Question 1

True or false: Tom Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan co-wrote the musical 'The Black Rider' with William S. Burroughs.

Accepted Answer

True. The 1990 avant-garde musical 'The Black Rider' was a collaboration between Waits, Brennan, and Beat writer William S. Burroughs.

Question 2

True or false: Waits wrote the song 'Jersey Girl' for Bruce Springsteen, who later made it a hit.

Accepted Answer

False. Springsteen popularized 'Jersey Girl' in concert, but Waits wrote it for his wife, Kathleen Brennan, not for Springsteen.

Question 3

True or false: Tom Waits once worked as a parking lot attendant at a nightclub where he saw Jim Morrison perform.

Accepted Answer

True. Waits claimed he worked at the Whisky a Go Go in the late '60s and saw Morrison there, though some dispute the exact timeline.

Question 4

True or false: Tom Waits credited his distinctive gravelly voice to years of smoking, drinking, and performing, rather than an intentional injury.

Accepted Answer

True. In a 2006 NPR interview, Waits said his voice came from 'singing and drinking and smoking,' calling the fan-screaming story apocryphal.

Question 5

True or false: Tom Waits once hosted a children's TV show called 'The Nighthawk Club' in the 1970s.

Accepted Answer

False. No such show exists. Waits did host a late-night radio show called 'The Nighthawk' for a brief period in the 1970s.

Question 6

True or false: Tom Waits has never collaborated with filmmaker Jim Jarmusch.

Accepted Answer

False. Waits appeared in Jarmusch's films Down by Law (1986) and Mystery Train (1989), and contributed to their soundtracks.

Question 7

True or false: Tom Waits has never won a Grammy Award despite decades of critical acclaim.

Accepted Answer

False. Tom Waits has won two Grammy Awards: Best Alternative Music Album for 'Bone Machine' in 1993 and Best Contemporary Folk Album for 'Mule Variations' in 2000.

Question 8

True or false: Tom Waits played a crazy-eyed prospector in 'The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai'.

Accepted Answer

True. Tom Waits portrayed the Prospector in the 1984 film 'The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension', appearing in a bar scene.

Tom Waits Trivia Questions