The Many Lives of Tom Waits

Andrew Perry reviews The Many Lives of Tom Waits by Patrick Humphries

On what occasion do you lie?" Tom Waits was asked by a journalist in 2004. "Who needs an occasion?" he replied.

Waits, a master songwriter with an enviable sideline in movie cameos, is also a master of deception. He tells more porkies per interview than any other contemporary musician, succeeding in deflecting media interest away from his private life, and into the lurid, if dimly lit, world of his imagination. So, if the persona he presents is just an extension of his work, who is the real Tom Waits?

continued: Daily Telegraph