Song by Song

Song by Song welcomes Jo Neary to the show to discuss repeated musical themes in the writing of Waits, surreal lyrical imagery, and the influence (or lack thereof) of Captain Beefheart. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: 16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought Six, Swordfishtrombones, Tom Waits (1983) Ice Cream For Crow, Ice Cream For Crow, Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band (1982) 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.

Waits seems to reach beyond himself to make a more meaningful connection in this week's song. Philippa bids goodbye to Sam and Martin with some discussion of the yearning tone and the lyrical elegance in Waits's writing. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Johnsburg, Illinois, Swordfishtrombones, Tom Waits (1983) Chelsea Hotel #2, New Skin For The Old Ceremony, Leonard Cohen (1974) 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.

As Waits takes his first dive into the rich world of non-narrative meat-worker music, Martin, Sam and Philippa discuss some ideas of intention and improvisation, as well as the politics of food production. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Dave The Butcher, Swordfishtrombones, Tom Waits (1983) December, One Pig, Matthew Herbert (2011) 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.

On this second track from Swordfishtrombones, Philippa Spanos returns to discuss with Sam and Martin some of the spaces created by the instrumental choices, and processes of musical reinvention of reinterpretation. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Shore Leave, Swordfishtrombones, Tom Waits (1983) Shore Leave, Wicked Grin, John Hammond (2001) 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.

Back again for season 9 (we'll do this one properly, I promise), Martin and Sam are joined by Philippa Spanos to discuss the subterranean influence on Waits's early 80s work. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Underground, Swordfishtrombones, Tom Waits (1983) Subbacultcha, Trompe Le Monde, The Pixies (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.

It's a bonus extra-sized bumper megamix episode this week, as Martin and Sam dive headlong into One From The Heart... then quickly dash out of it again! Taking a quick-fire approach to season 8, we spend a minute (that's right, a whole 60 seconds) on each track, getting our thoughts, concerns and analysis of 14 tracks condensed into one easy-to-swallow download. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: One From the Heart Original Soundtrack, Tom Waits/Crystal Gale (1982) 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 -…

Sam and Martin join forces with Dave and Cathy of the Cinemile Podcast this week to take on the film that Francis Ford Coppola wouldn't even put his middle name to... One From The Heart. Debating the intention and execution of the film, as well as it's narrative strengths and weaknesses, the performances therein, as well as some of the sexual politics of a failed romance story with a happy ending, the new entity of Song by Cinemile finally puts to rest the age-old question: where can you buy an affordable DVD player on a Saturday lunchtime? Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Married couple Dave and Cathy podcast their walk home from the movies. Voted the UK's Best New Podcast at the British Podcast Awards 2017, and featured in The Observer, The Guardian, The Irish Times and The Irish Examiner. website:…

The question this week is whether Waits is walking away from a long-term lover or a one-night-stand, as Vera, Sam and Martin take one last longing backwards look at Heartattack And Vine before walking away and catching a train. There's some discussion across the gender perspective here as well, with the boys buying into some of Waits's romance while Vera reminds us that it takes two to tango… or at least it should. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Ruby's Arms, Heartattack And Vine, Tom Waits (1980) Softly, As I Leave You, Single, Matt Monro (1962) 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…

More detritus of Americana this week, as Vera, Martin and Sam look at the inspiration provided by Bugsy Siegel, Murder Inc. and the early days of Las Vegas on this Waits track. With some discussion of the juxtaposition of sexiness and violence in this track (and many, many others), as well as the contributions of listener Mike Smith speaking on behalf of London's own Chas & Dave, we edge towards the end of season 7 of Song by Song. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Mr. Siegal, Heartattack And Vine, Tom Waits (1980) Ain't No Pleasing You, Mustn't Grumble, Chas & Dave (1982) 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…

This week on Song by Song, Vera Chok takes us all the way back to the beginning by questioning "this whole Tom Waits thing", as well as going through one of Waits's most hobo-centric songs in this lullaby for the down-and-out. We also revisit the perennial question of authenticity, as well as some of Larry Taylor's bass-playing excursions outside of his Heartattack work. Also: Martin has a cold. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: On The Nickel, Heartattack And Vine, Tom Waits (1980) Fried Hockey Boogie, Boogie With Canned Heat, Canned Heat (1968) 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…

