You almost have to create situations in order to write about them, so I live in a constant state of self-imposed poverty.… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
I didn't really want to be part of a clique or a niche. But I also was looking for my own voice,… — 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
Writing songs is like capturing birds without killing them. Sometimes you end up with nothing but a mouthful of feathers. — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
If you're a writer, you know that the stories don't come to you - you have to go looking for them. The… — 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
You just write and you don't try to make sense of it. You just put it down the way you got it. — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
When you're writing, you're conjuring. It's a ritual, and you need to be brave and respectful and sometimes get out of the… — 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
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
Most songs have meager beginnings. You wake up in the morning, you throw on your suspenders, and you subvocalize and just think.… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
I dunno, when I started writing really I was like, filling out applications and stuff real early. Last name first, first name… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
Songs are pretty easy. They are small, they are modular, they are about as big as a bagel. They are easy to… — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
It's rather mystifying when you think about writing songs - where they come from, and how they're born. — Tom Waits Copy Share Image
“The world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering. It cheapens and degrades the human… — 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
