People say all kinds of things about the ingredients of songs. But you know they are a kind of magic, in the… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
You know, we just buy music now. We don't make it any more. And that goes for just about everything. I think… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
Every single song has its own individual character and you can't treat each song the same way, because it wants to be… — 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
Children make up the best songs, anyway. Better than grown-ups. Kids are always working on songs and throwing them away, like little… — 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
People make songs so that somebody else will hear them and want to do them. I guess it's an indication that the… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
The blues is like a planet. It's an enormous topic. You can't ignore the impact that it has had and continues to… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
You know when you throw a party, you think people will show up and no one will like each other. It's like… — 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
