Tom Waits Korner, Volume 2
Spin magazine (that evil thing) November 1985
TW-- Nowadays, if you want a certain sound, you don't have to get it now, you can get it later, when you're mixing electronically. I wanted to get it now, so I felt that I cooked it and ate it. You can establish percussion sounds later, electronically, but I ended up banging on things so I felt that it really responded. If I couldn't get the right sound out of the drum set we'd get a chest of drawers in the bathroom and hit it real hard with a two-by-four. Things like that. That's on "Singapore." Those little things made me feel more involved than sampling on a synthesizer.
Musician, October 1987
Q-- Do you have any idea what motivates you?
TW-- I've said for a long time I've been motivated by fear. But I don't really know... and if I ever knew what it was, I don't know if I'd want to tell Musician magazine, no offense. If I knew, it would probably make me very nervous.
Q-- Maybe if you knew, it wouldn't motivate you anymore.
TW-- This is really getting metaphysical. Is this for Omni magazine? Yeah, I do believe in the mysteries of things, about myself and the things I see. I enjoy being puzzled and arriving at my own incorrect conclusions.
Playboy, March 1988
Q-- To create a marketable pop song, do you have to sell out?
TW-- Popular music is like a big party, and it's a thrill sneaking in rather than being invited. Every once in a while, a guy with his shirt on inside out, wearing lipstick and a pillbox hat, gets a chance to speak. I've always been afraid I was going to tap the world on the shoulder for twenty years and when it finally turned around, I was going to forget what I had to say. I was always afraid I was going to do something in the studio and hate it, put it out, and it was going to become a hit. So I'm neurotic about it.
Entertainment Weekly, June 2002
TW-- Most people in show business are mining the strangeness that's inside of them. I tried for a long time to be like everyone else. You know, there's only seven haircuts available at the barbershop and a certain limited supply of shoes... but at some point, if you do have things about you that are irreconcilable, you say to yourself, "Maybe I can make some money out of this." You join the circus. That's what music is. So that's what I did.