Nuggets and Aphorisms

And they all pretend they're Orphans
And their memory's like a train
You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away
And the things you can't remember
Tell the things you can't forget
That history puts a saint in every dream

From "Time" by Tom Waits. It's track 9 of Raindogs, one of Waits's finest albums, and its lyrics contain some haunting images, though they seem to mean nothing overall. I also love the bit where Waits sings that "the wind is making speeches/ And the rain sounds like a round of applause." Lovely stuff.

And while I'm on Waits, here's a bonus nugget from another great song called "I Don't Wanna Grow Up", from the album Bone Machine:

Well when I see my parents fight
I don't wanna grow up
They all go out and drinking all night
And I don't wanna grow up
I'd rather stay here in my room
Nothin' out there but sad and gloom
I don't wanna live in a big old Tomb
On Grand Street

When I see the 5 o'clock news
I don't wanna grow up
Comb their hair and shine their shoes
I don't wanna grow up
Stay around in my old hometown
I don't wanna put no money down
I don't wanna get me a big old loan
Work them fingers to the bone
I don't wanna float a broom
Fall in and get married then boom
How the hell did I get here so soon
I don't wanna grow up

Me neither, but it's too late.