If people are a little nervous about approaching you at the market, it’s good. I’m not Chuckles The Clown. Or Bozo. I don’t cut the ribbon at the opening of markets. I don’t stand next to the mayor. Hit your baseball into my yard, and you’ll never see it again.
TOM WAITSThere’s always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby.
More Tom Waits Quotes
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I’m always looking for sounds that are pleasing at the time. The sound of a helicopter is really annoying until you’re drowning, and it’s there to rescue you. Then it sounds like music.
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I always thought songs are movies for the ears and films are like songs for the eyes.
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I’ll take a rusty nail and scratch your initials on my arm.
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I’m just trying to make a buck like everyone else.
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I don’t like hearing Beatles songs in commercials. It almost renders them useless. I think, ‘Oh God, another one bites the dust.’
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Oh, I’m not a percussionist, I just like to hit things.
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I’ve always believed that the way you affect your audience is more important than how many of them are there.
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You’re my North Star when I’m lost and feeling blue.
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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.
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New York forces you to be in endless surreal situations.
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I like vocal word stuff. But I don’t always write with an instrument, I usually write a capella. It’s more like drawing in the air with your fingers. It’s closest to the choreography of a bee. You’re freer.
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When I was younger, I wanted to be older. Now I am older, I am not quite so sure.
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You 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?
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Well I got a bad liver and broken heart, yeah, I drunk me a river since you tore me apart.
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I always liked the idea that America is a big facade. We are all insects crawling across on the shiny hood of a Cadillac. We’re all looking at the wrapping. But we won’t tear the wrapping to see what lies beneath.
TOM WAITS