Tom Waits Inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

As you’re probably aware already, Tom Waits was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—it’s great to see his work honored. I’m going to give you his acceptance speech and performances to watch, of course, but before we get into it I want to point out that Waits collaborates with his wife, Kathleen Brennan, on seemingly all of his records nowadays. Naturally enough, he honors her in his speech. Check it out.

“It’s like fishing or anything else. You have to be real quiet to catch the big ones.” Tom suggests that much of songwriting is learning to lay traps for songs, to cast lines. For me, “laying traps” means reading books, listening to music, and staying observant during my daily life. It also means powering down cell phones and computers and other flickering distractions so that I can tune into what’s going on in my own head. I also make sure that my recording rig stays mostly set up at all times, and that my songwriting notebook is never far away.

Waiting for a song idea isn’t an entirely passive process. Feeling uninspired today? Lay traps.

More posts about Tom Waits:

• Tom Waits on Songwriting: Beautiful Melodies Telling You Terrible Things
• Songwriting Tips from Tom Waits’s “Don’t Go Into the Barn”
• Your Hands Are Like Dogs