“an all time favorite: "The large print giveth, the small print taketh away.” — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
I was born in the back seat of a Yellow Cab in a hospital loading zone and with the meter still running.… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
I'm always looking for sounds that are pleasing at the time. The sound of a helicopter is really annoying until you're drowning,… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
Living with kids is like living with a bunch of drunks. You know you really have to be on your toes all… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
I'm trying to get music ideas that come and keep them alive. It's like carrying water in your hands. I want to… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
Most of us have the residue of thousands of songs in our ears, that if you end up songwriting, I think you're… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
There's only one reason why you write new songs: You get sick of the old songs. It's not that I didn't do… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
Songs really are like a form of time travel because they really have moved forward in a bubble. Everyone who's connected with… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
As a kid, I did want to be an old-timer, since they were the ones with the big stories and the cool… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
The first time I started listening to Irish music, I had a very strong connection. Strangely enough, there's a great many Japanese… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
There’s nothing more embarrassing than a person who tries to guess what the great American public would like, makes a compromise for… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
Once upon a time there was a crooked tree and a straight tree. And they grew next to each other. And every… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
If you're in the middle of the ocean with no flippers and no life preserver and you hear a helicopter, this is… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
I can't listen to so much music at the same time. I think you really have to have a diet. You're just… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
Most of us have the residue of thousands of songs in our ears, that if you end up songwriting, I think you're mostly smoking… — Tom Waits Copy Share
Bill Hicks - blowtorch, excavator, truthsayer, and brain specialist. He will correct your vision. Others will drive on the road he built. — Tom Waits Copy Share
For a songwriter, you don't really go to songwriting school; you learn by listening to tunes. And you try to understand them and take… — Tom Waits Copy Share
The world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering. — Tom Waits Copy Share
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… — Tom Waits Copy Share
I was born in the back seat of a Yellow Cab in a hospital loading zone and with the meter still running. I emerged… — Tom Waits Copy Share
There's not much difference between what I appear to be on stage and what I am. I think people like that, that I'm not… — Tom Waits Copy Share
I bark my voice out through a closed throat, pretty much. It's more, perhaps, like a dog in some ways. It does have its… — Tom Waits Copy Share
