Waits, Tom - Walking Spanish Lyrics






He's got himself a homemade special
You know his glass is full of sand
And it feels just like a jaybird
The way it fits into his hand
He rolled a blade up in his trick towel
They slap their hands against the wall
You never trip, you never stumble

He's walking spanish down the hall

Slip him a picture of our Jesus
Or give him a spoon to dig a hole
What all he done ain't no one's business
But he'll need blankets for the cold
They dim the lights over on Broadway
Even the king has bowed his head
Every face looks right up at Mason

He's walking spanish down the hall

Latella's screeching for a blind pig
Punk Sander's carved it out of wood
He never sang when he got hoodwinked
They tried it all but he never would
Tomorrow morning there'll be laundry
But he'll be somewhere else to hear the call
Don't say good bye he's just leavin' early

He's walking spanish down the hall

All St. Bartholomew said was whispered
Into the ear of Blind Jack Dawes
All the Baker told the machine
Was that he never broke the law
Go on and tip your hat up to the Pilate
Take off your watch, your rings and all
Even Jesus wanted just a little more time

When he was walking spanish down the hall





Other Lyrics by Artist

Rand Lyrics

Last Posts

Waits, Tom Walking Spanish Comments
  1. H.... j....

    Powerful voice. Looks like Captain Beefheart

  2. K.... F....

    Still think about you, Elias.

  3. T.... L....

    Machismo

  4. D.... E....

    Your clothes your painted eyes don’t do those chocolate things for me!

  5. f.... ....

    Still a great song from one of my fave albums

  6. J.... E....

    He got himself a homemade special
    You know his glass is full of sand
    And it feels just like a jaybird
    The way it fits into his hand

    He rolled a blade up in his trick towel
    They slap their hands against the wall
    You never trip, you never stumble
    He's walking Spanish down the hall

    Slip him a picture of our Jesus
    Or give him a spoon to dig a hole
    What all he done ain't no one's business
    But he'll need blankets for the cold
    They dim the lights over on Broadway
    Even the king has bowed his head
    Every face looks right up at Mason
    He's walking Spanish down the hall

    Latella's screeching for a blind pig
    Punk Sander's carved it out of wood
    He never sang when he got hoodwinked
    They tried it all but he never would
    Tomorrow morning there'll be laundry
    But he'll be somewhere else to hear the call
    Don't say good bye, he's just leaving early
    He's walking Spanish down the hall

    All St. Bartholomew said was whispered
    Into the ear of Blind Jack Dawes
    All the Baker told the machine
    Was that he never broke the law
    Go on and tip your hat up to the Pilate
    Take off your watch, your rings and all
    Even Jesus wanted just a little more time
    When he was walking Spanish down the hall

  7. A.... ....

    Thank you, Permanent Midnight.

  8. E.... �....

    Sweet Jesus - never heard this before !What a song

  9. S.... M....

    HE IS UNIQUE [ THE BEST ]

  10. H.... j....

    The powerful voice of Tom recalls that of Captain Beefheart

  11. p.... ....

    Rain Dogs - lyrically best ever

  12. c.... t....

    add some cut in yo strut to the glide in yo stride

  13. J.... L....

    Keith Richards does not play lead guitar on this track -- he does play on the album "Rain Dogs" but...Tom Waits plays the guitar parts on this song. Check the notes on the album.

  14. p.... ....

    hey, eveeryone! have a great day!

  15. J.... S....

    Here's a line by line, in case anybody struggles with the slang. Since most of the song is about execution, the lines with ambiguous meanings have the version where execution is the focus.

    He's got himself a homemade special
    (he's has a makeshift gun, helping signify that's he's in prison)
    You know his glass is full of sand
    (he's young)
    it feels just like a jaybird
    the way it fits into his hand
    (the prison made gun feels that way, jaybird means penis)
    he rolled a blade up in his trick towel
    (he's sneaking a knife with him)
    they slap their hands against the wall
    (the inmates are making a bunch of noise)
    you never trip you never stumble
    (because you're being escorted, even if you flail, you won't slow your walk)
    he's walking spanish down the hall
    (he's about to be executed)

    Slip him a picture of our Jesus
    (last rights)
    or give him a spoon to dig a hole
    (it won't help him)
    What all he done aint no ones business
    (he's not gonna confess his sins)
    But he'll need blankets for the cold
    (snarky remark about the fact that he'll be dead)
    they dim the lights over on broadway
    (the power drawn from the electric chair dims the lights all around)
    Even the king has bowed his head
    (Multiple meanings, one may refer to the way kings had to signal executioners, and certain officials now do the same)
    Every face looks right up at Mason
    (everyone looks at him)
    he's walking spanish down the hall
    (he's about to be executed)

    The last four lines of this verse extend the same cocky attitude from the first four like the world is stopping all for him.

