Tom Waits - Black Wings Lyrics

What the fuck did we do to deserve this? Feels unfair for those too far before or too far after.

Tom Waits = the premium platinum bum '! The quintessential composer of modern music ! He can take rockabilly, mix in a polka & end up w/ a funeral dirge! This man bleeds passion as he sweats out blue collar voodoo!💥🙊💥🙏🙏🙏💜

This song has the same feeel like Koop island blues minus sexual longing.

Is he Keyser Soze?

One of the things I most admire in TW is that he's been recording masterpieces for well over 40 years, never repeating himself. Here he sounds like Leonard Cohen ( another genius).

Bram Stoker's Dracula.

I do not know of ANYBODY who writes better lyrics!!! Waaaaay underrated. P.S. so am I if I may say so, my dear. So am I!!!😂😂😂😂😂

Some say he once killed a man with a guitar string
He's been seen at the table with kings
Well he once saved a baby from drowning
There are those that say beneath his coat there are wings

Multiple degrees on every line.

Brilliant lyric. GENIUS AT WORK!!!!!

A beautiful expression.

I put this on one day, rolled down the windows while driving down a quiet, dark parkway, and smoked my first cigarette.

And when listening this song 1 rainy night I ate my first pursy!!!! Is is tooo much info???😆😆😆

Murat Menteş'in Korkma Ben Varım Kitabını okuyordum Fu'ya eşlik ederken kendimi burda buldum

Ayni sayfalarda ayni sarkida bulustuk fu ile 🌿

Aynı şarkı aynı satır ben dee

Ben de ordan geldim buralara😊👊🏻

Bu kitaba bakan çoğu insanın kaderi 😂

This is the coolest song I've ever heard.

Kaine Bishop sorry to agreeee but I simply must.

Tom Waits' Americana... Please... Pretty please?

https://youtu.be/qTlkVTwMLFs

Tom is Tom.

Dağları traş eden adam

Murtat menteş sağolsun.

Akif Sipahi aynen öyle Korkma Ben Varım :))

Black wings..........

Tooth 4 a tooth amiright

This is a Unbelievable Song.... he is a KING of Compositions

yup!!!!!!!!!! dylan. john haitt.

So who's playing lead guitar here?

So The Line "He Steals His Promise" SHOULD be he "Steels his Promise" (( right??))
As in that he makes his Promise A "hard promise" KEEPS HIS WORD.. like Steel metal hard?? On his site it's spelled "STEAL" so I am confused...AND on that same site,,the line where it sez "The Bone is sharp as a dagger could draw blood from the STARS", which reads just SUBLiME.. but here it is sung " Could draw blood from stone"?? ? (Thoughts anyone?))

"Black Wings
Take an eye for an eye
Take a tooth for a tooth
Just like they say in the Bible
Never leave a trace or forget a face
Of any man at the table
Any man at the table
When the moon is a cold chiseled dagger
Sharp enough to draw blood from a stone
He rides through your dreams on a coach
And horses and the fence posts
In the moonlight look like bones.

Well they've stopped trying to hold him
With mortar, stone and chain
He broke out of every prison
Boots mount the staircase
The door is flung back open
He's not there for he has risen,
He's not there for he has risen

Well he once killed a man with a guitar string
He's been seen at the table with kings
Well he once saved a baby from drowning
There are those that say beneath his coat there are wings
Some say they fear him
Others admire him
Because he steals his promise
One look in his eye
Everyone denies
Ever having met him
Ever having met him

He can turn himself into a stranger
Well they broke a lot of canes on his hide
He was born away in a cornfield
A fever beats in his head like a drum inside
Some say they fear him
Others admire him
Because he steals his promise
One look in his eye
Everyone denies
Ever having met him
Ever having met him"
http://www.tomwaits.com/songs/#/songs/song/81/Black_Wings/
http://www.tomwaits.com/songs/#/songs/song/81/Black_Wings/

"Blood from a stone" is an English idiom. People will say "you can't get blood from a stone" or that something very difficult or impossible to attain is "like getting blood from a stone." Don't know about stealing his promise; I always imagined that it means he took every advantage that he could, that he was particularly ruthless or cunning. Like a trickster figure from folklore or religion.

Uh it's a play on words.

i want to go to America

@Stanislav Kostić smrdislave crni sine---get fucked!!! Nisam Ja mujo-zovem se jebivetar. Hebehehe

@swami fakkananda hej mundza, nisam ti kriv sto si pobegao iz svojeg rodnog kraja, izdao svoju zemlju i svoje ljude zarad pukog novca pa tako kivan na sebe trazis kavgu po internetu. Zadrzi svoje probleme za sebe...

@Stanislav Kostić sta je mudza??? Kad se budem zenio hos mi biti kum???? Ja sam pobegao cim se osetio smrad preko drine. Hehehehe

@swami fakkananda svaka cas...hahaha, no comment za ljude koji ne vole svoj dom. Zaobidji me ako ti smrdim.

@Stanislav Kostić pa vec jesam.whooooo are you???

