Tom Waits - Blue Valentines

 

She sends me blue valentines

All the way from Philadelphia

To mark the anniversary

Of someone that I used to be

And it feels just like a warrant

Is out for my arrest

Baby, you got me checkin'

In my rearview mirror

That's why I'm always on the run

That's why I changed my name

And I didn't think you'd ever find me here

To send me blue valentines

Like half-forgotten dreams

Like a pebble in my shoe

As I walk these streets

And the ghost of your memory

Baby, it's the thistle in the kiss

It's the burglar that can break a rose's neck

It's the tatooed broken promise

I gotta hide beneath my sleeve

I'm going to see you every time I turn my back

She sends me blue valentines

Though I try to remain at large

They're insisting that our love

Must have a eulogy

Why do I save all of this madness

Here in the nightstand drawer

There to haunt upon my shoulders

Baby, I know

I'd be luckier to walk around everywhere I go

With this blind and broken heart

Sleeps beneath my lapel

Instead, these blue valentines

To remind me of my cardinal sin

I can never wash the guilt

Or get these bloodstains off my hands

And it takes a lot of whiskey

To make these nightmares go away

And I cut my bleedin' heart out every night

And I'm going to die a little more on each St. Valentines day

Don't you remember, I promised I would write you

These blue valentines

Blue valentines

Blue valentines