We have some difficulties parsing the meaning of the track this week, as Sarah, Martin and Sam visit some confusing (and perhaps terminal?) lyrics in 'Til The Money Runs Out. With side-by-side comparisons between this and Downtown a couple of episodes ago, as well as some pretty explicit interval track work by Mr Ronnie Barron, Song by Song continues its journey along Heartattack and Vine. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: 'Til The Money Runs Out, Heartattack And Vine, Tom Waits (1980) I Can Give It To You, 12" Single, Ronnie Barron (1980) 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…

There's some confused feelings this week on Song by Song, despite feeling overwhelmingly positive about the track. Leading off with spirited debate about the pros and cons of the line "sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la" (I think that's the correct number of "la"s) as well as the simplicity of some of the other lyrics, Sarah, Martin and Sam discuss Waits's relationship to Kathleen Brennan, Kylie Minogue and short third verses. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Jersey Girl, Heartattack And Vine, Tom Waits (1980) Tears On My Pillow, Enjoy Yourself, Kylie Minogue (1989) 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…

Martin and Sam welcome Sarah Cook to the show, as Waits returns to the street life he loves (or despises?) so well. As the song explores the geography as well as the politics of the city's downtown in the 1980s, we also look at some alternate interpretations of this location, as well as Petula Clark's influence on resource-management games. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Downtown, Heartattack And Vine, Tom Waits (1980) Downtown, Petula Clark, The Best of Petula Clark (1996/1964) 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…

Back one more time with Miranda and Andy, we dive right into the gender politics of criticising women for breaking their shoes and dressing up like cars, as well as Waits borrowing the childrens television music of Bryan Daly (circa 1981, not 1986, apologies for that). With Whitney Huston's smooth stylings as counter-point, Song by Song continues its journey along Heartattack and Vine. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Saving All My Love For You, Heartattack And Vine, Tom Waits (1980) Saving All My Love For You, Whitney Huston, Whitney Huston (1985) 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…

As Waits gives his voice a well-earned rest, Andy and Miranda return to listen to this electric instrumental. With some biographical details, an honest exploration of our own ignorance regarding hip hop, and a trip through Andy's eBay history, Song by Song continues to explore new material. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: In Shades (Instrumental), Heartattack And Vine, Tom Waits (1980) Organ Donor, Endtroducing…, DJ Shadow (1996) 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.

We're back! Kicking off season seven we play host to Martin's in-laws, as the power-couple of Lawyer Miranda Zaltzman and Beggarman/Thief Andy Zaltzman join Song by Song for a rundown of children's rhymes, breakfast foods and cricket statistics. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Heartattack And Vine, Heartattack And Vine, Tom Waits (1980) Heartattack And Vine, Best of the Bizarre Sessions (1990-1994), Screamin' Jay Hawkins (2000) 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.

Putting a bow on Blue Valentine, Kit, Sam and Martin dip back into Waits-adjacent material to listen to Rickie Lee Jones singing a Waits song. With some nerdy (and possibly inaccurate and impenetrable) music chat and also some slightly weird guess-work about their relationship chronology, Song by Song wraps up season six. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Rainbow Sleeves, Girl At Her Volcano, Rickie Lee Jones [w. Tom Waits] (1978/1983) A Lucky Guy, Pirates, Rickie Lee Jones (1981) 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…

Bonus episode #1 for season six sees us visiting Waits's first foray into film, with this track from the Paradise Alley soundtrack. Kit, Sam and Martin discuss his use/reuse of music, the image of women in his songs and the possibilities in their re-interpretation. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Annie's Back In Town, Paradise Alley OST, Tom Waits (1978) Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis, New Coat Of Paint, Neko Case/Tom Waits (2000) 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.

Whether Waits is a hunter, being hunted, or simply avoiding a vengeful highway patrolman, Sam, Martin and Kit look into the heartbreak of both this track as well as the album as a whole. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Blue Valentines, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978) My Funny Valentine, Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Rodgers and Hart Songbook, Ella Fitzgerald (1956) 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.

Song by Song welcomes Kit Lovelace, author of Romantic Misadventure, to discuss some of the bleak storytelling on this penultimate track of Blue Valentine. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: A Sweet Little Bullet from a Pretty Blue Gun, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978) Sapphire Bullets Of Love, Flood, They Might Be Giants (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 revenue - listen responsibly.

