Tom Waits Quotes

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

Pain, Real, Friends

George Bush is a fan of mine, he came to see me in the Seventies. His coke dealer brought him.
Tom Waits

Don't you know there ain't no devil, it's just god when he's drunk.
Tom Waits

God, Drunk, Devil

I'm so horny the crack of dawn better watch out.
Tom Waits

Watch, Horny, Dawn

I always liked the idea that America is a big facade. We are all insects crawling across on the shiny hood of a Cadillac. We're all looking at the wrapping. But we won't tear the wrapping to see what lies beneath.
Tom Waits

America, Big, Idea

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

History, Forget, Remember

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 them apart and see what they're made of, and wonder if you can make one, too.
Tom Waits

School, Understand, Try

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

Weather, Song, Songs

I'd rather have a free bottle in front of me than a prefrontal lobotomy.
Tom Waits

Free, Rather, Front

The big print giveth and the small print taketh away.
Tom Waits

Small, Big, Away

I hate Disneyland. It primes our kids for Las Vegas.
Tom Waits

Hate, Kids, Vegas

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

Someone, Him, Become

As a kid, I did want to be an old-timer, since they were the ones with the big stories and the cool clothes. I wanted to go there. Now, I guess I want to bring that with me and go back in time.
Tom Waits

Time, Cool, Big

Don't look back, because someone might be gaining on you.
Tom Waits

Someone, Might, Gaining

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

Truth, Care, Long

Most songs that aren't jump-rope songs, or lullabies, are cautionary tales or goodbye songs and road songs.
Tom Waits

Goodbye, Road, Songs

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

Reality, Needs, Blind

You know what I really love? The CD players in a car. How when you put the CD right up by the slot, it actually takes it out of your hand, like it's hungry. It pulls it in, and you feel like it wants more silver discs.
Tom Waits

Any place is good for eavesdropping, if you know how to eavesdrop.
Tom Waits

Good, Place, Eavesdrop

George Burns was a Vaudeville performer I particularly loved.
Tom Waits

Loved, Performer, Vaudeville

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

Books, Guess, Anatomy

I guess I've always lived upside down when I want things I can't have.
Tom Waits

Down, Lived, Guess

I'm just trying to make a buck like everyone else.
Tom Waits

Trying, Else, Everyone

It's hard to win when you always lose.
Tom Waits

Hard, Win, Lose

Music has generally involved a lot of awkward contraptions, a certain amount of heavy lifting.
Tom Waits

Music, Involved, Awkward

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Biography

Nationality: American

Born: December 7, 1949

Links

Find on Amazon: Tom Waits

Cite this Page: Citation

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