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

Tom Waits

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
My wife called me a mule. She once said, “I didn’t marry a man; I married a mule!” I kept thinking about it. It was in the back of my head. I think it makes a good title for an album.
TOM WAITS

Animal Goodness Man Marriage Myself Thinking Wife
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
You’ve gotta have somebody to trust, that knows a lot.
TOM WAITS

Known Trust Yourself
On my gravestone, I want it to say, “I told you I was sick.”
TOM WAITS

Funny Grave Myself Sick
If I exorcise my devils, all my angels may go, too.
TOM WAITS

Angel Devil Myself
I sold a quart of blood and bought a half a pint of scotch.
TOM WAITS

Alcohol Blood Myself
The blues is like a planet. It’s an enormous topic. You can’t ignore the impact that it has had and continues to have on the whole musical culture. It’s a tree that everyone is swinging from. Without it, I don’t know where I would be. It’s indelible and indispensable.
TOM WAITS

Culture Known Music Myself Planet Topic
And the earth died screaming, while I lay dreaming.
TOM WAITS

Death Earth Myself Scream
You’re innocent when you dream.
TOM WAITS

Dreams Innocence Yourself
I’ll tell you all my secrets but I lie about my past.
TOM WAITS

Lying Myself Past Secret
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
I was always laughing in church.
TOM WAITS

Laughter Myself Religious
Children make up the best songs, anyway. Better than grown-ups. Kids are always working on songs and throwing them away, like little origami things or paper airplanes. They don’t care if they lose it; they’ll just make another one.
TOM WAITS

Best Better Care Children Growth Oneself
We are all just monkeys with money and guns.
TOM WAITS

Monkey Reality Weapon
They say that I have no hits and that I’m difficult to work with. And they say that like it’s a bad thing.
TOM WAITS

Bad Difficult Myself Work

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

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

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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