Songs are really just very interesting things to be doing with the air.
TOM WAITSMostly 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.
More Tom Waits Quotes
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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 -
I’ll take a rusty nail and scratch your initials on my arm.
TOM WAITS -
I think all songs should have weather in them. Names of towns and streets, and they should have a couple of sailors. I think those are just song prerequisites.
TOM WAITS -
Writing songs is like capturing birds without killing them. Sometimes you end up with nothing but a mouthful of feathers.
TOM WAITS -
I’ve been riding on the crest of a slump lately.
TOM WAITS -
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 -
When I was younger, I wanted to be older. Now I am older, I am not quite so sure.
TOM WAITS -
Living with kids is like living with a bunch of drunks. You know you really have to be on your toes all the time. Things are falling over and breaking and spilling. If you live on the second story, you really have to keep the windows shut all the time.
TOM WAITS -
The dog won’t bite if you beat Him with a bone.
TOM WAITS -
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 -
I don’t have a drinking problem ‘Cept when I can’t get a drink.
TOM WAITS -
I’m just trying to make a buck like everyone else.
TOM WAITS -
You learn as much from your kids as they learn from you.
TOM WAITS -
There’s always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby.
TOM WAITS -
I admit that I ain’t no angel, I admit that I ain’t no saint – I’m selfish and I’m cruel and I’m blind. If I exorcise my devils, well my angels may leave too. When they leave they’re so hard to find.
TOM WAITS