Lyrics: 16 Shells From A Thirty-ought-six
Album: Swordfishtrombones
Artist: Tom Waits
 

I plugged 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six
And a black crow snuck through
A hole in the sky
So i spent all my buttons on an
Old pack mule
And i made me a ladder from
A pawn shop marimba
And i leaned it up against
A dandelion tree

And i filled me a sachel
Full of old pig corn
And i beat me a billy
From an old french horn
And i kicked that mule
To the top of the tree
And i blew me a hole
’bout the size of a kickdrum
And i cut me a switch
From a long branch elbow

Chorus
I’m gonna whittle you into kindlin’
Black crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six
Whittle you into kindlin’
Black crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six

Well i slept in the holler
Of a dry creek bed
And i tore out the buckets
From a red corvette, tore out the buckets from a red corvette
Lionel and dave and the butcher made three
You got to meet me by the knuckles of the skinnybone tree
With the strings of a washburn
Stretched like a clothes line
You know me and that mule scrambled right through the hole

Repeat chorus

Now i hold him prisoner
In a washburn jail
That stapped on the back
Of my old kick mule
Strapped it on the back of my old kick mule
I bang on the strings just
To drive him crazy
I strum it loud just to rattle his cage
Strum it loud just to rattle his cage

Repeat chorus