My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane. – Tom Waits
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
Songs really are like a form of time travel because they really have moved forward in a bubble. Everyone whos connected with it, the studios gone, the musicians are gone, and the only thing thats left is this recording which was only about a three-minute period maybe 70 years ago. – Tom Waits
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 its hungry. It pulls it in, and you feel like it wants more silver discs. – Tom Waits