Song by Song

Martin is a punk, Sam Pay is a runt, Vera joined the podcast and they all… focused on getting enough water because hydration is important. We dip back into the Woyzeck material, consider Ramones fandom, and Waits pays tribute to Jack Kerouac. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: The...

Vera Chok makes her triumphant 2023 return to Song by Song for fat driving beats, donated smooth jazz vocals and a moment of zen. This week we discuss the anger of an ageing codependent relationship, the nature (and futility) of advice, and the magic of anticipated nostalgia. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustra...

Dina is back for some tricky conversations with Martin and Sam about the geography of Shreveport and Huston, more Woyzeck off-cuts, and of course, the big topic of the Gaza conflict. We consider Waits working outside his comfort zone, his Lead Belly reversal, and again discuss the "why" of his instrumental choices. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gm...

It's all stories of attentiveness and canines this week, as we welcome Dina Del Bucchia to the show for a striptease routine, sentimental intensity, and a song about a mean lady. We discuss his connection to Bette Midler, consensual domination, and the needs of attention-seeking Leos. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for...

Jeffrey's with Martin and Sam for a second Orphaned week, delighting in gospel music, songs of absentee fathers, and approximately 500 Bing Bangs. Waits sidesteps his irony to celebrate religion (or at least its musical traditions), we get down and dirty with a country music legend, and Jeffrey… falls in love! website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.c...

We welcome Nightvale's own Jeffrey Cranor back to Song by Song, joining Martin and Sam to explore a Lead Belly cover, sentimental material from the film Pollock, and a murderous song of sibling rivalry. We talk about mutability and adaptation in the blues tradition, supernatural extensions in folk ballads, and Martin experiences a moment of emotional crisis. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter:...

A positive start and slight decline for Hannah, Sam and Martin, with Waits in murder ballad mode, a simple banjo-led song of yearning and the first instrumental of the album. The 'who' of our Brawler, the 'where' of our Bawler, and the 'why' of the Bastard all get a good discussion, as Song by Song continues through Orphans. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysong...

Martin and Sam welcome Hannah McGregor for another trio of Waits's abandoned children: a hobo lullabye, his contribution to the Shrek-niverse and a tribute to one of 1969's most unusual solo projects. Plus: how hard would it be for two women in their 30s to fit inside one overcoat?!? website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for...

Returning for another eclectic selection of tracks, Amanda, Martin and Sam listen to a pescatarian jailbreak tune, an unusually conversational murder ballad, and Waits-does-Attenborough. We consider the possible origins of Widow's Grove, truth and fiction in insect monologues, and the value of seafood-based escapology. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcas...

Martin and Sam welcome actor-musician Amanda Gordon to the show, getting into the groove of 2:19, the history of Long Way Home, and the strange dark texture of Heigh Ho. We discuss the value of grim interpretation, the lyrical flourishes in Waits's own writing and elsewhere, and the importance of accurate railway scheduling. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysong...

There's both delights and disappointments this week, as Martin, Sam and Jeu Jeu la Foille find a disappointingly straightforward Brawler with LowDown, a delightful and layered Bawler in You Can Never Hold Back Spring, and a creepy story guaranteed to disturb the little Bastards in your life. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts u...

Aaaaand… we're off! Guest host Jeu Jeu La Foille rejoins Martin and Sam to tackle the first tracks from our monumental Orphans season, digging into the first tracks of Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards. We examine the Elvis influence in another hot-and-bothered song for Kathleen, a children's song for an elderly bunny, and a very faithful cover from the Threepenny Opera. website: songbysongpodcast.co...

Next week begins season 22, the behemoth that is Orphans. And so we're all on the same page, Sam and Martin explain how they (and we) will approach these three albums without breaking all our brains.   website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com   Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: If I Have To Go, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers...

While Sam and Martin prepare for Orphans, please enjoy a guest-podcast from our friends Fran and Babs of the Over/Underrated Music Podcast, featuring your regular SbS hosts as guests talking about some NY art rock, David Byrne's lack of love, and the genius of the two Johns.   website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com   We think your Song by Song ex...

Song by Song gets archeological, uncovering and piecing together muffled lyric fragments in this final episode on the Real Gone bonus track.   website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com   Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Chick a Boom, Real Gone (remastered), Tom Waits (2004/2017) Chick a Boom, Real Gone (original), Tom Wa...

Waits reaches out for a form out of his usual style, as Sam and Martin consider who and where this song is coming from, as well as the technique and attitude of Waits's political work through Real Gone and beyond.   website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com   Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Day After Tomorrow, Real Gone...

It's point/counterpoint on Song by Song again, as Martin and Sam divide over Waits's song of loss and yearning. Whether this is a pure form of a classic sentiment or an unnecessary retread of predictable tropes gets turned over, alongside a rare Tom Waits cover for the interval track. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for...

Waits flies solo for this horny-noise-fragment, as Sam and Martin pin down both some of the sonic design as well as images of travel and freedom. We look at Waits's reuse of phrases from other songs, his line between affection and objectification, and compare with the technical precision of Bobby McFerrin's vocal performances. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbyso...

High energy blues number - check. Harsh beat-boxing rhythmic tone - check. Mumbled lyrics and anti-poetic phrasing - check. David, Sam and Martin find all the required elements, but discuss whether it all comes together in this week's song. Note: we mention Mark Rylance this episode; between recording and release, his brother Jonathan was killed - sympathies from all of us for this loss. website:...

Singing from beyond the grave, Waits bridges the green grass boundary between life and death as David, Sam and Martin question whether this week's song presents a tender or threatening love. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Green Grass, Real Gone (remastered), Tom Waits (2004/201...

Actor/musician David Ahmad joins Sam and Martin to discuss the religious material, consider the game-of-telephone lineage of folk classics, and celebrate this (perhaps overlooked) track of sorrow and loss. Note: we mention Mark Rylance this episode; between recording and release, his brother Jonathan was killed - sympathies from all of us for this loss. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @son...

As EE Cummings said… 'damn everything but the circus'… although Dominic, Martin and Sam question whether this Circus deserves praise or damnation itself. We compare to other sections of Waits's work, as well as other real and fictional songs, plus the value of talking to strangers on night-buses. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extra...

Dominic is back with Sam and Martin, thinking about both the beauty and exploitation-of-beauty that this song contains, and considering how it compares with the traditions of murder ballads. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Dead and Lovely, Real Gone (remastered), Tom Waits (2004...

Musician and theatre-maker Dominic Conway gets his dancing shoes on with Sam and Martin for a conversation about the sonic feel of this track, the lack of lyrical focus in this album, and dance instructionals of the early 2000s. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Metropolitan Glide...

Waits returns to vignettes this week, as well as incomplete stories and the longing for closure, as Molly rejoins Sam and Martin to talk about how these stories relate to fiction, journalism, and apocalyptic love songs. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: How's It Gonna End, Real Go...