valentine]

a large chest of drawers, often with a mirror, sometimes called a chiffonier.

church key

[Mr Henry/Bounced Checks]



[Kentucky Avenue/Blue Valentines]

a slang term for an can/bottle opener, used to open up cans of beer (pre-zip top), and bottles (pre-twist off cap).

clap hands (Clap Your Hands)

[Clap Hands/Rain Dogs]

takeoff of a girls jump rope song, also referred to as "Clap Clap". Some lines from that rhymne are: Three, six, nine The goose drank wine The monkey chewed tobacco On the streetcar line The line broke The monkey got choked And they all went to heaven In a little row boat. Clap Clap (actually clap hands here).

Kokomo?

[Whistlin Past the Graveyard/Blue Valentine]

Is this a town in Michigan or Washington?

conk

[Invitation to the Blues/Small Change]

negro slang for processing (straightening) the hair (see autobiography of Malcolm X). slang term for the head; also to be hit or conked on the head.

Cornerboy

[Jersey Girls/Heart Attack and Vine, Bounced Checks]

young men that congregate in a small group on a street corner for the purpose of drinking, sometimes singing, and engaging in boastful "male" talk. They epitomize a certain adolescent trait of male camaraderie that loudly rejects the need for female companionship (see Better off without a wife).

creeping charlies



house plants or the spiders called daddy long legs????

Also term used for DTs (delerium tremens)



cut through

[Black Mariah/Rain Dogs]

to take the route between or through something. e.g. shortcut.

dark horse

[In the Colosseum/Bone Machine]

a racehorse or other contestant whose ability is not known or whose chances of success are not good

(Websters Dictionary)

Dimaggio, Joe

[A Sight For Sore Eyes/Foreign Affairs]

Baseball legend

Easy Street

[Nighthawk Postcards/Nighthawks at the Diner]

simply means that one has it made. Able to enjoy a life of leisure.

flash pan (flash-in-the-pan)

[Flash Pan Hunter/The Black Rider]

an apparatus on an old-style firearm that holds a small amount of gun powder that when ignited by a spark from flint will cause a larger charge inside the barrel to go off, thus firing the bullet out of the weapon.

this may also be used as a double meaning with flash-in-the-pan. This term which referred to a sudden sighting of a speck of gold in a gold panner's pan has now come to be a person or thing that is praised or popular for a short while and then seen for its falsities or shortcomings soon after (e.g. a fad)

flintlock

[Just the Right Bullets/The Black Rider]

a firearm of the 17th or 18th century fitted with a lock having a flint in the hammer for striking a spark to ignite the charge

(Websters Dictionary)

Franciosa, Tony

[Goin' Out West/Bone Machine]

TV star of the 60's and 70's most notably known for NBC's Name of the Game. He usually played the part of the playboy or detective.

four sheets to the wind

[Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)/Small Change]

[Spare Parts I/Nighthawks at the Diner]

Synonymous with the phrase "Three Sheets to the Wind".

Sheets refers to any lines (rope) that adjust the "position" of the sail. Having your "sheets to the wind" means that you are no longer in control of your sailing vessel. This phrase was coined by sailors to describe their drunken states when they came into port.

Glasspacks

[]

"overhead cam with glasspacks"

a type of muffler which gives a nice throaty and LOUD sound.

Grant, Foster

[Nighthawk Postcards/Nighthawks at the Diner]

a once popular brand of wrap-around dark glasses. "Who's that behind those Foster Grants?"

Highball

[Hang on St.Christopher/Frank's Wild Years]

"Put a highball in the crankcase"

a term used to refer to a rich mixture of gasoline or fuel. Derived from the high alcohol content of the mixed drink or cocktail made from whiskey and ginger ale.

Home-made special

[Walking Spanish../Raindogs]

a home-made pistol/gun, also referred to as a Zip gun.

