FOREIGN AFFAIR (Tom Waits)
Album Foreign Affairs (1977)
Intro :C -Am7-Dm7-G7 / C -Am7-Dm7-G7-C
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when traveling abroad in the continental style
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it's my belief one must attempt to be discreet
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and subsequently bear in mind your transient position
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allows you a perspective that's unique
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and though you'll find your itinerary's a blessing and a curse
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your wanderlust won't let you settle down
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and you'll wonder how you ever fathomed that you'd be content
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to stay within the city limits of a small midwestern town
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most vagabonds i knowed don't ever want to find the culprit
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that remains the object of their long relentless quest
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the obsession's in the chasing and not the apprehending
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the pursuit you see and never the arrest
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without fear of contradiction "bon voyage" is always hollered
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in conjunction with a handkerchief from shore
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by a girl that drives a rambler and furthermore
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is overly concerned that she won't see him anymore
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planes and trains and boats and buses
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characteristically evoke a common attitude of blue
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unless you have a suitcase and a ticket and a passport
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and the cargo that they're carrying is you
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a foreign affair juxtaposed with a stateside
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and domestically approved romantic fancy
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is mysteriously attractive due to circumstances knowing
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it will only be parlayed into a memory
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