Cover art for Black Wings by Tom Waits

Black Wings

Producer

Sep. 8, 19921 viewer7.8K views

Black Wings Lyrics

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


Oh, 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 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
Where the boots mount the staircase
The door's 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 that 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

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About

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Genius Annotation

“Black Wings” is the twelfth track on Tom Waits’s revolutionary tenth studio album, Bone Machine.

It concerns a shadowy supernatural entity, alternately conflated with Jesus Christ and described as some sort of arch-demon with the titular Black Wings.

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Credits
Producer
Mastering Engineer
Mixing Engineer
Recording Engineer
Upright Bass
Vocals
Recorded At
Prairie Sun Recording, Cotati, California
Release Date
September 8, 1992
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