As we head towards the close of this album (and bid farewell to Jen and Dave), the music and storytelling make a radical departure from the tone so far, into a nostalgic and autobiographical ballad of innocence and childhood. We look at both the specificity of the song as well as some of the implications of writing about and for a specific time and place. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Kentucky Avenue, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978) Reasons To Be Cheerful (Part 3), Single/Jukebox Dury, Ian Dury & The Blockheads (1979/1981) 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…

More lyrical density and ambiguity on this week's Song by Song, as this track flirts both with a life on the railroad as well as the bad luck omens. Sam, Dave, Jen and Martin find multiple interpretations of this track (in Martin's case, a physical interpretation!) as Waits goes further than ever before into vocal experimentation. Groundbreaking! Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Whistlin' Past the Graveyard, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978) Trouble, King Creole, Elvis Presley (1958) 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…

Trying to stay on the right side of each other, Dave, Jen, Sam and Martin get into the magical realist stylings of this witches brew of a track, examining the density of lyric writing, their integration with the music, as well as possible comparisons with Waits's own life and relationships. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Wrong Side of the Road, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978) These Boots Are Made For Walkin', Boots, Nancy Sinatra (1966) 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.

Jen Adamthwaite and Dave Pickering from The Family Tree podcast (http://thefamilytreepodcast.co.uk/) join Song by Song for this fifth track from Blue Valentine, to discuss the adequate musical choices of Tom Waits and the need for clarity of storytelling. There's some differences of opinion, as well as debates over Waits's judgement of the song's protagonist (and our judgement of him for that), and the nature and associations of "white blues' in general. Nb: the Tracy Chapman track we discuss is "Behind The Wall" from the album Tracy Chapman. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: $29.00, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978) Shot Gun Blues, Briefcase Full Of Blues, The Blues Brothers/Donnie Walsh (1978) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced…

As we come to Elizabeth and Caspar's final episodes with Sam and Martin, Song by Song returns to the bleak streets of LA for the violent shooting of a Latino gang-leader. Revisiting some of the structural issues from the previous episode, more of Waits's musical experimentation (even as he re-explores story ideas already covered in previous albums) and the sense of reality delivered by Waits and Johnny Cash all make up this week's discussion. (Thanks to Rob Maher for the "Kenny's Dead" theory on twitter.) Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Romeo Is Bleeding, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978) The Streets Of Laredo, American IV: The Man Comes Around, Johnny Cash (2002) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the…

Firmly rooted in South London and unavailable for sexual engagements, Sam, Martin, Elizabeth and Caspar join Tom Waits in reading over Charlie's shoulder. Big cast this week. Elizabeth questions the structure of a song with no chorus section, Caspar gets excited by the density of music (although probably not the lyrics), and we can all agree there's not a potato in sight. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978) 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…

Back once again with Sam, Martin, Elizabeth and Caspar, we join Waits hanging out outside the drugstore with Little Caesar and his red-shod ladyfriend. Some discussion this week of the musical environment created slides seamlessly, SEAMLESSLY into the textural features of Vangelis on the soundtrack from Blade Runner. It's another tight focused never-rambling episode of Song by Song. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Red Shoes by the Drugstore, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978) Love Theme - from Blade Runner, Blade Runner, Vangelis (1982/1994) 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…

A trip to the musicals for this first episode on Blue Valentine, as Martin and Sam are joined by Caspar Salmon and Elizabeth Sankey to discuss another of Waits's rare covers. The (perhaps inevitable) comparisons between this and other versions of Somewhere, the nature of the song in its original context and the extent to which Waits reinterprets the material all kick off season six of Song by Song. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Somewhere (from West Side Story), Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978) Somewhere, West Side Story Motion Picture Soundtrack, Jim Bryant & Marni Nixon [w. Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim] (1961) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get…

Season Six of Song by Song features Blue Valentines Elizabeth Sankey and Caspar Salmon from High Brow Low Brow, Jen Adamthwaite and Dave Pickering from The Family Tree, and Kit Lovelace from Romantic Misadventures. We'll be back on November 16th, so keep your Waits thoughts coming in until then! Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians who, out of some obsessive completist compulsion, have decided to listen to and discuss every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com facebook: https://www.facebook.com/songbysongshow/ Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Blue Valentines, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978) 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…

It's the conclusion of another album and another season, as Martin, Sam, Sam and Simon discuss the thematic oppositions between this final track and the themes and ethos of the rest of Foreign Affairs. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Foreign Affair, Foreign Affairs, Tom Waits (1977) Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home), That Stubborn Kinda' Fella, Marvin Gaye (1963) 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.

