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I don’t go to church on Sunday, don’t get on my knees to pray, or memorize the books of the Bible, I got my own special way

Tom Waits

Mostly I straddle reality and the imagination. My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane.
TOM WAITS

Blind Imagination Myself Need Reality Requirement
You’re innocent when you dream.
TOM WAITS

Dreams Innocence Yourself
I don’t like hearing Beatles songs in commercials. It almost renders them useless. I think, ‘Oh God, another one bites the dust.’
TOM WAITS

Commercial Oneself Song
Writing songs is like capturing birds without killing them. Sometimes you end up with nothing but a mouthful of feathers.
TOM WAITS

Capture End Feature Song Writing
Most people don’t care if you’re telling them the truth or if you’re telling them a lie, as long as they’re entertained by it.
TOM WAITS

Care Entertainment Lying People Truth Yourself
I don’t like the stigma that comes with being called a poet. So I call what I’m doing an improvisational adventure or an inebriational travelogue.
TOM WAITS

Adventure Call Improvisation Myself Poet
The folks who know the truth aren’t talking. The ones who don’t have a clue, you can’t shut them up!
TOM WAITS

Talk Truth Yourself
I’d rather have a free bottle in front of me than a prefrontal lobotomy.
TOM WAITS

Freedom Myself Science
People get frightened that success is going to take them out of life. They’re no longer going to be on the corner of Bedlam and Squalor; life will only be something you can get through the mail.
TOM WAITS

People Scare Success Yourself
You know, we just buy music now. We don’t make it any more. And that goes for just about everything. I think it’s so important that people develop and subscribe to and have confidence in their own ability to make music, however rough it is.
TOM WAITS

Ability Confidence Important Music Rough Thinking Yourself
I’ve been riding on the crest of a slump lately.
TOM WAITS

Late Myself Ride
Don’t you know there ain’t no devil, it’s just god when he’s drunk.
TOM WAITS

Devil Drink God Himself Known
I like my music with the rinds and the seeds and pulp left in.
TOM WAITS

Music Myself Song Wind
New York forces you to be in endless surreal situations.
TOM WAITS

End Force Surreal Yourself
I’ll tell you all my secrets but I lie about my past.
TOM WAITS

Lying Myself Past Secret
You’ve gotta have somebody to trust, that knows a lot.
TOM WAITS

Known Trust Yourself

I don’t go to church on Sunday, don’t get on my knees to pray, or memorize the books of the Bible, I got my own special way

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I don’t go to church on Sunday, don’t get on my knees to pray, or memorize the books of the Bible, I got my own special way

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Popular Authors

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