I Don't Wanna Grow Up

Album: Bone Machine (1992)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is a song about conformism - not wanting to participate in the world as it is: "I don't wanna live in a big old tomb on Grand Street." Waits has always been very non-conformist, eschewing publicity and taking long absences from recording. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Darren - Sunrise, FL
  • The Ramones covered "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" on their 1995 farewell album, ¡Adios Amigos!.
  • A pair of lines in the first verse may allude back to Waits's "Rain Dogs": "How do you move in a world of fog, that's always changing things/Makes me wish that I could be a dog."
  • Film director Jim Jarmusch used to consider music videos as a movie in miniature until he got into a fight with Tom Waits over the making of the one for this song. Jarmush explained to Uncut magazine: "He wanted me to cut it differently, and I said, that 'it's like a film I'm making, Tom,' and, and he said, 'no, it's a commercial for this song. If people are watching TV, I don't want them changing channel. If you can pop this crazy image in the earlier, it would help this, that, blah blah blah.'"

    "We had a big fight in which I dropped him in an enclosed parking lot behind a metal door in LA in the middle of the night," Jarmush added. "He was pounding on the door. I vividly remember the insult, which no one has ever said to me again. He yelled through the door, 'God dammit, Jim, I'm going to glue your hair to the wall.' At which point I let him back in. It was a fight between friends. We reconciled."

Comments: 1

  • Oldpink from Farmland, InThe video for this song is really strange, with a guy wearing a bad devil outfit riding a tricycle, and Waits "playing" a ukulele the size of a TV remote under a table.
    Beavis & Butt-Head's comments while watching the video were really funny, though.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat WorldSongwriter Interviews

Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.

Song Titles That Inspired Movies

Song Titles That Inspired MoviesSong Writing

Famous songs that lent their titles - and in some cases storylines - to movies.

Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds

Jim McCarty of The YardbirdsSongwriter Interviews

The Yardbirds drummer explains how they created their sound and talks about working with their famous guitarists.

Ian Gillan of Deep Purple

Ian Gillan of Deep PurpleSongwriter Interviews

Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan explains the "few red lights" in "Smoke On The Water" and talks about songs from their 2020 album Whoosh!

Superman in Song

Superman in SongSong Writing

Not everyone can be a superhero, but that hasn't stopped generations of musicians from trying to be Superman.

Rick Astley

Rick AstleySongwriter Interviews

Rick Astley on "Never Gonna Give You Up," "Cry For Help," and his remarkable resurgence that gave him another #1 UK album.