Don’t you know there ain’t no devil, it’s just god when he’s drunk.
TOM WAITSDon’t you know there ain’t no devil, it’s just god when he’s drunk.
TOM WAITSYou got to tell me the brave captain Why are the wicked so strong? How do the angels get to sleep When the devil leaves the porch light on?
TOM WAITSNever have your wallet with you onstage. It’s bad luck. You shouldn’t play the piano with money in your pocket. Play like you need the money.
TOM WAITSI’ve lost my equilibrium, my car keys, and my pride.
TOM WAITSI’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 WAITSI’ve seen it all through the yellow windows of the evening train.
TOM WAITSI like turning on two radios at once. I like hearing things wrong. I get a lot of ideas by mishearing things.
TOM WAITSI don’t think that you should be perfectly candid and frank about the intimate details of your personal life with the public at large. Subsequently, it creates considerable personal problems.
TOM WAITSIf there’s one thing you can say about mankind, there’s nothing kind about man.
TOM WAITSNew York forces you to be in endless surreal situations.
TOM WAITSI like my music with the rinds and the seeds and pulp left in.
TOM WAITSOn my gravestone, I want it to say, “I told you I was sick.”
TOM WAITSWell you say that it’s gospel, But I know that it’s only church.
TOM WAITSI’ll tell you all my secrets but I lie about my past.
TOM WAITSI dunno when I started writing really. I was, like, filling out applications and stuff real early. Last name first, first name last, sex. ‘occasionally’ , stuff like that. Then I was writing letters, filling out forms, writing on bathroom walls.
TOM WAITSDon’t plant your days they turn into weeds.
TOM WAITS