Song by Song

Roving reporter Jo Neary returns to Song by Song to revisit this track from Swordfishtrombones… and to apologise for her own presence. Meanwhile back in the studio Sam and Martin look at the similarities between this live performance and the original, the lack of priority given to the lyrics, and the shift in recording quality in this album. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two m...

Thanks for coming everyone - you all got a coffee, great, there's plenty more chairs up here at the front, don't be shy. Ok, welcome to Song by Song season twelve, Big Time album and film, parish notices first I think… As we embark on another (slightly) contracted season covering this 1988 live release, there are a few details to explain about how we're going about things this time around, so if y...

After seventeen tracks, we reach the end of Franks Wild Years with this scratchy demo-style version of Innocent When You Dream. We discuss the album as a whole, some of the recording techniques and the information that imparts, as well as the narrative of the show in relation to the drama of American identity as well as his own life. And Sam gets a bit emotional about 1980s Scottish cinema. Song b...

Sam and Martin return for the penultimate track of Franks Wild Years, to debate the refining of the Tom-Waits-Saying-Goodbye-And-Catching-A-Train song. We talk about the sense of conclusion to Frank's story (or stories), the departure and the collapse of the dream he's seeking throughout this album, and Waits reaching again for older traditions of songwriting. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick...

Waits begins to step away from Frank and the relationship of the songs to the play, as Martin and Sam discuss the tense nature of the music on this album, the simplicity of this song compared to the arrangement of others on Franks Wild Years, and the political and social charge that land (and what lurks beneath) can have. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening t...

Heading into the closing tracks of Franks Wild Years, Sam and Martin debate the change of locations in Waits's songwriting from this era, scrunchy chords in relation to atonality, and the relationship of intention & accident in art. Also, a small dog finding the World Cup. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in c...

Gabriel Ebulue returns for a second portion of Tom Waits doing his crazy lounge singer schtick. This week's discussion includes atonal organ arrangements, the trajectory of depression in pop songs, and the lonely death of Frank O'Brien. 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: songbyso...

Song by Song welcomes fellow music enthusiast Gabriel Ebulue from The Three Track Podcast to discuss the second version of this track, as it relates to Sinatra, Jaques Brel, and your crazy uncle at a wedding. 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: @song...

We present (now in the correct context) our special episode with Kobi Omenaka, discussing the use of Way Down In The Hole in the opening credits of the TV show The Wire. Kobi and his co-host Dave Corkery have launched their new show The Wire Stripped, so conversation ranges from the musical styles and influences of the covers into the content of the seasons themselves, and how the credits music in...

Lily Sloane returns for one more Franks Wild Years track, debating Waits's attitude towards religion, how the track relates to the rest of the album, and the presence of joy in music. 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: songbys...

Existential crises galore, or just a really bad hangover, as Lily, Sam and Martin attempt to catch the bouquet of Waits's mournful gallic ditty. Accordion tuning, a keyboard called Leslie and a slightly unfair comparison to one of the great Jazz numbers of the 20th Century all feature this week on Song by Song. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discu...

Martin and Sam are joined by Lily Sloane of A Therapist Walks Into A Bar to discuss this side of the album's final track (as well as the first song from the play), and the images of dreams, hope, despair and fantasy that it evokes. Plus turnip-sales. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. web...

More dream talk with Helen, Sam and Martin, as Waits constructs an unsettled and dislocated musical world to capture the sense of space between waking and sleeping. We also discuss the impact of sound (and film) on big systems vs headphones, as well as terrifying clown music and the vocal brilliance of Mike Patton. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and d...

Still picking apart the worlds of the album and the play, Helen, Sam and Martin delve into the tone created by Waits, as well as Paul McCartney, in their songs yearning for the past. 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: songbyso...

Helen Sadler of the Flixwatcher podcast joins Martin and Sam to listen to Tom Waits's cock...rel. Some brief discussion of Waits as an actor, further debate around the danceability of Tom Waits songs and a celebration of the work of Kate Bush quickly devolves into Martin making bird noises. Sorry folks, business as usual ... Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listenin...

Song by Song is back for one more episode with Jeremy Warmsley, as he, Sam and Martin take a look at one of Waits's classic songs from this album, the way his storytelling style relates to truth and lies/dreams, as well as some more esoteric music from Ralph Carney & co. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chr...

Hitting his groove (as well as the sideboard), Waits lifts into his falsetto for this warning against the evils of... alcohol? Women? Lack of faith? All three? Jeremy Warmsley returns for more discussion of music videos, sex, and identity in the 1980s. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological order. w...

Jeremy Warmsley joins Sam and Martin to bloviate on Blow Wind Blow, a track which does not seem to connect easily with any of them. Picking the narrative apart, discussing some of the strengths (or frustrations) of the arrangement, and the importance of weather to Waits's writing all feature on this week's Song by Song. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to...

Straight to one-down-from-the-top (track-listing-wise), Martin and Sam continue with more tortuous car similes, the divide between genuine celebration and the desperation for the same, and special guest-input from Google Translate. 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: songbysongpod...

Welcome back to Song by Song for this, our eleventh season, taking on the 1987 album Franks Wild Years. Sam and Martin begin again with some (brief) discussion of its theatrical context, as well as the strange mechanised wanderlust of this track as compared to previous Waits songs and the early-20th Century work of Woodie Guthrie. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians li...

As Martin and Sam continue preparations for season eleven, Franks Wild Years, we take a long-overdue dive into the mailbag to justify the endless trails of email/twitter/facebook in *every single episode*! With comments, corrections, additions and rock-climbing videos going all the way back to our first series, Song by Song revisits some old ideas and older jokes. Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Aust...

For this final track of Rain Dogs, Sam and Martin regroup to look at the shape of this album as a whole, how this song relates to Waits's personal situation circa 1985, and pay tribute to one of his great collaborators. 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 twi...

We're rounding the corner and heading into the final tracks of Rain Dogs, but Waits isn't done with us yet as he deploys another odd instrumental groove (or two) to remind us of the strange spine of this album. 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: @so...

A visit to the hit-factory this week as Waits produces one of his most commercial and accessible tracks to date, picked over and compared to the documentaries of the 1930s by Heath and Robert Sledge (plus the usual two goons). 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....

For more Criminal activities, Lauren Spohrer and Phoebe Judge reunite with Martin and Sam for some prison-lingo dissection, attitudes towards vocal stylings and the archetypal biblical perp walk. 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-m...