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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

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 never told the truth so i can never tell a lie.
TOM WAITS

Lying Myself Talk Truth
If there’s one thing you can say about mankind, there’s nothing kind about man.
TOM WAITS

Cruelty Kind Man Oneself
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
Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends.
TOM WAITS

Friendship Pain Reality
You’re innocent when you dream.
TOM WAITS

Dreams Innocence Yourself
I always thought songs are movies for the ears and films are like songs for the eyes.
TOM WAITS

Eyes Movie Song Thinking
On my gravestone, I want it to say, “I told you I was sick.”
TOM WAITS

Funny Grave Myself Sick
Songs are really just very interesting things to be doing with the air.
TOM WAITS

Air Interest Song
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
I like my music with the rinds and the seeds and pulp left in.
TOM WAITS

Music Myself Song Wind
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
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
The average person spends two weeks over their lifetime waiting for the traffic light to change.
TOM WAITS

Average Change Life Person Time Traffic
I’ve seen it all through the yellow windows of the evening train.
TOM WAITS

Evening Myself Train
The big print giveth and the small print taketh away.
TOM WAITS

Away Big Small

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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