There's not much difference between what I appear to be on stage and what I am. I think people like that, that… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
I bark my voice out through a closed throat, pretty much. It's more, perhaps, like a dog in some ways. It does… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
I don't like listening to records a lot after they're done. There's just no real nourishment there for me. — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
Mostly, I straddle reality and the imagination. My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
Somebody said I sound like an old lady, and I was really insulted by that. I'm trying to sound like Skip James… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
I'm usually more concerned with how things sound than how they look on the page. Some people write for the page, and… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
I don't like the word 'poetry,' and I don't like poetry readings, and I usually don't like poets. I would much prefer… — 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