("Punk Sanders carved it out of wood")

hooligan

night [Whistlin Past the Graveyard/Blue Valentine]

ruffian, hoodlum

(Websters Dictionary)

ice man

[A Little Rain/Bone Machine]

one who sells or delivers ice

(Websters Dictionary)

'In the saddle'

[Some Men Do It For Diamonds/Raindogs]

Literal - cowboy expression, to be "back in the saddle" meant back on the horse. Figuratively means back to work, in good health, back on one's feet. More vulgar usage means to be in the act of intercourse. Another expression is to die in the saddle, which according to legend, Errol Flynn did, i.e. died in the act of intercourse.

Ivar (Ibar) Theatre

[Emotional Weather Report/Nighthawks at the Diner]

An old sleazy, thrust stage strip joint in the bowels of Hollywood on its last legs 1975. Gary Winogrand has a photo of this theatre in one of his photograph books. The theatre has at least managed to survive until 1986 (and maybe even still there).

Jack & Neal

[Jack & Neal/Foreign Affairs]

refers to Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassidy

jackaroo

[Town With No Cheer/Swordfishtrombones]

a green hand working as an apprentice on a sheep ranch. (Australian)

Jacked-up

[Black Mariah/Raindogs]

[Hang On St. Christopher/Frank's Wild Years]

Literally, an automotive term for putting the car up on the jack in order to change a tire or get underneath the car.

Figuratively - to get high on alcohol (drunk) or drugs. Can also mean to beat someone up, e.g. "We jacked him up." Could mean a little of both, i.e. to be "smashed" on alcohol or drugs.

Jacks Or Better

[Tango Till They're Sore/Rain Dogs]

a version of 5 card draw (poker) that requires a pair of Jacks or better to open the betting. If no one has at least this, the hand is thrown in, everyone puts money into the pot again, and the hand is re-dealt.

jalopy

[Invitation to the Blues/Small Change]

an old beat-up car, usually associated with a young person's first car.

Johnsburg, Illinois

[Johnsburg, Illinois/Swordfishtrombones]

Birthplace of Kathleen Brennan, Tom's wife.

Kelsey, Miss

[Lucky Day/The Black Rider]

Mentioned in an interview discussing Tom's interactions with Marianne Faithfull.

'davai yeshio! davai yeshio!'

[Russian Dance/Black Rider]

spoken right before counting in Russian. This means 'more' or more closely 'let's do it again'. after these screams they indeed sing one more round of the song.

Krupa, Gene

[Nighthawk Postcards/Nighthawks at the Diner]

a big band jazz drummer noted for his stint with Benny Goodman. Being a frantic player and maybe doing prison time, he was a fairly high-profile personality. He was also featured in many films?

land of nod

[Singapore/Rain Dogs]

sleep. e.g. 'drifting off to the land of nod' is falling asleep. a reference to the soporific state induced by opium or heroin. (Remember, Morphine gets its name from Morpheus, the God of dreams)

Biblical reference: Genesis 4:16



After Cain slew Abel, he went east to the land of nod. Much later, he returned with a wife. This is where they went when being cast out of Eden.

Larimar

[Drunk on the Moon/Nighthawks at the Diner]

"Larimar is teeming"

refers to Larimar street in downtown Denver. In the 70's it had a bunch of shops in restored late 19th century buildings, a great foreign and independent film theater and a bar/concert hall nearby where Waits played a couple of times. Larimar and Broadway (also mentioned in the song) are streets on both sides of this area.

M.O. - Modus Operandi

[Gin Soaked Boy/Swordfishtrombones]

latin for a method of procedure. Used by police to help catch a criminal that uses the same techniques or signature from one crime to the next.

'Making feet for children shoes'

[Singapore/Rain Dogs]

slang that means to have sex.

manzanita

[Murder in the Red Barn/Bone Machine]

any of various western North American evergreen shrubs (genus Arctostaphylos) of the heath family

(Websters Dictionary)

marley bone coach

[Whistle Down the Wind/Bone Machine]

transportation that takes one to the after-life? Irish in origin? Was this an actual Stagecoach line in England? or The Marley Bone Coach was based on a street in London, Marlyebone road. This is a corruption of "Marie la bonne", the site of a famous courthouse. or refers to Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol, being dead with chains around i.e. shackled to this world

Meadows, Jane

[Small Change Got Rained On/Small Change]

wife of comedian, musician writer and former host of the Tonight Show, Steve Allen. Also sister of Audrey Meadows, who played Alice in the TV show "The Honeymooners" with Jackie Gleason. Jane and Audrey were both beauties in their day. Jane tended to use too much make-up as she aged, thus explaining the reference.

mediteromanian

[Telephone Call From Istanbul/Franks Wild Years]

might be a reference to the Adriatic Sea, between the Italian Peninsula and the Balkans. That is the closest point between the Mediterranean and Romania.

