LOVE the comments (although I disagree with your dislike of the handle/Randall/sandals rhyme. That one cracked me up the first 10 times I heard it). But it’s always great to meet another Tom Waits fan.

Is it really Prince Matchabelli? I always thought he was purposely butchering Machiavelli. I pulled those lyrics from somewhere else, and didn’t even look it up. I sort of remember Prince Matchabelli from when I was a kid, but only heard the name, I never saw it.

And the phrase “store bought boots” was pretty cool. I knew exactly what it meant when he said it. I’m not old enough to remember when you had to get your boots made, but to have something store bought (or “store boughten” as I’ve heard before) was sort of a badge of honor to some. And when he dropped in those three words, I could sort of see the people of Putnam County, imagine the cars they drove, the food they ate, the jobs they had. The fact that you leave money on the draining board of the sink, or that Earl Scheib would paint your car for $29.95 — yeah, those people had store bought boots. The imagery of that phrase just smacked me in the face.

Thanks again for the comment. Love hearing from Waits fans!!

The other thing that Waits does that makes for powerful writing is using concrete details. To quote
William Carlos Williams -> “No ideas but in things”
Many examples in this song ….. “bib jeans and store bought boots”

He got better at this, I think. Another for instance from Waits ( Gun Street Girl from Raindogs)
“He bought a second-hand Nova from a Cuban Chinese
And dyed his hair in the bathroom of a Texaco”

Concrete details without comment. Draw your own conclusions – Not a “used car” …
He didn’t “disguise himself in a gas station” … He dyed his hair in the bathroom of a Texaco

In Putrnam County, the rhyming of handle/Randall/sandals was always unforgivable though.
Like “neon buzzin/Second cousin” in Heart of Saturday Night.
Grates every time.

Have to say, you insert an interesting interpretation by an insufficient awareness of dimestore cosmetics ;-) It’s not Prince Machiavelli, but Prince Matchabelli. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Matchabelli
Brings a whole new meaning ….

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Matchabelli