Tom Waits
American composer, singer, songwriter, musician and actor.
How do the angels get to sleep / When the Devil leaves his porch light on?
"I always wondered how Tom Waits would sing 'Greensleeves'...." --Loreena McKennitt, "The Visit"
Pregnant women and Vietnam vets, beggin on the freeway, bout as hard as it gets.
And their mouths are cut like razor blades, and their eyes are like stilettos, and her radiator's steaming and her teeth are in a wreck, she won't let you kiss her, but what in the hell do you expect?
(When asked for advice for younger musicians) "Break windows, smoke cigars, and stay up late. Tell 'em to do that, they'll find a little pot of gold."
If you get far enough away you'll be on your way back home.
Your veal cutlet gets up off the plate, It walks down to end of the counter and beat the shit out of my cup of coffee. I guess the coffee just wasn't strong enough to defend itself.
Come down off the cross, we can use the wood.
"Disneyland is Vegas for children."
Some men are searching for the Holy Grail, but there ain't nothing sweeter than riding the rail.
I don't have a drinking problem ‘cept when I can't get a drink.
If there's one thing you can say about mankind, there's nothing kind about man.
Don't you know there ain't no devil, there's just God when he's drunk.
The piano has been drinking, not me.
The large print giveth and the small print taketh away.
If I exorcise my devils, well, my angels may leave too."
And sometime around 2 AM you end up taking advantage of yourself. Ain't no way around that. Making a scene with a magazine.
And someone will head south 'til this whole thing cools off.
The face forgives the mirror, the worm forgives the plough, the question begs the answer, can you forgive me somehow?
I collaborate with my wife on the songs, and every aspect of it, really— composing, and arranging, and recording, all that business. We have a rhythm and a way of working it. It's kind of like borrowing the same ten bucks from somebody over and over again. But when you live together, it makes it a lot easier, the pay back.