Mercy and Grand

[Whistle Down the Wind/Bone Machine]

Is this a real street corner?

Michelson, Susan

[Eggs & Sausage/Nighthawks at the Diner]

????

Mickey's Big Mouths

[Frank's Wild Years/Swordfishtrombones]

brand of malt liquor known for the short fat grenade-looking bottles. Formerly, the bottles were also known for their pop top lids instead of their twist top they now have.

moving violation

[Invitation to the Blues/Small Change]

traffic violation while driving, or in motion, e.g. speeding.

mulligan

[Whistlin Past the Graveyard/Blue Valentine]

as quoted in the song as "a batch of mulligan" it seems to refer to Mulligan Stew which I believe is a corruption of Mulligatawny Stew, which you'll find in a lot of Indian restaurants in the U.S.

Mulligatawny sounds more British than Indian so it might be a left over from the imperialist period (not so long ago).

may also be a broth concocted by hobos, including whatever edible or semi-edible ingredients they could scrounge up.

Murder in the Red Barn

[Murder in the Red Barn/Bone Machine]

Murder In the Red Barn actually refers to a murder in Victorian rural England. A man called Richard Cawdaw? had a relationship with a dairy maid. But after an argument he killed her with a spade in a red barn on the farm and buried her under a pile of straw. He then ran off to the Isle of Man, but wrote to the girl's mother pretending to be the girl herself, telling her that she had settled down with a man. However, a woman had a dream of the murder and the body buried beneath the straw. After the body was found, Richard Cawdaw was found guilty on the strength of the dream and was sentenced to be hanged. The British public was intrigued by the murder and the court case, and foot lengths of the hanging rope were sold for a guinea each. The story was made into a musical melodrama, called, funnily enough, The Murder In The Red Barn.

Obituary Mambo

[Swordfishtrombones/Swordfishtrombones]

a variation on the more common phrase of "dancing with death"

'odin, dwa, tri, chetyre'

[Russian Dance/Black Rider]

Pronounced, roughly, 'Ah-DEEN, dva, tree, CheTEEree' This is `one, two, three, four' in Russian.

See also 'khorosho, khorosho'

One-eyed Jacks

[????/????]

refers to the two jacks in a deck of cards where the jack is in profile.

One-eyed Jacks

[Burma Shave/Foreign Affairs]

an oncoming car with only one light burning.

On the Nickel

[On the Nickel/Heartattack and Vine]

as the rain splashed the nickel

[Red Shoes by the Drugstore/Blue Valentine]

5th Street in downtown Los Angeles - a place where many homeless hang out. It is just a couple blocks from the Greyhound Bus Station.

The song 'On The Nickel' was written for the made-for-TV movie "On The Nickel" by Ralph Waite. "The Nickel" is a mission located on 5th street. It seems that anyone "on the nickel" would be someone down and out with no place to go.

Ophelia

[Such a Scream/Bone Machine]

the daughter of Polonius in Shakespeare's Hamlet

(Websters Dictionary)

pachucos

[Romeo is Bleeding/Blue Valentine]

Mexican-American gang members. This term is mostly out of use and is pretty much derogatory now.

palladin's hat

[Clap Hands/Rain Dogs]

Palladin was a character in the 'Have Gun Will Travel' series in the '60s played by Richard Boone. His card had a chess character on it and he was a hired gun in the wild west. His hat was a flat brimmed dark black High Plains Drifter type hat.

Patterson's Curse

[Town With No Cheer/Swordfishtrombones]

a purple flowering noxious weed. The flower however has helped farmers keep livestock alive during a drought. When it flowers - and it is unlikely to bloom around March 21st - it does indeed blanket the hills. It can turn the entire countryside a vivid purple. It is occasionally sold in Sydney florists to city folk as "Riverina Bluebell", which amuses visiting farmers no end.