    Latella's screeching for a blind pig
    (Thick slang. A cop [pig] has no evidence [blind], but is grilling a guy really hard [screeching])
    Punk Sander's carved it out of wood
    (maybe it refers to the chair itself, maybe it refers to the way the guy is so tough. I can't find any slang related to this. Most likely for tone.)
    He never sang when he got hoodwinked
    (he never snitched while in custody)
    they tried it all but he never would
    (they tried to break him)
    Tomorrow morning there'll be laundry
    (life will go on. They'll have to clean his clothes)
    he'll be somewhere else to hear the call
    (he'll be dead)
    Don't say goodbye, he's just leaving early
    (we all die, he's just dying sooner)
    He's walking spanish down the hall
    (he's about to be executed)


    The sax duet sounds just like electricity firing about during an execution.


    All St. Barthalomew said was whispered
    into the ear of Blind Jack Dawes
    (St Barthalomew was executed, vague implications about Jack Dawes fate)
    all Baker told the machine
    (lie detector)
    was that he never broke the law
    (never snitched about anything, and wasn't deserving of his fate)
    Go on and tip your hat up to the Pilate
    (refers to Pontius Pilate, reluctant executioner of Jesus)
    Take off your watch, your rings, and all
    (can't wear metal during an electric chair execution. It connects to the way Jesus was stripped and his things were gambled, and it plays off the reverence one has for a Pilot, continuing the play on words.)
    Even Jesus wanted a little more time
    (Jesus prayed that God spare him from his execution)
    He's walking spanish down the hall
    (he was about to get executed)

    J.... S....

    Thanks to you and others like you, MP and Janine Summers. Youtube: The New New School of Social Research.

    J.... S....

    Hey David, (this is Janine). Walking Spanish, according to Waits and a few other sources, got its use as a descriptor of someone going to an execution because of the way the Spanish would train their show horses to kick their front hooves out with each step. It looks the way a person does when they are being dragged reluctantly by both arms.

    J.... S....

    "Even the King bowed his head". I guessed it meant this... The King is on death row too, might be called the King because he's been there the longest. Anyway, as Mason is passing by the King's cell on the way to be executed the King bowed his head out of respect for the guy who kept his mouth shut.

    J.... S....

    I wish all lyric analyses were this clear and concise. Rapgenius hang your head in shame.

    J.... S....

    Thanks for explaining this I felt it was an execution wasn't aware of all the Ps and Q's thank you!

  16. S.... H....

    Puttin the glide in my stride as i head off to work for many years now........

  17. m.... ....

    No song goes so well with my A maj Shaw whistle as this one 

  18. a.... ....

    It occurs to me that this would also make an excellent theme to The Wire.

  19. T.... H....

    Like Dylan, it's best not to dissect every phrase.  Just practice total immersion.

    T.... H....

    although you could if you wanted to... he uses a lot of obscure references & sayings & most of them have legit origins

    T.... H....

    for once it seems like theres meaning in the lyrics
    i can never tell if its obscure slang, or if he's just saying 'bless the roof of your house' just because, i like the uncertainty

  20. A.... O....

    hahaha so funny reading oogaboogan & swordfishsticks back and forth....get a room. And walking Spanish well, check out a Spanish show horse and then compare with a man being led to the chair, that's the lyrical joke. If you don't get it you don't get it.

  21. L.... M....

    Great song of Tom Waits ! ((^_^))

  22. t.... ....

    smoke em if you got em

  23. S.... ....

    That bassline is walkin' Spanish down the hall...

  24. M.... ....

    Another good one> love it

  25. P.... A....

    I empathise with religious people (well most of them) but for a guy who hasn't decided on what he believes, you sure have alot of hate for people - maybe you should try being religious, it might do you some good...

  26. S.... ....

    Well, look away then. I intend to. This has gotten far too tiresome; I went into this discussion with the misapprehension that a civil discussion might be had; my mistake. Have a nice day.

