Quote

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 anything during the time when I wrote no songs. I was creative, but in another way. I had ideas for songs and collected the ideas.

Tom Waits

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Tom Waits
Age: 74
Born: 1949
Born: December 7
Actor
Composer
Guitarist
Jazz Guitarist
Pianist
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Writer
Pomona
California
Thomas Alan Waits
Ideas
Sick
Reason
Songs
Writing
Creative
Way
Song
Time
Write
Another
Didn
Collected
Anything
Wrote

More quotes by Tom Waits

Image
Jesus Christ, this godamn rain, will someone put me on a train.
Tom Waits
Image
I like my music with the rinds and the seeds and pulp left in.
Tom Waits
Image
I like Thelonious Monk, he's so gnarled, he's like a piece of machinery that's pulled up the bolts on the floor and gone off on its own.
Tom Waits
Image
The ship is sinking The ship is sinking There's leak, there's a leak,in the boiler room The poor, the lame, the blind Who ore the ones that we kept in charge Killers, thieves, and lawyers God's Away, God's away God's away on Business
Tom Waits
Image
Well it's hotter 'n blazes and all the long faces / there'll be no oasis for a dry local grazier
Tom Waits
Image
It's rather mystifying when you think about writing songs - where they come from, and how they're born.
Tom Waits
Image
I sold a quart of blood and bought a half a pint of scotch
Tom Waits
Image
Unfortunately, I made the mistake at one point of putting my address on the back of one of my albums, just to find out what would happen. I received a lot of disturbing mail and calls. Actually, I was living in a hotel, so it was easy enough to find the number. I got a kick out of it for a while. Then I realized what I'd done.
Tom Waits
Image
We are all just monkeys with money and guns.
Tom Waits
Image
I danced along a colored wind/ Dangled from a rope of sand
Tom Waits
Image
Every single song has its own individual character and you can't treat each song the same way, because it wants to be treated differently and there are songs that are like scared birds that you have to sneak up on over the course of months in the woods.
Tom Waits
Image
I don't go to church on Sunday, don't get on my knees to pray, or memorize the books of the Bible, I got my own special way
Tom Waits
Image
George Bush is a fan of mine, he came to see me in the Seventies. His coke dealer brought him.
Tom Waits
Image
The piano has been drinking, not me.
Tom Waits
Image
I know a girl, she been married so many times, she got rice marks all over her face
Tom Waits
Image
I think some bands thrive on the idea of changing instruments. When they're off their real instrument, the ability to go very far from the original idea is reduced.
Tom Waits
Image
You hope people are going to be listening to you after you're gone. And they like you better after you're gone.
Tom Waits
Image
My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane.
Tom Waits
Image
Let me fall out of the window/ With confetti in my hair
Tom Waits
Image
I think this whole division between the genres has more to do with marketing than anything else. It's terrible for the culture of music.
Tom Waits