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About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker uses a vivid metaphor to describe someone who sounds abrasive or harsh.
In plain terms
He sounds rough and uncomfortable.
What can you take from it?
Physical metaphors can effectively describe vocal texture.

Where it applies

  • describing a singer
  • critique
  • storytelling

Putting it to work

  • vocal critique
  • writing descriptions
  • art critique

Questions to consider

  • How do you describe a voice?
  • What physical sensations match sounds?

Another view

It relies on a sensory metaphor that may not translate to all audiences.

More from Tom Waits

  1. '...he's really awesome and really horrible' --Anonymous young boy, 2007.

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  2. '...like how you'd sound if you drank a quart of bourbon, smoked a pack of cigarettes and swallowed a pack of razor blades. . . . Late at night. After not slee…

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  3. '...like a clown crossed with a cherry bomb.' --Anonymous young girl, liner notes to Used Songs: 1973-1980

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