Invitation to the Blues
Tom Waits
Dm Bbm
Well she's up against the register with an apron and a spatula,
F Bdim
With yesterday's deliveries and the tickets for the bachelors
Gm7 A7sus4 A7
She's a moving violation from her conk down to her shoes,
Dm GmA7 Dm
But it's just an invitation to the blues
Gm C7
And you feel just like Cagney, she looks like Rita Hayworth
F
At the counter of the Schwab's drugstore
Gm C7
You wonder if she might be single, she's a loner and likes to mingle
F AA7 Dm A7
Got to be patient, try and pick up a clue
Dm Bbm
She said "How you gonna like 'em, over medium or scrambled?",
F G
You say "Anyway's the only way", be careful not to gamble
Gm7 A7sus4 A7
On a guy with a suitcase and a ticket getting out of here
Dm Bbm
In a tired bus station in an old pair of shoes
A7sus4 A7 Dm
This ain't nothing but an invitation to the blues
Gm C7
But you can't take your eyes off her, get another cup of java,
F
And it's just the way she pours it for you, joking with the customers
Gm C7
Mercy mercy, Mr. Percy, there ain't nothing back in Jersey
F A A7
But a broken-down jalopy of a man I left behind
Dm
And a dream that I was chasing,
Bbm
a battle with booze
A7sus4 A7 Dm
And an open invitation to the blues
Gm C7
But she used to have a sugar daddy and a candy-apple Caddy,
F F
And a bank account and everything, accustomed to the finer things
Gm C7
He probably left her for a socialite, and he didn't love her 'cept at night,
F A
And then he's drunk and never even told her that he cared
Dm
So they took the registration,
Bbm
And the car-keys and her shoes
A7sus4 A7 Dm
And left her with an invitation to the blues(...solo sax)
Gm C7
'Cause there's a Continental Trailways leaving local bus tonight, good evening
F F
You can have my seat, I'm sticking round here for a while
Gm C7
Get me a room at the Squire, the filling station's hiring,
F A
And I can eat here every night, what the hell have I got to lose?
Dm
Got a crazy sensation,
Bbm
Go or stay? now I gotta choose,
A7sus4 A7 Dm
And I'll accept your invitation to the blues