  27. S.... ....

    You do understand the concept of a public forum? If you want a private conversation, send a PM to the person you want that conversation with.

    If you didn't want a conversation with me, you could have said so as a response to my initial comment to you.

    I don't think that not addressing every claim is an admission of their validity, but when you end a line of discussion on a particular point that is already being discussed with switching to insults, that does look like you ran out of arguments.

  28. S.... ....

    Yes, because focusing on insulting the person you are having a discussion with is CLEARLY a better use of your brain than focusing on the actual point of disagreement.

    I don't know why you think that focusing on ad hominems would advance your case. With every comment you've posted to me, you've undermined your initial point.

  29. S.... ....

    All I can say is that you have very strange ideas of what constitutes "adult behavior".

    I'll do my version of adult behavior, and leave off without a gratuous insult.

  30. S.... ....

    So, in order not to be a prick, an atheist has to silently accept your blanket accusation of atheists being pricks, without challenging it?

    The fact that you behave like this, and call OTHER people "pricks", doesn't strike you at all as hypocritical?

    Perhaps people are pricks around you, when you first antagonize them, and can't stand even the mildest criticism of your position. That tends to draw out the prickishness, for sure.

  31. S.... ....

    And what have I done, precicely, to deserve it, except contest your claim that the vast majority of atheists are "pricks about it"? A claim that would make the majority of the populations of many European countries, and Japan, "pricks about it"?

    It just seems to me that once you reached the end of where you could reasonably defend your position, instead of gracefully conceding that your initial statement wasn't exactly defensible, you resorted to... being a prick.

  32. S.... ....

    Your contention was that an atheist who's not a prick about it is about as rare as a four leaf clover. I was addressing that claim, which clearly is false, and stereotyping of atheists.

    Certainly there are many atheists who are "pricks about it" - but I find them to be a rather small minority of all atheists I know.

  33. S.... ....

    About 50 percent of my countrymen - Finns - do not believe in a god, and are thus atheists. The vast majority of them are entirely disinterested on the subject of religion, which is probably due to religion being rather low-key and non-obtrusive in my country. There's at least a few million atheists right there, who aren't "pricks about it".

    Is not your sterotyping atheists being a "prick about" your agnosticism?

  34. S.... ....

    So you haven't looked at those channels, and yet simply assume that these people are, sometimes, "being pricks about it"?

    I don't know what constitutes "being prick about it" for atheists, in your eyes, but I challenge you to find anything remotely qualifying that in, say, Qualiasoup's channel.

    For me "being prick about it", would be being arrogantly dismissive of religious people, being gratuitously hostile, calling them by names, or using negative stereotypes.

    Is that about accurate?

  35. S.... C....

    i heard it was ones final walk to their execution. hence 'jesus wanted just a little more time when he was walking spanish down the hall'

  36. S.... ....

    Most atheists I know aren't "pricks about it". Atheists being "pricks about it", are about as common as those who refuse to identify with either theist or atheist being holier-than-though about it.

    If you want to see examples of atheists on Youtube who aren't "pricks about it", look up, "TheoreticalBullshit", "Qualiasoup", "Theremintrees", "TheThinkingAtheist", "C0nc0rdance" and "David Smalley".

    As for "agnostic", the most atheists are agnostics also. Now where are my four leaf clovers? ;)

  37. i.... p....

    aka perp walk?

    i.... p....

    Mile walk.
    "Tomorrow morning there'll be laundry, but he'll be somewhere else to hear the call..."

  38. J.... B....

    I kind-of love when people are pricks about atheists being pricks. Seriously dude? I'm wondering if you know what atheist and agnostic mean because neither of them are personality types and neither means you hate religion.

  39. J.... B....

    I kind-of love when people are pricks about atheists being pricks. Seriously dude? I'm wondering if you know what atheist and agnostic mean because neither of them are personality types and neither means you hate religion.

    Nonetheless this is a fucking awesome song.

  40. N.... S....

    So strongh !

  41. M.... R....

    Larry Taylor.

  42. t.... ....

    "Even Jesus wanted just a little more time when he was walking Spanish down the hall."

    Genius!

  43. O.... ....

    keith richards plays guitar?

  44. T.... G....

    taking the last march to the death penalty, ie. Hanging, Electric chair.

  45. P.... A....

    'hell'?...