Pegleg

[Flash Pan Hunter/Bone Machine]

the devil

Perkins, George

[Nighthawk Postcards/Nighthawks at the Diner]

????

Pipeline

[Tango till they're Sore/Raindogs]

possibly the oil pipeline that was built through Alaska during the 1970's and 80's. It was a job that paid well, but required living in camps where you were isolated in the Alaskan wilderness. It was a job suited for drifters.

polocar

[Blow Wind Blow/Franks Wild Years]

????

potter's field

[Potter's Field/Heartattack and Vine]

a public burial place for paupers, unknown persons, and criminals

(Websters Dictionary) "And they [the priests] took counsel, and bought with them [Judas's thrity pieces of sliver] the potter's field, to bury strangers in."

(Matthew 27:7 Holy Bible: King James Version) "Potter's Field is in the East River, in between Williamsburg Bridge and Manhattan Bridge. The river makes a sharp bend there, an elbow. On an ebb tide there's an eddy in the elbow that picks up anything loose coming down river, afloat or submerged, and sweeps it into a stretch of backwater on the Brooklyn side. This backwater is called the Wallabout Bay on charts; the men on the dredges call it Potter's Field. The eddy sweeps driftwood into the backwater. Also, it sweeps drowned bodies into there. As a rule, people that drown in the harbour in winter stay down until spring. When the water begins to warm, gas forms in them and that makes them buoyant and they rise to the surface. Every year, without fail, on or about the fifteenth of April, bodies satrt showing up, and more of them show up at Potter's Field than any other place. In a couple of weeks or so, the Harbour Police always find ten to two dozen over there -- suicides, bastard babies, old barge captains that lost their balance out on a sleety night attending towropes, now and then some gangster or other. The police launch that runs out of Pier A on the battery goes over and takes them out of the water with a kind of dip-net contraption that the Police Department blacksmith made out of tire chains. I ride the Staten Island ferry a good deal, and I'm forever hearing the tourists remark how beautiful the harbour is, and I always wish they could see Potter's Field some mornings in April."

(Mitchell, Joseph. "The Bottom of the Harbour". 1960.) Potter's Field was a destitute cemetery on a remote island northeast of the Bronx, in Long Island Sound. Checking a recent map, it doesn't seem to serve as a city cemetery any longer. HART'S ISLAND, northeast of City Island, contains the REFORMATORY PRISON and the CITY CEMETERY (Potter's Field). (Ferry at northern end of Fordham Street, City Island; pass must be obtained from Registrar, Department of Correction.)

(WPA guide to New York City. 1939.)

'que bon tres bien'

[Such a Scream/Bone Machine]

French for "how good, very good"

Rain Dogs

[Rain Dogs/Rain Dogs]

a term used for someone who is lost and cannot find his way.

Waits defines raindogs as "...the ones you see wanderin' around after a rain. Ones that can't find their way back home. See the rain washes off the scent off all the mail boxes and the lamposts, fire hydrants. Raindogs. ~For I am a raindog too~"

"Raphaels Silver Cloud Lounge"

[????/????]

located along I-25 in New Mexico, about 45 miles north of Albuquerque and 15 miles sounth of Santa Fe. A classic road house in the 70's. Lot's of cool (non-stadium level) bands played there. About 500 miles to Pheonix/Dallas/Denver. A logical stopover for any band road tour.

Rose of Tralee

[Rain Dogs/Rain Dogs]

a yearly beauty contest in Ireland.

The original Rose of Tralee was a young dairymaid turned children's maid named Mary O'Connor who caught the eye of young William Pembroke Mulchinock of the Mulchinock Estate where she was working. This soon turned to love, but due to staunch family pride and an accusation that he had killed a man this never turned to marriage. William fled and returned years later to find that she had just died. After an unsuccessful marriage in America and then living the rest of his days alone in Ireland, he died and was buried next to his beloved in 1864.

