black
grey
blue
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Break windows, smoke cigars, and stay up late. Tell ’em to do that, they’ll find a little pot of gold.

Tom Waits

She’s got the whole dark forest living inside of her.
TOM WAITS

Forest Herself Live
For a songwriter, you don’t really go to songwriting school; you learn by listening to tunes. And you try to understand them and take them apart and see what they’re made of, and wonder if you can make one, too.
TOM WAITS

Learning Listening Oneself Song Wonder Writing
All that you’ve loved is all you own.
TOM WAITS

Love One Liner Yourself
Most of the things you absorb you will ultimately secrete.
TOM WAITS

Absorb Willing Yourself
I’m the type of guy who’d sell you a rat’s asshole for a wedding ring.
TOM WAITS

Guy Ring Sell Type
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
The world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering.
TOM WAITS

Bad Destroy Hell Ourselves Place Suffering World Writing
Well you say that it’s gospel, But I know that it’s only church.
TOM WAITS

Gospel Myself Religious Yourself
I always thought songs are movies for the ears and films are like songs for the eyes.
TOM WAITS

Eyes Movie Song Thinking
Most of the people I admire, they usually smell funny and don’t get out much. It’s true. Most of them are either dead or not feeling well.
TOM WAITS

Admire Death Feeling People
Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends.
TOM WAITS

Friendship Pain Reality
I always had a great appreciation for jazz, but I’m a very pedestrian musician. I get by. I like to think that my main instrument is vocabulary.
TOM WAITS

Appreciation Greatness Music Myself Vocabulary
Oh, I’m not a percussionist, I just like to hit things.
TOM WAITS

Funny Instrument Musician Myself
We are all just monkeys with money and guns.
TOM WAITS

Monkey Reality Weapon
We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance and wealth with happiness.
TOM WAITS

Abundance Bury Happiness Information Quantity Wealth Weight
I have an audio stigmatism whereby I hear things wrong – I have audio illusions.
TOM WAITS

Audio Illusion Myself Sick Wrong
Well, it’s either kiss me or kill me, that’s how I see it.
TOM WAITS

Kill Kiss Myself See
The earth is not my home, I’m just passing by.
TOM WAITS

Earth Home Myself Philosophy Travel Wisdom
I’ve always believed that the way you affect your audience is more important than how many of them are there.
TOM WAITS

Affect Audience Believe Important Myself Way
I’m trying to get music ideas that come and keep them alive. It’s like carrying water in your hands. I want to keep it all, and sometimes by the time you get to the studio you have nothing.
TOM WAITS

Alive Hands Ideas Music Time Yourself
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
I’ve been riding on the crest of a slump lately.
TOM WAITS

Late Myself Ride
We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance and wealth with happiness. We are monkeys with money and guns.
TOM WAITS

Abundance Beneath Bury Confusion Gun Happiness Information Knowledge Money Weapon Weight
You’ve gotta have somebody to trust, that knows a lot.
TOM WAITS

Known Trust Yourself
I like Thelonious Monk, he’s so gnarled, he’s like a piece of machinery that’s pulled up the bolts on the floor and gone off on its own.
TOM WAITS

Floor Machine Myself Pieces
But it’s so hard to dance that way when it’s cold and there’s no music.
TOM WAITS

Cold Dance Hard Music Way
The devil knows the Bible like the back of his hand.
TOM WAITS

Bible Devil Hands Himself Religious

Break windows, smoke cigars, and stay up late. Tell ’em to do that, they’ll find a little pot of gold.

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Break windows, smoke cigars, and stay up late. Tell ’em to do that, they’ll find a little pot of gold.

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