The four-part harmony-group of Martin, Simon and two Sams wanders in for a quick short back and sides as Tom Waits visits Mr Snip-Snip-Snip for this penultimate track of Foreign Affairs. The variety of this album, the beauty/technicality of barber-shop quartet singing, and the need for emotional commitment in musical performance are all debated, as well as some…mild diversions. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Barber Shop, Foreign Affairs, Tom Waits (1977) That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day), That Lucky Old Sun, Crossroads/Beasley Smith & Haven Gillespie (2010/1949) 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…

This week on Song by Song Martin, two Sams and a Simon head out onto the wide open roads of America to examine possibly one of the strongest songs on Foreign Affairs, with discussion of the origins of the Burma Shave advertising campaign, the interplay of voice and melody on the track, and the appearance of Farley Granger in Nicholas Ray's debut film They Live By Night. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Burma-Shave, Foreign Affairs, Tom Waits (1977) They Live By Night (film), directed by Nicholas Ray (1948) 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…

Joined by Sam Clements and Simon Renshaw, Sam and Martin dive into the pomp and bluster of the orchestral stylings of Potter's Field. With the musical and lyrical setting clearly placed in the world of noir, we examine this song and its explicit influence, Sam Fuller's film Pickup On South Street, as well as some of the obscure storytelling choices made by Waits in this track from Foreign Affairs. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Potter's Field, Foreign Affairs, Tom Waits (1977) Pickup On South Street (film), directed by Samuel Fuller (1953) 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…

With some disagreement and friction, Martin and Sam discuss some of the musical borrowings and stylistic repetitions in this track from Foreign Affairs. Debating cliche, originality and their place in pop music, as well as Mary Hopkins's contribution to the theme in a very similar track, Song by Song returns for another discussion on Tom Waits. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: A Sight for Sore Eyes, Foreign Affairs, Tom Waits (1977) Those Were The Days, Single, Mary Hopkin (1968) 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…

Song by Song reaches its fiftieth episode as Waits returns to one of his greatest influences, the beat poets. With mixed feelings, Sam and Martin discuss extreme vocal styling (and its overuse) as a storytelling tool, the value (or lack thereof) of California as a location, as well as touching briefly on one of cinema and recorded music's iconic figures, Al Jolson. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Medley: Jack & Neal/California, Here I Come, Foreign Affairs, Tom Waits (1977) California, Here I Come, The Best Of Al Jolson, Al Jolson (1921/2002) 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…

The regular duet of Sam and Martin explore one of the few vocal collaborations Waits includes on his studio albums, with this piano-bar seduction of (and by) Bette Midler. The verbatim nature of the lyrics, the locating nature of music, and interference with postal carriers all feature in this week's discussion. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: I Never Talk to Strangers, Foreign Affairs, Tom Waits/Bette Midler (1977) Yellow Beach Umbrella, Broken Blossom, Bette Midler (1977) 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…

Dreaming of a(nother) girl who left him, Tom Waits returns to mournful yearning for the second track of Foreign Affairs. Martin and Sam continue discussing the possible influences on this song through the person of Edie Adams and Muriel cigars, as well as the vocal stylings of Dolly Parton and the production choices on the album as a whole. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Muriel, Foreign Affairs, Tom Waits (1977) Jolene, Jolene, Dolly Parton (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…

Welcome to the fifth season of Song by Song! Martin and Sam return to take a listen to Waits's 1977 album, beginning with the instrumental Cinny's Waltz. With discussion of the tone of this album, the cross-pollination of creative inspiration between film and music, and more than a few bad similes, we begin our journey through Foreign Affairs. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Cinny's Waltz, Foreign Affairs, Tom Waits (1977) Theme from "To Kill a Dead Man", B-side of "Sour Times", Portishead (1994) 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…

Welcome back to Song by Song - we're taking a couple of weeks out before starting our fifth season on Foreign Affairs to get some plans made, listen to some music, watch some films and argue about eggs. Do the same, and please rejoin us later in August for more Tom Waits discussions. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians who, out of some obsessive completist compulsion, have decided to listen to and discuss every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Cinny's Waltz, Foreign Affairs, Tom Waits (1977) 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.