Scheib, Earl

[Nighthawk Postcards/Nighthawks at the Diner]

a chain of automobile repainters located in the Midwest. In the sixties the slogan was "I'll paint ANY car ANY color for $29.95". The ANY color was not literal; mostly very simple primary colors, ergo "rainbow EARL SCHEIB merchandise". The price is up to about $99.95 now.

Schwab's Drugstore

[Invitation to the Blues/Small Change]

drugstore and soda fountain located in Los Angeles where several famous stars were said to be discovered. Since Hollywood is a place of dreams, this anecdote may be inflated to dream size proportions. However, It jives with the American dream, that even a soda jerk (like Kirk Douglas) can be rich and famous.

shadow boys

[Time/Rain Dogs]

hoodlum-types who hang out at night in doorways, alleys and street corners, lurking in the shadows and looking for trouble.

shillelagh

[Potter's Field/Blue Valentine]

cudgel - a short heavy club, originated in Ireland

(Websters Dictionary)

shotgun side

[Burma Shave/Small Change]

Riding "shotgun" is riding in the passenger side of the front seat in an automobile. It may derive from wild west day when the second person riding on a stagecoach carried a shotgun against robbers.

Ski Room

[???/???]

The original Ski Room was a seedy, depressing restaurant/bar. I think it may have closed down but it is a chain and there are others.

Slingerland ride

[Jockey Full of Bourbon/Rain Dogs]

Slingerland is a drum manufacturer and a ride is a drum solo.

Smart Money

[Time/Raindogs]

investors or bettors who are "in the know" concerning a stock/investment or a race horse that is a sure winner.

solid

[Down, Down, Down/Frank's Wild Years]

can be an affirmative reply equivalent to "great". Or can express an attribute of degree, e.g. solid down - means "really" or "completely" down.

St. Christopher

[Hang on St. Christopher/Franks Wild Years]

former patron saint of travel. St. Christopher was dropped from the liturgical calendar in 1969. His feast day is July 25th.

Stacys

[Tom Traubert's Blues/Small Change]

refers to the feet. born from Stacy Adams which are a fancy dress shoe.

stazybo horn

[Jockey Full of Bourbon/Rain Dogs]

????

Sunset and Alvarado

[Emotional Weather Report/Nighthawks at the Diner]

Sunset and Alvarado is an intersection in Silverlake, East of Hollywood, closer to downtown. This area used to be pretty scary, but has become more of a hipster area over the last couple of years - lot's of trendy antique and furniture shops have opened near that intersection. Charles Bukowski lived for quite a while in this area and wrote of the whores, drugs, numerous bars and general depravity of the area.

sussed

[Gin Soaked Boy/Swordfishtrombones]

a derogatory verb detailing that one has been found out by someone smarter or wiser (or at least one of you thinks you are smarter or wiser)?

Tarantella

[Tango Till They're Sore/Rain Dogs]

a traditional dance from Naples in Southern Italy. 'Tarantella' is Italian for tarantula and therefore mimics the movements of the spider. The dance is usually performed in 6/8 time with jumping, colorful clothes and tambourines.

It was actually played for women who were afflicted by the poisonous bite of the tarantula, which caused a psychoactive effect that was alleviated by dancing and sweating the poison out. The song "Tarantella" was the air most often chosen by the women affected by tarantism, and was the soundtrack for their orgiastic dancing that ended when they were totally exhausted (in some accounts, the women were doused with a bucket of water when they collapsed).

(Source: MONDO 2000 User's guide, pp 208-209, section on "Psychedelic Drugs" Janet Ross and Augustus Hare are two people whose accounts are quoted in the article, but no significance is given of their personages.)

'Terminal Bar'

[????/Nighthawks at the Diner]

a sleezly little bar 2 blocks straight up from the train station in Denver, Colorado where Waits hung out long ago.

It is at 17th and Wazee streets - or it was. Back when Waits hung out their it was a very sleezy part of Denver. Now however, with the baseball stadium (Coors Field) being built 3 blocks away, the area has been revitialized into the hippest part of Denver (called 'LODO'). Alas the terminal bar just succombed to property value pressures and sold out in the Fall of 1996 (it is being severely remodeled into a yuppie resturant).

