Song by Song

Elizabeth and Jeremy return for this gentle pastoral sketch of Waits's desire for another, and discuss the universality of this wanting sentiment, traditional masculine presentations of desire in music, and the irresistible rise of girl-power. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: I W...

Together again for the first time, Elizabeth Sankey and Jeremy Warmsley (aka Summer Camp) visit Martin and Sam for a discussion over demo-to-final-version transitions, the process of choosing tunes and harmonies, and of course… clown-pirates. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Nobo...

A second week with Charlie brings his brief SbS return to a close, as we revisit this excellent demo version of Blue Skies. We broadly acknowledge our love of the simple 1971 version, before digging into Solange's 2016 image of Cranes in the Sky, and the beautiful complexities of that song's structure. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music...

Charlie Harding of Switched On Pop returns to Song by Song to discuss this interstitial about between-moments-romance. What this love is, who it's directed towards and what that might mean is up for debate, and Charlie, Sam & Martin discuss the differences between ideas of middle/averageness on either side of the Atlantic. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpo...

It's a bit of a downer this week, as Nick, Sam & Martin get together to talk about at least one hosts' least-favourite Tom Waits song so far. We have a discussion about the success and failure of simplicity in music, as well as some of the complex history of the 1960s calypso hit Yellow Bird. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts...

Nick returns for a second week's chat with Sam and Martin about classic cars (and their parking logistics), the evolution of Ol' 55 (from Early Years to Closing Time to The Eagles), as well as the role of the car in rock and roll (as well as American culture in general). Note: Sam refers to a car advert using the Joplin song as Porsche, when it's actually BMW - video on the website. website: songb...

For the first track from this second half of our 2-volume Early Years season, Martin and Sam are joined by Nick White from KCRW's Lost Notes to talk about this laid-back version of a Closing Time classic, including comparison to the early work of an icon of punk. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review p...

For the last episode of our 2020 film mini-season, we welcome back Helen Zaltzman and Jenny Owen Youngs (of The Allusionist, Buffering The Vampire Slayer, and Veronica Mars Investigates) for a somewhat contentious discussion of this vampire-staple retelling. With some strong feelings and heavy levels of confusion, as well as a solo outing by Sam as guy-who-can-find-a-positive-in-almost-anything, S...

For our second Stripped Media crossover, Martin & Sam are joined by Helen Sadler & Kobi Omenaka for the Song-by-Song-by-Flixwatcher podcast, and take a look at the (at time of recording) available-on-Netflix-film Seven Psychopaths. With as many tangents in our conversation as there are in the film itself, lots of positive thoughts about a film all four hosts feel is fundamentally flawed, and with...

The first of our Stripped Media film crossovers finds Sam Clements & Louise Owen of the 90 Minute Or Less Film Festival joining regular SbS hosts Sam & Martin for the only Tom Waits film short enough for us to both discuss. With some mixed feelings about the effectiveness of the film, albeit with general enthusiasm for specific elements, we debate some of the details of this debut film by Dukić an...

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: s...

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 p...

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: @son...

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...

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...

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 illustr...

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 illustra...

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 p...

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 illust...

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....

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@gm...

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: so...

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...

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: songbysongpo...

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 wi...