Song By Song

Casual enthusiasts Martin & Sam are joined by a genuine expert, NYT film journalist Amy Nicholson, to take a look at Waits's contribution to a massive 3-hour epic over overlapping narratives, Robert Altman's Short Cuts. We debate depictions of misogyny and family disfunction, the loyalty of the performers to Altman and many other questions that surround this interlocking set of stories. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Clips from Short Cuts, dir. Robert Altman (1993) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

A final episode for this first volume of demos sees Martin and Sam mulling the stylistic choices and tone Waits is aiming for, his choice of instrument going forward, and how the material on Early Years vol 1 strikes us nearly 5 decades years after its recording. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: So Long I'll See Ya, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits (1991) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

Simplicity abounds, and seems to succeed - perhaps despite the title - as Jess, Martin and Sam dig into a sweet song with a crude punchline. The origins of the title's phrase, the sentiment of leaving as embodied in the country music tradition, and the shift that time and irony creates in music from 20-50 years ago all feature in this week’s discussion. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Looks Like I'm Up Shit Creek Again, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits (1991) Are You Leaving For The Country, In My Own Time, Karen Dalton (1971) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

Jess Abbott returns for some slightly contentious debate with Sam & Martin around the “bros before hags” sentiment of this song. With some strong language in our interval track and the associated sentiments between children and parents, we talk about family and the ways they interact once children have grown up. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Frank's Song, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits (1991) Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole, Martha Wainwright, Martha Wainwright (2005) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

Martin & Sam welcome our guest host Jess Abbott to not only discuss this little trip, but also to provide our interval track, as we discuss another Waits demo-to-studio song in relation to Jess's own (re)writing process. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Little Trip To Heaven, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits (1991) Clipping, Nightstand, Tancred (2018) Clipping, demo, courtesy of Jess Abbott (2018) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

Our third episode with Michael, Sam & Martin brings us to a slightly less-excited point in the evolution of Waits's writing. We have a chat about what works for a live audience, what survives well on a recording, and the process of working through bad ideas to get to the gems. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: When You Ain't Got Nobody, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits (1991) Just a Gigolo, Kicks, Elisa JO (2020) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

A sleepy week sees Michael, Sam & Martin brushing their teeth, getting in their pyjamas and heading off to bed. All three of us are struck by the strength of this Early Years version/demo, particularly the arrangement, and how it compares to other brilliant nap-time classics. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Midnight Lullaby, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits (1991) Mr Sandman, single, The Chordettes (1954) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

Guest host Michael Caines joins Martin & Sam for another early version of a Closing Time track, as Waits wanders through Hollywood (or San Diego?) (or Reno?!?) slightly the worse for wear, as Song by Song has a think about how artists reinterpret their own songs. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Virginia Ave., The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits (1991) This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us, Plagiarism, Sparks feat. Faith No More (1997) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

This week's sees Sam & Martin at odds and Alice forced to mediate over this country-style song about boredom and ageing. Returning to Waits's 70s writing brings us back to a discussion of appropriation, as well as unique voices and their contribution to songs' meaning and tone. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Rockin' Chair, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits (1991) September Song, The Collection, Eartha Kitt (2002/195?) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

Alice returns for our first demo-to-studio jump, as Waits either trades frozen treats for hot lovin', or just embarks on a peripatetic dairy-based romance. Song endings, the interpretation between demos and final versions, as well as the nature of demos and producers/production in general all get consideration. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Ice Cream Man, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits (1991) Hit The Road Jack, demo, Percy Mayfield (1960) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

Alice Fraser of The Bugle and The Last Post joins Martin and Sam to take a look at Waits's geocached conquest spreadsheet and the blue consequences thereof. The sexual politics of "having" and "virginity" gets serious consideration, as well as more discussion of the survivability of material outside the live venue. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Had Me a Girl, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits (1991) Like A Virgin, Like A Virgin, Madonna (1984) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

Is this a tender song, a wry observation about the music industry, or a badly-placed bit of bawdy humour? Helen & Amy rejoin Martin & Sam to listen to a Tom Waits track that may have killed at the Troubadour, but does not seem to land on the album. And then it all kicks off over poor, poor Billy Joel. He never asked for any of this… website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: I'm Your Late Night Evening Prostitute, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits (1991) Piano Man, Piano Man, Billy Joel (1973) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

