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Song by Song — Music
Song by Song

Song by Song is a podcast celebrating the music of Tom Waits, hosted by podcaster-musician Martin Zaltz Austwick and actor-musician Sam Pay. Sam and Martin set themselves the goal of listening to Tom Waits’s back catalogue from beginning to end, and devoting an episode to discussing each track.

Song by Song is in no way officially linked to Tom Waits, or endorsed by Tom Waits, or associates. All excerpts are used for criticism purposes – please purchase your own copies of the music at your favourite shop, app, or platform to get the full experience and support musicians’ work.

Copyright: © All rights reserved

Latest Episodes:

Had Me A Girl, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits [232] Feb 26, 2020

Show notes

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.

I'm Your Late Night Evening Prostitute, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits [231] Feb 19, 2020

Show notes

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.

Poncho's Lament, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits [230] Feb 12, 2020

Show notes

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.

Goin' Down Slow, The Early Years vol 1, Tom Waits [229] Feb 05, 2020

Show notes

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.

The Early Years teaser [228a] Jan 22, 2020

Show notes

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.

Mailbag Episode #3 Jan 15, 2020

Show notes

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 - listen responsibly.

The Black Rider (play, dir. Wilson, 1990), Tom Waits and Others [228/F11] Dec 25, 2019

Show notes

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.

But He's Not Wilhelm/Chase the Clouds Away/In The Morning/News From The Duke [224-227] Dec 18, 2019

Show notes

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 Weiner Festwochen, via YouTube), Wilson/Burroughs/Waits (1990) News From The Duke (@1h10m50s) 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 revenue - listen responsibly.

Carnival, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [223] Dec 11, 2019

Show notes

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.

The Last Rose of Summer, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [222] Dec 04, 2019

Show notes

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 revenue - listen responsibly.

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