When you're writing, you're conjuring. It's a ritual, and you need to be brave and respectful and sometimes get out of the way of whatever it is that you're inviting into the room.
Tom WaitsRead
When you're a kid and you're trying to find your own voice, it's rather daunting to hear somebody like Howlin' Wolf, because you know that you'll never achieve that.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Finding one's unique voice can be intimidating when faced with towering influences.
In this quote, Tom Waits reflects on the struggles of self-discovery and artistic expression experienced during childhood. Encountering the powerful sounds and talents of legendary musicians like Howlin' Wolf can evoke feelings of inadequacy and doubt in young artists, as their immense talent may seem unattainable, making the journey to develop one's own voice a daunting challenge.
Themes
VoiceMusicInfluenceArtisticAnxiety
In practice
Example use cases
During a workshop on finding your artistic identity, this quote can underscore the challenge of developing a personal style.
More from Tom Waits
All quotes βIf you're in the middle of the ocean with no flippers and no life preserver and you hear a helicopter, this is music. You have to adjust to your needs at the moment.
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I knelt at the altar of Ray Charles for years. I worked at a restaurant, and that's all there was on the jukebox.
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Don't plant your bad days. They grow into weeks. The weeks grow into months. Before you know it, you got yourself a bad year. Take it from me - choke those little bad days. Choke 'em down to nothing.
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My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane.
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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 Iβd rather die before I wake like Marilyn Monroe and throw my dreams out in the street and the rain make βem grow
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