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  • The Ace of Cups

    Waller Street Blues • It's Bad for You But Buy It! (2003)

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Original lyrics

Waller Street Blues lyrics

Aw, you may be only Waller Street,
but we think you're 5th Avenue.
 
Sittin' in a tenement
and got no bread to pay the rent,
somebody roll up a smoke.
 
Rain is drippin' in the hall,
along the ceiling, down the wall,
got to have another toke.
(One more puff now).
 
Kitchen paint is wearin' thin,
lettin' all the roaches in,
and I don't mean the kind you can smoke.
 
Bill collector at my door
and I know what he wants me for,
but I haven't got any cash.
(No more bread now).
 
Eatin' out by candlelight,
candles keep us warm at night
and now I got this terrible rash.
(Oh, I scratch all over).
 
They took the water, left the pipes,
left the switches, took the lights.
How kind of them to leave us the trash!
 
I bent down to pet the cat,
but instead I found a furry rat
and now I'm havin' rat-tail soup.
(This is garbage).
 
Cops, they made a raid next door
and then they got the bottom floor,
there's nobody left but us two.
(Me and you now).
 
Paranoid and very stoned,
maybe I'm disaster-prone.
I'm talkin' 'bout the Waller Street blues.
 
(One, two, three, four!)
 
Aw, bring it down.
 
You know, I bent down to pet the cat
and instead I found a furry rat.
Aw, now we're havin' rat-tail soup.
 
You know, the cops, 
they made a raid next door
and then they got the bottom floor,
there's nobody left but us two.
 
I'm paranoid and very stoned,
maybe I'm disaster-prone.
I'm talkin' 'bout the Waller Street blues.
 

 

Translations of "Waller Street Blues"
The Ace of Cups: Top 3
Comments
malucamaluca
   Sat, 26/09/2020 - 16:00

Correction: A roach would be the end of a joint, the cardboard would be the roach clip ;)

Sarah RoseSarah Rose    Sat, 26/09/2020 - 18:48

That's not quite correct, the definition isn't as restrictive as that. The purpose of the cardboard is so that no roach clip is needed.

The definition isn't consistent throughout the English language, so a roach can refer to the small piece of joint left over after most of it has been smoked or the small piece of cardboard used as a mouthpiece for the remaining joint. I've updated the wording of the annotation to make it more clear.

malucamaluca
   Sat, 26/09/2020 - 21:34

In America a joint is usually rolled without a piece of cardboard as mouthpiece and without tobacco. The roaches remain as people don't want to burn their fingers, but as they contain pure weed people keep them to smoke later.

Sarah RoseSarah Rose    Sun, 27/09/2020 - 20:51

Nothing in the annotation contradicts that. It doesn't say anything about tobacco, it specifically says marijuana. It gives both the American English and British English definitions and both definitions support the double meaning referring to cockroaches and marijuana.