Tom Waits
There's a place down the street; Seven Xs. What does that mean? Maybe it's... girls without skin.Collection: Girl
Your old home town's so far away, but inside your head there's a record that's playing, a song called 'Hold OnCollection: Song
Now its raining its pouring the old man is snoring now I lay me down to sleep I hear the sirens in the street all my dreams are made of chrome I have no way to get back home I’d rather die before I wake like Marilyn Monroe and throw my dreams out in the street and the rain make ‘em growCollection: Dream
When you say you're doing an opera, it's like when you're a seven-year-old and say, 'I'm off to Washington, Dad.' You kind of go, 'Sure. Sure you are, son.'Collection: Dad
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.Collection: Mistake
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 BusinessCollection: Boiler Room
The Music was like Electric SugarCollection: Sugar
I don't know if any genuine meaningful change could ever result from a song. It's kind of like throwing peanuts at a gorilla.Collection: Meaningful
It's a battered old suitcase and a hotel someplace and a wound that will never heal.Collection: Travel
Let me fall out of the window/ With confetti in my hairCollection: Fall
bringing up children was]like living with a bunch of drunks...you really have to be on your toes all the time.Collection: Children
She pulls a razor from her boot and a thousand victims fall around her feet.Collection: Fall
The things you absorb you will ultimately secrete. It's all out there and available for you to enjoy...and be nourished by.Collection: Enjoy
I'm not one of those people the tabloids chase around.Collection: People
I’ve never met anyone who made it with a chick because they owned a Tom Waits album. I’ve got all three, and it’s never helped me.Collection: Waiting
Songs are pretty easy. They are small, they are modular, they are about as big as a bagel. They are easy to build. Films are overwhelming in their magnitude and scope. By comparison, a lot of film directors wish they were writing songs because you can do it while getting your hair cut.Collection: Song
We are buried beneath the weight of information.Collection: Weight
using parking meters as walking sticks.Collection: Parking Meters
My wife, when I met her, she had a remarkable record collection. And they were all still in their sleeves! I couldn't believe it. She took care of her records. Rachmaninov, Beefheart. For me, most of my records were out of their sleeves and in a drawer somewhere. I married a record collection.Collection: Believe
I took a hundred dollars from a blindman's hand.Collection: Hands
You want soldiers who, when they get to a river after a long march, don't start rooting for their canteen in their pack, but just dive right in.Collection: Rivers
I like writing melody without an instrument. It's just so - it's more like the choreography of a bee; you just go.Collection: Writing
I finally discovered that my life is more important than show business.Collection: Important
I'm usually more concerned with how things sound than how they look on the page.Collection: Sound
I know a girl, she been married so many times, she got rice marks all over her faceCollection: Girl
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.Collection: Real
Cross my wooden leg, swear on my glass eye.Collection: Eye
With families and music, you're usually looking for something that can make you unique.Collection: Unique
He said, I'm better off without her, until I showed him my tattoo.Collection: Tattoo
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.Collection: Song
Never have your wallet with you onstage. It's bad luck. You shouldn't play the piano with money in your pocket. Play like you need the money.Collection: Play
You're my North Star when I'm lost and feeling blue.Collection: Stars
I've never been a fan of personality-conflict burgers and identity-crisis omelets with patchouli oil. I function very well on a diet that consists of Chicken Catastrophe and Eggs Overwhelming and a tall, cool Janitor-in-a-Drum. I like to walk out of a restaurant with enough gas to open a Mobil station.Collection: Eggs
A mental midget with the IQ of a fence post.Collection: Sarcastic
She's a shiksa goddess and a trapeze artist, all of that. She can fix the truck...she's outta this world...she's bold, inventive and fearless. That's who you wanna go in the woods with, right? Somebody who finishes your sentences for you.Collection: Artist
I like vocal word stuff. But I don't always write with an instrument, I usually write a capella. It's more like drawing in the air with your fingers. It's closest to the choreography of a bee. You're freer.Collection: Writing
I'll tell you all my secrets but I lie about my past.Collection: Lying
I admit that I ain't no angel, I admit that I ain't no saint - I'm selfish and I'm cruel and I'm blind. If I exorcise my devils, well my angels may leave too. When they leave they're so hard to find.Collection: Selfish
Never trust a man in a blue trench coat, never drive a car when you're deadCollection: Men
The average person spends two weeks over their lifetime waiting for the traffic light to change.Collection: Light
My wife called me a mule. She once said, "I didn't marry a man; I married a mule!" I kept thinking about it. It was in the back of my head. I think it makes a good title for an album.Collection: Men
I guess I've always lived upside down when I want things I can't have. My wife actually thinks I have a syndrome called Reality Distortion Field. It's kind of like drugs, only you can't come back from it. Reality Distortion is almost a permanent condition. Things come in and they go out: Presto, chango! To a certain extent, I did that with myself. 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.Collection: Kids
I'll take a rusty nail and scratch your initials on my arm.Collection: Arms
And the earth died screaming, while I lay dreaming.Collection: Dream
Don't plant your days they turn into weedsCollection: Weed
Well you say that it's gospel, But I know that it's only church.Collection: Church
The fact is most of the things that people know about me are made up. My own life is backstage. So what you "know" about me is only what I allowed you to know about me.Collection: People
You can learn a lot about a woman by getting smashed with her.Collection: Party