For two days I have had these lines stuck in my head: Don't worry about me I'm about to die of pleurisy The lines were written by Jack Kerouac in a song (which you can hear him sing here ) that Tom Waits later adapted. There are two very different recordings of the Waits song that I know of: a sad, weary version included on Orphans ( listen here ) and a lively collaboration with Primus (from the album Jack Kerouac Reads on the Road ; mp3 here ). Before I ever looked at a transcription of the lyrics , I heard the line "Well the worms eat away but don't worry watch the wind" as "Oh the worms eat away, but the worry warts will win". I still like my version. In any case, I don't think I'm about to die of pleurisy. I like the word, though, especially since it reminds me of Laura in The Glass Menagerie , who was nicknamed Blue Roses because someone misheard her when she said she had pleurosis.