Concluding our shuffle through Tom Waits's Small Change, Sam, Callum and Martin struggle to wrap up their duties and get back to their respective avenues. This final track's relationship to the album as a whole, backstage vs. onstage personas, and the concept of work in opposition to art all help us wrap up our fourth season of Song by Song. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: I Can't Wait to Get Off Work (And See My Baby on Montgomery Avenue), Small Change, Tom Waits (1976) Frankly, Mr. Shankly, The Queen Is Dead, The Smiths (1986) 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…

Hitting the apex (or the wind-down?) of the album with its title track, Martin, Sam and Callum work through the details of the untimely death of Small Change, discussing some of the societal commentary in the song, choices of harsh and clinical language and the amazing Jazz stylings of Lew Tabackin. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Small Change (Got Rained on with His Own .38), Small Change, Tom Waits (1976) Be-Bop, The Rites of Pan, Lew Tabackin (1978/2009) 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…

It's storytime again, as Martin, Sam and Callum are taken on a series of single-verse vignettes. Watching the way Waits creates a series of spaces, the kind of shamed men who live there, and his ability to simultaneously retain a sense of fun all form part of the conversation on this week's Song by Song. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: The One That Got Away, Small Change, Tom Waits (1976) The Man That Got Away - Live at Great American Music Hall, Mystery White Boy, Jeff Buckley (2000) 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…

Martin and Sam welcome their new guest host Callum Hughes, immediately getting side-tracked by old sitcom themes and how old Geoffrey Palmer might be. Casablanca misquotes, internal rhyming structures, intertextuality and depression - all on Song by Song. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Bad Liver and a Broken Heart (In Lowell), Small Change, Tom Waits (1976) Old Red Eyes Is Back, 0898 Beautiful South, The Beautiful South (1992) 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.

For her final track with Song by Song, Lucy Dallas discusses with Sam and Martin some of the social setting and politics of this bump and grind number from Small Change. The relationship of satire and exploitation, sex and sexiness as well as the extent of Waits's critique on the characters he plays and embodies all appear, set to a thumping beat! Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Pasties and a G-String (At the Two O'Clock Club), Small Change, Tom Waits (1976) Artistry In Percussion, The Chronological Classics 1946, Stan Kenton and his Orchestra (1946) 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…

An invitation to musical analysis (as well as rambling nonsense), Song by Song returns to the diner for another longing message to an unattainable woman. Martin, Sam and Lucy Dallas return to discuss how realistic this longing is, how attainable the draw of independence and freedom might be, and whether Sam should practice piano on-air or in his own time. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Invitation To The Blues, Small Change, Tom Waits (1976) Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Ghost In The Machine, The Police (1981) 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,…

Whether it's actually possible for a piano to drink or not, it is totally conceivable that a podcast can be hosted by creampuff fencepost-IQ mental midgets, and here they are with another episode of Song by Song. As Martin, Sam and Lucy peel back the layers of writing on this track, comparing it to the comic genius of Les Dawson as well as Waits's own singing persona, the question arises as to whether this is a quick gag, or a deeper exploration of many other themes. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (An Evening with Pete King), Small Change, Tom Waits (1976) Les Dawson plays The Entertainer, via YouTube, Les Dawson (1984) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs…

Martin and Sam are joined by their latest guest host Lucy Dallas, wandering arm-in-arm through the streets and debating (again/still) the merits of truth and authenticity in the storytelling of Tom Waits. Whether we buy into the mythmaking of this group and location, or whether Waits is as successful as some of his heroes at creating these idealised places is challenged in weeks episode. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: I Wish I Was In New Orleans (In the Ninth Ward), Small Change, Tom Waits (1976) Georgia On My Mind, The Genius Hits The Road, Ray Charles (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.…

Liars, liars, all their pants on fire, Sam, Martin and Jeffrey explore the fakery and tall-tale-telling of Waits's drunken persona, debating the truths and lies of the song's narrative and questioning whether we should disbelieve the stories... or believe that a man could really live such a life. Neo-futurist theatre, George Plimpton and the rise of the hobo all join us for another episode of Song by Song. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Jitterbug Boy, Small Change, Tom Waits (1976) A Talk With George, JoCo Looks Back, Jonathan Coulton (2008) 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…

For your consideration, at value price, cut bargain basement availability for one night only and in any shade and texture you could wish for, Martin, Sam and Jeffrey return to package, wrap, fold, spindle and mutilate another conversation on everyone's favourite anti-salesman, Tom Waits. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Step Right Up, Small Change, Tom Waits (1976) Butcher's Blend Purina Advert, Tom Waits (1981) 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 welcome Night Vale writer Jeffrey Cranor to this first track from season four of Song by Song, ploughing straight into Waits's Aussie-faux-bo song with instant disagreement and conflict. It's good to be back... Duality of tone and meaning, the unknowability of Danish lyricism and the lure of the open road all feature in the discussion, as well as our putative Waits Theme Pub. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen), Small Change, Tom Waits (1976) Fyn Er Fin, Fyn Er Fin, Lasse & Mathilde (1995) 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.…