"Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda / You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me". Éste es el estribillo del himno oficioso, que no oficial, de Australia y estas mismas palabras son las que repite Tom Waits con su voz de ogro en la canción que os propongo escuchar, Tom Traubert's Blues. Con esta pieza se abre uno de sus mejores discos, Small Change (1976), aunque la versión que vamos a escuchar procede de un directo del año 77 (gran año, por otra parte).
Vídeo de Chelseacf
Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did, I've got what I paid for now
See you tomorrow, hey Frank, can I borrow a couple of bucks from you
To go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda,
You'll go waltzing Mathilda with me
I'm an innocent victim of a blinded alley
And I'm tired of all these soldiers here
No one speaks English, and everything's broken, and my Stacys are soaking wet
To go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda,
You'll go waltzing Mathilda with me
Now the dogs are barking and the taxi cab's parking
A lot they can do for me
I begged you to stab me, you tore my shirt open,
And I'm down on my knees tonight
Old Bushmill's I staggered, you'd bury the dagger
In your silhouette window light
To go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda,
You'll go waltzing Mathilda with me
Now I lost my Saint Christopher now that I've kissed her
And the one-armed bandit knows
And the maverick Chinamen, and the cold-blooded signs,
And the girls down by the strip-tease shows, go
Waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda,
You'll go waltzing Mathilda with me
No, I don't want your sympathy, the fugitives say
That the streets aren't for dreaming now
And manslaughter dragnets and the ghosts that sell memories,
They want a piece of the action anyhow
Go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda,
You'll go waltzing Mathilda with me
And you can ask any sailor, and the keys from the jailor,
And the old men in wheelchairs know
And Mathilda's the defendant, she killed about a hundred,
And she follows wherever you may go
Waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda,
You'll go waltzing Mathilda with me
And it's a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace,
And a wound that will never heal
No prima donna, the perfume is on an
Old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey
And goodnight to the street sweepers, the night watchmen flame keepers
And goodnight to Mathilda, too
Al parecer existe también una versión cantada por Rod Stewart. Doy gracias a los dioses por haberme ahorrado su escucha.
4 comentarios:
¡Leche Imperator ! parece que Vuecencia y yo vamos al mismo psiquiatra.
Insondable Waits; también me fascinan "Blue Valentine" y el relativamente reciente "Alice".
Jajajajaja pero bueno, qué manía le tienes al pobre Woody Woodpecker Stewart :-P
Gran cosecha la del 77, vive Dios :-D
Barbe, últimamente parece que los blogueros nos movemos de coincidencia en coincidencia.
De la primera época de Waits mis favoritos son Small Change y The Heart of Saturday Night. Después, imprescindibles Rain Dogs, Swordfishtrombones y Frank's Wild Years. De los últimos, sin haber escuchado aún Orphans, me quedo con Mule Variations.
Y a mi que el Waltzing Matilda me emociona...no tanto el señor Waits, que con esa vocecilla tan blanca que se nos gasta, pues no hay manera, jejeje
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