A song about mass Irish emmigration to the United States which happend during the The Irish Famine of 1846-50 (the population droped from 8 million to 5)and also refers to the second wave that left during the 1970s/80's due to unemployment.

A sad and bitter song with strong Irish pipe/fiddle playing.

originally written for marianne faithfull, but i prefer tom waits`s own rendition of this song.
a slow tango-esque piece with a sublime lounge band backing(if you can call a something featuring a banjo player a lounge band)and half-whispered, half sung vocals. i really appreciate the sound of the "big time"-album.
the backing music in the chorus of this song never fails to conjure up images of the tango band from "a nightmare before christmas" in my head, due to the similarity of the sound. did danny elfman fall in love with this song during the composition of the soundtrack, or does he and waits share a common, different source of inspiration? if so, i`d love to hear that song..

waits revisited the musical ideas of this song for "it`s over" (an outstanding song in it`s own right)from the "liberty heights" soundtrack, by the way. it`s always interesting to hear him experiment with and explore his own compositions, but then again i`m a sucker for variatons on musical themes..

one step away from twee pop, or whatever it's called these days. lyrics are interesting enough. vocals are tolerable, music is catchy and uplifting. the whole album is, without it becoming extremely sugary.