Invitation to the Blues Tom Waits Well she's up against the register with an apron and a spatula, With yesterday's deliveries and the tickets for the bachelors A7Sus4 She's a moving violation from her conk down to her shoes, But it's just an invitation to the blues And you feel just like Cagney, she looks like Rita Hayworth At the counter of the Schwab's drugstore You wonder if she might be single, she's a loner and likes to mingle Got to be patient, try and pick up a clue She said "How you gonna like 'em, over medium or scrambled?", You say "Anyway's the only way", be careful not to gamble A7Sus4 On a guy with a suitcase and a ticket getting out of here In a tired bus station in an old pair of shoes A7Sus4 This ain't nothing but an invitation to the blues But you can't take your eyes off her, get another cup of java, And it's just the way she pours it for you, joking with the customers Mercy mercy, Mr. Percy, there ain't nothing back in Jersey But a broken-down jalopy of a man I left behind And a dream that I was chasing, a battle with booze A7Sus4 And an open invitation to the blues But she used to have a sugar daddy and a candy-apple Caddy, And a bank account and everything, accustomed to the finer things He probably left her for a socialite, and he didn't love her 'cept at night, And then he's drunk and never even told her that he cared So they took the registration, And the car-keys and her shoes A7Sus4 And left her with an invitation to the blues(...solo sax) 'Cause there's a Continental Trailways leaving local bus tonight, good evening You can have my seat, I'm sticking round here for a while Get me a room at the Squire, the filling station's hiring, And I can eat here every night, what the hell have I got to lose? Got a crazy sensation, Go or stay? now I gotta choose, A7Sus4 And I'll accept your invitation to the blues