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Tom Waits Quotes

Powerful Tom Waits for Daily Growth

My first big gig was an opening show for Frank Zappa, and I think that was difficult.

- Tom Waits

Think, Big, Frank, Gig

I do like books on anatomy. I have to say I'm an amateur physician, I guess.

- Tom Waits

Like, Books, Anatomy, Amateur

The blues is like a planet. It's an enormous topic. You can't ignore the impact that it has had and continues to have on the whole musical culture. It's a tree that everyone is swinging from. Without it, I don't know where I would be. It's indelible and indispensable.

- Tom Waits

Had, Whole, Indispensable, Impact

You know when you throw a party, you think people will show up and no one will like each other. It's like that with music - parts of your musical psyche have never met other parts. You wonder if you should get them together.

- Tom Waits

Other, Show, Your, Psyche

Most songs have meager beginnings. You wake up in the morning, you throw on your suspenders, and you subvocalize and just think. They seem to form like calcium. I can't think of a story right off the bat that was that interesting. I write things on the back of my hand, usually, and sing into a tape recorder.

- Tom Waits

Back, I Write, Tape Recorder, Bat

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 describing myself and what I do as: I'm kind of a curator, and I'm kind of a night-owl reporter.

- Tom Waits

Kind, Like, Prefer, Describing

Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends.

- Tom Waits

Pain, Real Pain, Sham

Writing songs is like capturing birds without killing them. Sometimes you end up with nothing but a mouthful of feathers.

- Tom Waits

Sometimes, Nothing, Like, Capturing

I have a Chamberlain I bought from some surfers in Westwood many years ago. It's an early analog synthesizer; it operates on tape loops. It has 60 voices - everything from galloping horses to owls to rain to every instrument in the orchestra.

- Tom Waits

Some, Years, Synthesizer, Galloping

I saw a crow building a nest, I was watching him very carefully, I was kind of stalking him and he was aware of it. And you know what they do when they become aware of someone stalking them when they build a nest, which is a very vulnerable place to be? They build a decoy nest. It's just for you.

- Tom Waits

Watching, Very, Stalking, Nest

What you want is for music to love you back. That's why you pay your dues. You want to feel like you belong and are part of this symbiosis, metamorphosis, whatever you want to call it.

- Tom Waits

Love, Belong, Like, Dues

Any image I have, it's just what I do, but it comes off as being very pretentious. When you're a bit in the public astigmatism, anything you do seems like you did it so somebody would see you do it, like showing up at the right parties.

- Tom Waits

Anything, Very, Bit, Showing Up

The sight of the first woman in the minimal two-piece was as explosive as the detonation of the atomic bomb by the U.S. at Bikini Island in the Marshall Isles, hence the naming of the bikini.

- Tom Waits

Woman, Explosive, Marshall, Bikini

If you're a writer, you know that the stories don't come to you - you have to go looking for them. The old men in the lobby: that's where the stories were.

- Tom Waits

Go, Old, Stories, Old Men

If you record the sound of bacon in a frying pan and play it back, it sounds like the pops and cracks on an old 33 1/3 recording. Almost exactly like that. You could substitute it for that sound.

- Tom Waits

Play, Like, Almost, Pan

If people are a little nervous about approaching you at the market, it's good. I'm not Chuckles The Clown. Or Bozo. I don't cut the ribbon at the opening of markets. I don't stand next to the mayor. Hit your baseball into my yard, and you'll never see it again.

- Tom Waits

Next, Yard, Cut, Ribbon

When you're a kid and you're trying to find your own voice, it's rather daunting to hear somebody like Howlin' Wolf, because you know that you'll never achieve that.

- Tom Waits

Voice, Like, Rather, Daunting

Somebody said I sound like an old lady, and I was really insulted by that. I'm trying to sound like Skip James and Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye.

- Tom Waits

Sound, Old, Like, Old Lady

My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane.

- Tom Waits

Blind, Needs, Blind Man, Cane

Mostly, I straddle reality and the imagination. My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane.

- Tom Waits

Blind, Needs, Mostly, Cane

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 way of whatever it is that you're inviting into the room.

- Tom Waits

Need, Inviting, Ritual, Respectful

I'm usually more concerned with how things sound than how they look on the page. Some people write for the page, and that's a whole other thing. I'm going for what it sounds like right away, so it may not even look good on the page.

- Tom Waits

Some, Other, Away, Right Away

I look for things that are left of center, something you've only seen your whole life, but never heard. Hit it! With a stick! I have a guitar made out of a 2x4 that I bought in Cleveland.

- Tom Waits

Center, Made, Bought, Cleveland

I think all songs should have weather in them. Names of towns and streets, and they should have a couple of sailors. I think those are just song prerequisites.

- Tom Waits

Song, Think, Couple, Sailors

If you are making a record, you are the one saying 'action', and you are the one saying 'cut,' and you have to be sure that the most interesting thing is not going on outside the frame.

- Tom Waits

Making, Sure, Cut, Frame

Most people don't care if you're telling them the truth or if you're telling them a lie, as long as they're entertained by it. You find that out really fast.

- Tom Waits

Lie, Telling, Them, Entertained

Most people don't care if you're telling them the truth or if you're telling them a lie, as long as they're entertained by it.

- Tom Waits

Lie, Telling, Them, Entertained

You almost have to create situations in order to write about them, so I live in a constant state of self-imposed poverty. I don't want to live any other way.

- Tom Waits

Other, Constant, Almost, Any Other Way

Their memory's like a train: you can see it getting smaller as it pulls away And the things you can't remember Tell the things you can't forget that History puts a saint in every dream.

- Tom Waits

Memory, Away, Smaller, Train

People say all kinds of things about the ingredients of songs. But you know they are a kind of magic, in the sense that they may easily include a stain on your bedroom wall... and a variety of mis-recollections. And then you name it after a girl's name that you just made up.

- Tom Waits

Magic, About, Kinds, Bedroom

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