  46. �.... �....

    walking spanish down the hall)

  47. T.... J....

    I've heard ppl say this song is about a suicidal man??? I don't hear that at all, I hear a man in his zone, ready to roll, ready for ANYTHING. Any insights??

  48. M.... ....

    well said

  49. N.... K....

    Well I wasn't disputing that, but fair enough

  50. �.... ....

    Great song, though I think maybe this guy has some serious polyps.

  51. e.... t....

    The (current) 4 people that disliked this are completely entitled to their own opinion (but so am I) so fuck you straight to hell!

  52. X.... ....

    You know, I could totally see Tom Waits being used as the "singing voice" for Ron Pearlman.

  53. K.... ....

    Also when someone is grabbed by the back of their trouser's waist and back of the neck of sweater, jacket or whatever that person is wearing whilst moving towards a direction to take that person out of the initial place, and is thrown in a single motion usually towards a door.

  54. E.... ....

    walking spanish means a walk on death row

  55. s.... ....

    habla habla

  56. R.... ....

    Billy Bogash's Sanborn House on Sunset ...where Santa Monica Blvd hits Sanborn Avenuuuuu..Blums Liquor off Virgil and Fuckall....LA Baby!....L fuckin' A!

  57. N.... K....

    Not sure the comment was shit-talk, tbh. It's true- he's sued lots of companies for using his music without his permission- he didn't say anything bad about that.

  58. H.... ....

    I ´ve listened this song like 15 times in a row and it´s still not enough. so good

  59. P.... S....

    Even jesus wanted a little more time...to groove to Tom

  60. a.... ....

    Lemon Sour Diesel and banana kush

  61. M.... ....

    ha, i didnt know that
    i love him even more now

  62. x.... ....

    His geniosity,is almost comparable to his generosity to gift us mindblowing songs.

  63. b.... ....

    Dueling saxophones. I love it.

  64. F.... I....

    May I recommend the book 'A Concise Guide To Eighties' Music' by Karl Vorderman. The author is a big fan of this track.

  65. G.... P....

    @goddamneclectic No worries!

  66. D.... P....

    @gabe25591 ahhh... nice. thanks for the info

  67. G.... P....

    @goddamneclectic Nah it was from Rain Dogs in1985. So even if it were an unused song from HA&V, it probs would've appeared on Swordfishtrombones rather than Rain Dogs.

  68. D.... P....

    was this a B-side from Heart attack?

  69. T.... ....

    What all he's done aint' no ones bizzn'zz

  70. t.... ....

    i looked over to the rest of the videos...."tom waits reads charles bukowski"....haha!

  71. B.... ....

    @ta2rtist13 I never thought of an hourglass. It's a clever bit of writing. As Ian Dury said "there ain't half been some clever b*stards.."

  72. A.... M....

    @BackToTheBlues Glass is full of sand i think refers to an hour glass, or cutting life short. It's talking about an execution.

  73. B.... ....

    @kidcreole77 We do this song in our set, I always wondered what I was singing about, lol! My thought on 'his glass was full of sand' is that if an optimist says the glass is half full and the pessimist says it's half empty, if you think yours is full of sand you've got to be in a bad way...
    Dim the lights on Broadway = electric chair?
    Love this song, anyway.

    B.... ....

    I always say, if you are not going to finish that glass, can do it for you?

  74. b.... ....

    I listen to Waits sober and I enjoy it, but when I listen to Waits while drunk, it´s like a fucking orgasm.

  75. m.... ....

    I was listening to T.W in the seventies. While most of what I listened to then sounds a bit naive to me now the music of Tom Waits has lost none of its significance. If anything it's influence just keeps growing

  76. v.... ....

    For some reason I love that ending line where he says "even jesus wanted a little more time, when he was walking spanish down the hall" lol. Amazing song. Love it. But then again I have a hard time finding songs from Tom that I don't like. All I can really say is he's the best . I think he's incapable of writing bad music.

  77. g.... ....

    @drewdavies thanks! =)

  78. D.... D....

    walking spanish = the walk you take to the electric chair!

  79. g.... ....

    Anyone here can explain to me what does "walking spanish" mean?

  80. e.... ....

    God what an orgasmic sax solo

  81. S.... ....

    maybe the coolest song ever written. there are better. Tom wrote some of them. but never have i heard a cooler song

  82. J.... ....

    Thanks for the upload.