Well, take an eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
Just like they say in the Bible
Well, never leave a trace or forget a face
Of any man at the table
Any man at the table
When the moon is a cold chiseled dagger
And it's sharp enough to draw blood from a stone
He rides through your dreams on a coach and horses
And the fenceposts in the moonlight look like bones

Well they've stopped trying to hold him
With mortar, stone and chain
He broke out of every prison
When the boots mount the staircase
And the door is flung back open
He's not there for he has risen
He's not there for he has risen

Some say he once killed a man with a guitar string
He's been seen at the table with kings
Well, he once saved a baby from drowning
There are those who say beneath his coat there are wings
Well, some say they fear him
Well, some say they fear him
Others admire him
Because he steals his promise
But one look in his eye
And everyone denies
Ever having met him
Ever having met him

He can turn himself into a stranger
Well, they broke a lot of canes on his hide
He was born away in a cornfield
A fever beats in his head just like a drum inside

Some say they fear him
Others admire him
Because he steals his promise
But one look in his eye
Everyone denies
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
Ever having met him

my fav tom waits <3

And u r my absolute fav!!!!!

One look in his eye everyone denies ever having met him.

Ever having met him...

there´s a lot of bands such as `Those poor bastards` which are making careers out of playing unreleased material from these sessions

+Gil Saraiva ....really...wow

@grapsta Joking ...but listen to bands like Sons of perdition or those poor bastards ;specially their 1st albums. It´s completely influenced by stuff like this, yet Tom Waits is TOM WAITS:)

cool...will check em out

Love this song! Excellent music and lyrics. Gives it such an eerily somber feel. Has to be my favorite Tom Waits song. :3

I remember a girl who loved this song. Plenty of years have died but she is still alive.

This song changed my life. 

!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

++++++++++++++++...!

little atheisthshshs reading the bible. gotta love that sight.

ZZombyWooff I am an atheist and I am reading the Qur'an. Qur'an

Thanks. I love your words!

This is an incredible song, it takes you so far away, you travel deep with the master Waits...

"Draw blood from a stone" =]

Thank you so much

R u single???

Really cool pictures.

Wow he was an awesome chilling voice!

Good call.

just another Tom Waits song, to dream away.

This song could be about God or the Devil. Who the hell else could write a song like that?

So could your comment--hooo could write a comment like that?? And so true toooo.

I wish I could be half as cool as he is!!!

right you wish...

I can sell you some of mine!!!! Hehahehzbrjd. And I am also SOOO SOOO humble. Hehehah

I automatically feel like a badass just listening to this song.

I need this settled: Does he say "Because his steel's his promise" or "He steal's his promise"?

Well, if u buy a pizza I can tell u theme lyrics!!😁.

Bohemia, wat

@anguelroumy Yes?

@mariadelamor21 :) de nada :) he is so wonderful I can listen to his music all day and night long !

@anguelroumy Thanks for this comment. Very expressive!!

WOW he makes me crazy ! Love you Tom and Tank you mariadelamor21 !!!

BOHEMIA!

like this if your here because of bohemia interactive!

BIS ARG!!!!

Tom Waits' incredible interpretation of Spaghetti Western soundtrack music! This song is so vivid and haunting, it permits me to imagine a scene of of figure not unlike Eastwood's Man With No Name riding a horse through a border ghost town, and also gives me the chills due to its eerie aural qualities, every time I listen to it.

"....where the boots mount the staircase, and the door is flung back open.... he's not there for he has risen......."

Black Wings - Waits, Tom [Pomona, California] - 1992 - "Perhaps Tom Waits' most cohesive album, Bone Machine is a morbid, sinister nightmare, one that applied the quirks of his experimental '80s classics to stunningly evocative...All of it adds up to Waits' most affecting and powerful recording,..." - Greatest Hits [Import Russia] (ANTI-Records) [Disc 1]-2008. NOTE: This song has an almost Alternative Country Rock feel albeit sounding like someone county fans might avoid on the street. :-)

@ProfessorCrow I don't think he wants to grow up.

@ProfessorCrow No you don't... I am pretty sure you don't

love this music!
Look to my version!
F0cEMF_UNFo

Every time I listen to this song I think about Judge Holden in Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian".

@DoctaDualist The truth is that Nick Cave is a huge Tom Waits fan himself.

@tefson Yes! Thanks.

i agree of all, this song it's very special for myself

@DoctaDualist Yeah, exactly what I thought. There are many similarities between this and the excellent Red Right Hand. Thing is though, Tom was there first. Black Wings is from 1992, while Red Right Hand is from 1994. ;-)

Yes, Tom es very original.

I want to grow up to be just like Tom Waits.

mój ulubiony , od wielu wielu lat , i sie nie nudzi ...

Thanks at all for the comments.
Yes, is great Tom Waits.
I made other video with wonderful music, song and images, but I had problems with the copyright.

Let me know next time!!! I will take care of u!!! Make a few calls--bcaue I know a guy who noze a guy!!! Al I want from u Iz 2 lemme suckit2u!!! Is It tooooo much 2 aks 4??? I shall think--NOT!!!

This song is obviously about humans rebelling against inadedquet existance....and the coming of strength against it all...morter stone and chain.....

grazie Maria,immenso Tom

How was it?

...I'm thinking it's all in perspective, honestly.

Good Lord. That's even nerdier than what I think of -- Strider from LOTR.

:)

You know what I think? I think this song is about Batman.

Did we ask your opinion???? Just kidding!!!!😂😂😂😂😂

As i said---did we ever ask 4 your opinion???? Just kiddin!!!!😂😂😂😂

There is something very LeonardCohenesque about this song! Regardless great, ingenious stuff!!!

July 22nd Prague, I'm so gonna be there ...

wow, my favourite song! well done :)

Thaks...Thaks...Thanks