I have a Chamberlain I bought from some surfers in Westwood many years ago. It's an early analog synthesizer; it operates on… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
I always had a great appreciation for jazz, but I'm a very pedestrian musician. I get by. I like to think that… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
I like vocal word stuff. But I don't always write with an instrument, I usually write a capella. It's more like drawing… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
I like writing melody without an instrument. It's just so - it's more like the choreography of a bee; you just go. — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
I think some bands thrive on the idea of changing instruments. When they're off their real instrument, the ability to go very… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
Your hands are like dogs, going to the same places they've been. You have to be careful when playing is no longer… — 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 Image
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 Image
“an all time favorite: "The large print giveth, the small print taketh away.” — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
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 Image
The world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering. — 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, and it's… — 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. I emerged… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
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 Image
