We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance and wealth with happiness.
Tom WaitsYour hands are like dogs, going to the same places they've been. You have to be careful when playing is no longer in the mind but in the fingers, going to happy places. You have to break them of their habits or you don't explore; you only play what is confident and pleasing. I'm learning to break those habits by playing instruments I know absolutely nothing about, like a bassoon or a waterphone.
Tom WaitsThereโs nothing more embarrassing than a person who tries to guess what the great American public would like, makes a compromise for the first time, and falls flat on his faceโฆ I would rather be a failure on my own terms than a success on someone elseโs. Thatโs a difficult statement to live up to, but then Iโve always believed that the way you affect your audience is more important than how many of them are there.
Tom WaitsMost 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 WaitsNow 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 Iโd rather die before I wake like Marilyn Monroe and throw my dreams out in the street and the rain make โem grow
Tom Waits