Here’s a song – with lyrics below – from Tom Waits’ 1993 album Black Rider.

The album featured as the soundtrack to the play of the same name, co-written by William S. Burroughs.

For me, this is a stand-out track, with Waits at his over-the-top best. Sometimes the track provokes laughter, sometimes tears. Enjoy.

The prettiest girl
In all the world
Is in a little Spanish town
But I left her for a Bonnie lass
And I told her
I'd see her around
But that Bonnie lass
And her heart of glass
Would not hold a candle

To bumming around
So don't cry for me
For I'm going away
And I'll be back some lucky day

Tell the boys back home
I'm doing just fine
I left my troubles and woe
So sing about me
For I can't come home
I've many more miles to go

Why, there's Miss Kelsey
You taught dance at our school
And old Johnny O'Toole
I'll still beat you at pool

So don't cry for me
For I'm going away
And I'll be back some lucky day

Now when I was a boy
My daddy sat me on his knee
And he told me
He told me many things
And he said sone
There's a lot of things in this world
You're gonna have no use for
And when you get blue
And you've lost all your dreams
There's nothin' like a campfire
And a can of beans
Why, there's Miss Kelsey
She taught dance at our school
And old Johnny O'Toole
I'll still beat you at pool

So don't cry for me
For I'm going away
And I'll be back some lucky day