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Tom Waits — Please Call Me, Baby
Album: The Heart of Saturday Night
Avg rating:
7.4

Your rating:
Total ratings: 284









Released: 1974
Length: 4:21
Plays (last 30 days): 0
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The evening fell just like a star
Left a trail behind
You spit as you slammed out the door
If this is love we're crazy
As we fight like cats and dogs
But I just know there's got to be more

So please call me, baby wherever you are
It's too cold to be out walking in the streets
We do crazy things when we're wounded
Everyone's a bit insane
I don't want you catching your death of cold
Out walking in the rain

I admit that I ain't no angel
I admit that I ain't no saint
I'm selfish and I'm cruel, but you're blind
If I exorcise my devils well my angels may leave too
When they leave they're so hard to find

So please call me, baby wherever you are
It's too cold to be out walking in the streets
We do crazy things when we're wounded
Everyone's a bit insane
I don't want you catching your death of cold
Out walking in the rain

And we're always at each other's throats
You know it drives me up the wall
But most of the time I'm just blowing off steam
And I wish God you'd leave me
Baby I wish to God you'd stay
Life's so different than it is in your dreams

So please call me, baby wherever you are
It's too cold to be out walking in the streets
We do crazy things when we're wounded
Everyone's a bit insane
I don't want you catching your death of cold
Out walking in the rain
Comments (29)add comment


"If I exorcise my devils well my angels may leave too" - to give some thought to.

Posted 1 year ago by KalleB    [ Reply ]
Waits can be a cool story teller or unbearably maudlin. I love this track because it walks a tightrope between the two
Posted 5 years ago by haresfur    [ Reply ]
 akdavey wrote:
Love the album. Love Waits. Love this song.
Have always wondered why such a crappy album cover.
 
It was 1974, so there were some goofy album covers back then (by later standards).  There were also some good covers though.
Posted 8 years ago by Proclivities    [ Reply ]
Tom Waits deserves a national medal of honor and a huge celebration of his songcraft, at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
Posted 9 years ago by frolic4rp    [ Reply ]
Love the album. Love Waits. Love this song.
Have always wondered why such a crappy album cover.
Posted 9 years ago by akdavey    [ Reply ]
 mgoldman wrote:
Interviewed Tom Waits on WAMU-FM, my very first radio interview in early 1975 when he was on tour in support of this album. He played 5 songs in the studio on his guitar.  He forgot his pick, so he strummed with a matchbook cover.  One of the songs he did was Red Sovines tune, Big Joe and Phantom 309.  It was one of the best times of my life.  Still have the original tape and I burned the songs to a disc, so I can listen to them on my Ipod.  The interview was awful.  After, we went to dinner and then to the Cellar Door where he played two sets. 

 
Nice story.
Posted 9 years ago by colt4x5    [ Reply ]
The album stayed on my turntable, and the cassette in my car, for a solid summer.

Them was the days. 
Posted 9 years ago by nagsheadlocal    [ Reply ]
 Sunman wrote:
Meant to be listened to at 3 am after a good night out, good winding down music.

 
Sounds about rite.
Posted 9 years ago by Bleyfusz    [ Reply ]
Meant to be listened to at 3 am after a good night out, good winding down music.
Posted 10 years ago by Sunman    [ Reply ]
 ashmj000 wrote:

Not in the habit of quoting the other humans, particularly their song lyrics, but this is one exception:

                         "...don't you know there ain't no devil, there's just god when he's drunk."
                                       
                                                                             - Tom Waits, from "Heartattack and Vine"
 



 
Ashmj:  Yes indeedy deed.  That lyric has always stuck in my head, too.  A superb line if ever there was one....
Posted 10 years ago by Highlowsel    [ Reply ]
 Huey wrote:

Okay, it's Tom Waits. but this song is just boring. 3.

 

I just thought the same thing -- very guilty feeling for rating Tom Waits so low, but then realizing it is well deserved for this particular song.
Posted 10 years ago by hschlossberg    [ Reply ]
Very weird: I keep hearing musical phrases from Christmas songs in this one. 

Are Tom Waits and Christmas mutually incompatible? Discuss.  


LilFreckel wrote:
when i was a wee little girl I'd put on my dad's GIANT headphones and listen to this album over, and over, and....
  
Did you ever have the urge to drink pints of Night Train at a sitting when you were a kid? 


Posted 10 years ago by kcar    [ Reply ]

Okay, it's Tom Waits. but this song is just boring. 3.
Posted 10 years ago by Huey    [ Reply ]
soapy, but I can at least handle this TW song
Posted 10 years ago by jocelynsart    [ Reply ]

Not in the habit of quoting the other humans, particularly their song lyrics, but this is one exception:

                         "...don't you know there ain't no devil, there's just god when he's drunk."
                                       
                                                                             - Tom Waits, from "Heartattack and Vine"
 


Posted 11 years ago by ashmj000    [ Reply ]
What a guy!
Posted 11 years ago by grazie    [ Reply ]

This song is good for the ears...
 
Posted 11 years ago by Lazarus    [ Reply ]
I like this Tom Waits; it's to him as "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" is to Bob Dylan, to me.
Posted 11 years ago by Carl    [ Reply ]
My conclusion after hearing this is that sometime between 1974 and now he had a terrible accident where he got a few pounds of gravel and broken glass lodged in his throat.  And somehow he's great either way. :) 
Posted 11 years ago by zair99    [ Reply ]
Interviewed Tom Waits on WAMU-FM, my very first radio interview in early 1975 when he was on tour in support of this album. He played 5 songs in the studio on his guitar.  He forgot his pick, so he strummed with a matchbook cover.  One of the songs he did was Red Sovines tune, Big Joe and Phantom 309.  It was one of the best times of my life.  Still have the original tape and I burned the songs to a disc, so I can listen to them on my Ipod.  The interview was awful.  After, we went to dinner and then to the Cellar Door where he played two sets. 
Posted 11 years ago by mgoldman    [ Reply ]
Ahhhh.....nice song.  Classic album.  Blows me back to my undergraduate days at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD.  The guy always had a voice like 10 miles of bad road.  Over time it descended into a stone hard gravel pit didn't it?  Still a good musician, actor, and all 'round entertainer in my book. 
Posted 12 years ago by Highlowsel    [ Reply ]
 tuttle99 wrote:

"...I wish you'd a known her we were quite a pair she was sharp as a razor and soft as a prayer..."
 
I wish they would play that tune here.
Posted 12 years ago by Proclivities    [ Reply ]
 colt4x5 wrote:
"I wish to God you'd leave me, Baby, I wish to God you'd stay"

 

 
"...I wish you'd a known her we were quite a pair she was sharp as a razor and soft as a prayer..."
Posted 12 years ago by tuttle99    [ Reply ]
This is Tom Waits? Nice voice here.
What happened ??
Posted 12 years ago by drewd    [ Reply ]
Dr. John meets the Chairman of the Board. 
Posted 12 years ago by kingart    [ Reply ]
This cassette tape stayed in my car's player for AGES. Hearing it today brings a smile to my face - it really is a fine album.
Posted 12 years ago by nagsheadlocal    [ Reply ]
 colt4x5 wrote:
"I wish to God you'd leave me, Baby, I wish to God you'd stay"

 

 
GOSH i ADORE this so much....shew!
Posted 12 years ago by lily34    [ Reply ]
"I wish to God you'd leave me, Baby, I wish to God you'd stay"

 

Posted 12 years ago by colt4x5    [ Reply ]
when i was a wee little girl I'd put on my dad's GIANT headphones and listen to this album over, and over, and....
Posted 16 years ago by LilFreckel    [ Reply ]