A second week with Amy and Helen sees everyone feeling that the work is slighter and possibly understanding why this track didn't make the jump onto a studio recording. Our guests discuss with Martin and Sam ideas of cliche and originality, the process of developing as a songwriter as well as some of the relationship politics that Gladys Knight navigates in her 1973 hit. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Poncho's Lament, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits (1991) Midnight Train To Georgia, Imagination, Gladys Knight & The Pips (1973) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

Helen Zaltzman returns, along with new guest host Amy Smith, to join Sam & Martin for season 16 of Song by Song. We take a trip back to Waits's earliest writing from 1971 in this album of demos and unreleased tracks, discussing the temporal and osteopathic implications of a slow night with Tom, the tone he's aiming for at this early stage in his career, and bouncy ball music. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Goin' Down Slow, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits (1991) Hearbeats, Deep Cuts, The Knife (2003) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

A quick preamble to season sixteen, as Martin and Sam prepare to go back to Waits's earliest demos, as well as a bunch of new songs from the early 70s. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Ice Cream Man, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits (1991) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

Happy New Year! It’s 2020 and that means Song by Song is taking the opportunity to delve into some of the listener mail we've received over the last year or so. Check out the show notes below for more links and details of the songs discussed. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: News From The Duke from The Black Rider: The Casting of the 12 Magic Bullets (filmed at the Weiner Festwochen, via YouTube), Wilson/Burroughs/Waits (1990) Town With No Cheer, Swordfishtrombones, Tom Waits (1983) The Black Rider, Black Letter Days, Frank Black & The Catholics (2002) Soldier's Things, Swordfishtrombones, Tom Waits (1983) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue -

Our final discussion around The Black Rider continues from last week, as Martin and Sam get Burroughs quotes wrong (“Do what you will, that is the whole of the law” obviously being an Alistair Crowley quote, you idiot Sam, how did you miss that?!?), talk about the problematic autobiographical elements of the story, and what the lack of subtlety in this play means. Thanks for sticking with us through this very complicated season 15, and we’ll be back in the New Year with some... more accessible music. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: The Black Rider, The Black Rider, Tom Waits (1993) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

Sam and Martin dig into the four tracks that only appear in The Black Rider play, trying to decide why they weren’t featured on the Waits album. With some mixed feelings about the quality of the songs overall, and a little discussion about the language used by Waits and Burroughs (both in English and German), we start a conversation that will continue next week with a final summing up of both the play and the album. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: But He’s Not Wilhelm (@12m43s) from The Black Rider: The Casting of the 12 Magic Bullets (filmed at the Weiner Festwochen, via YouTube), Wilson/Burroughs/Waits (1990) Chase The Clouds Away (@48m47s & 54m30s) from The Black Rider: The Casting of the 12 Magic Bullets (filmed at the Weiner Festwochen, via YouTube), Wilson/Burroughs/Waits (1990) In The Morning (@1h6m10s) from The Black Rider: The Casting of the 12 Magic Bullets (filmed at the Wein

A third week with David & Callum brings Sam & Martin to the end of The Black Rider album, although we reach back to much earlier in the play. Ideas of carnival celebrations in a British context are compared to the American funfair/freakshow image, and we take a bit of time to think about the ideology of the play and album in general. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Carnival, The Black Rider, Tom Waits (1993) Good Morning, recorded on the drag during UK Panorama 2017, Endurance Steel Orchestra/Peter Ram (2017) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

Moving into a coda of sorts (both in the album and the play) Callum, David, Sam & Martin discuss the way Waits winds down The Black Rider with this final “proper” song. With some full-blooded disagreement over comparison between the theatre and album versions, Song by Song edges towards the conclusion of this very complicated album. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: The Last Rose Of Summer, The Black Rider, Tom Waits (1993) The Last Rose of Summer (and extra audience chat) (@2h0m11s) from The Black Rider: The Casting of the 12 Magic Bullets (filmed at the Weiner Festwochen, via YouTube), Wilson/Burroughs/Waits (1990) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a