Theremin

[Alice play]

The Theremin along with some other interesting instruments was used in the play "Alice" Waits helped Robert Wilson create. Invented in 1918 by Leon Theremin (1896-1993), this unique instrument is still popular today in experimental music circles. The theremin is played by waving one's hands near two metal antennae: one for pitch and the other for volume. The antennae vary the frequency of two oscillators. To create the sound, a fixed oscillator is mixed with the variable pitch oscillator and their difference (or beat frequency) is amplified.

Theremin Home Page

rifle designed in 1906 with a bullet/barrel gauge of 30.

ought is colloquial for the number zero.

Ticonderoga

[Shore Leave/Swordfishtrombones]

as in U.S.S. Ticonderoga named after a famous battle site.

Town With No Cheer

[Town With No Cheer/????]

This song may have stemmed from this iconic Aussie drinking song by Slim Dusty - "Pub With No Beer" which goes all maudlin thus: Well there's none so lonesome Morbid or drear Than to stand at the bar Of a pub with no beer

trick towel

[Walking Spanish/Rain Dogs]

something designed to hide or camoflauge a weapon

Also can be a towel that a prostitute uses to attract customers

vicrail

[Town with no Cheer/Swordfishtrombones]

the government instrumentality in the state of Victoria in charge of railways,

walking spanish

[Walking Spanish/Rain Dogs]

Spanish walk 1. n phr A pained and humiliating gait used by one whose seat and neck are strongly grasped and raised to urge him along; = "the bum's rush" 2 v. (also walk Spanish); "Mike Spanish-walked him swiftly across the little space"-WR Burnett/ "Smith...was an expert at walking 'em Spanish"

(New Yorker) walk Spanish is attested from the early 1800s [said to be from the custom of pirates, in the Spanish Main, of forcing prisoners to walk while holding them by the neck so that their toes barely touched the deck].

("The New Dictionary of American Slang" published by Harper Collins) Being in the act of doing something you don't want to do. So, to paraphrase the example Waits himself gave, a guy reaching for his wallet after being told to do so by a mugger would be "walking spanish" as he did so. (This example from the publicity LP release of Rain Dogs, in which Waits talks about the theme of each of the songs in turn.) In the instance of the song itself, then, the guy is on death row and is only walking to the chair because he has to: hence he's "walking spanish".

Waltzing Mathilda

[Tom Traubert's Blues/Small Change]

an Australian folk anthem, written by poet Banjo Paterson, about a hobo (swagman) being arrested for stealing a sheep (jumbuk) and escaping by diving into a creek (billabong) where he drowns. It's so popular in Australia it's regarded as the unofficial national song. around the time the song was written, a pack on someone's back was called a "mathilda". If you walked behind someone with a pack on his back for a long time, the pack moved up and down and appeared to "waltz". Is "Waltzing Mathilda" also a VietNam soldier's slang for shooting heroin?

Washburn

[16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought Six/Swordfishtrombones]

brand of a guitar maker

Watering Hole

[Town with no Cheer/Swordfishtrombones]

a slang term for a pub.

Weiss, Chuck E.

[Nighthawk Postcards/Nighthawks at the Diner]

[Cemetery Polka/Rain Dogs]

an L.A. lounge musician whom is a friend of Tom Waits that has a band called 'Chuck E. Weiss and the Goddamn Liars'. He is mentioned in a few Tom Waits songs and featured in Rickie Lee Jones' 'Chuck E's in Love'.

wolf tickets

[Trouble's Braids/Swordfishtrombones]

Bad news, e.g. Passing out Wolf Tickets would be someone who is bad news or generally insubordinate

(Playboy Mar '88 article)

Woolworth

[Nighthawks at the Diner/Nighthawks at the Diner]

a chain of discount department store whose merchandise is usually cheaply made and priced. So - "Woolworth rhinestone diamond earrings" would be really cheap and tacky earrings.

Wurlitzer

[Nighthawk Postcards/Nighthawks at the Diner]

an electric pipe organ played at old time theaters and pizza parlors in the 60's-80's and/or a maker of a brand of ornate jukeboxes?