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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:

Lucky Day, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [221] Nov 27, 2019

Show notes

Theatre-maker David Shopland joins his collaborator and returning guest Callum Hughes (plus the usual goofs Martin & Sam) to listen to this climactic track from The Black Rider. We discuss fusion of Waits's traditional mode of writing with the theatrical context, the nature of his writing throughout the album, as well as the writing of Belle&Sebastian. Stick with us to the end of the episode for a brief bonus performance...

website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Lucky Day, The Black Rider, Tom Waits (1993) My Wandering Days Are Over, Tigermilk, Belle & Sebastian (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.

Oily Night, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [220] Nov 20, 2019

Show notes

A fourth week with Penny Foxley sees her talk with Sam and Martin about more cacophonous instrumental music, this time with a vocal to put even Waits to shame.

website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Oily Night, The Black Rider, Tom Waits (1993) khemchim, dalai beldiri, Yat-Kha (1999)

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.

Interlude, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [219] Nov 13, 2019

Show notes

A short episode for the shortest of short tracks, as Penny, Martin and Sam discuss this 18sec Greg Cohen extract from the Black Rider score. Now with even less Tom Waits!

website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Interlude, 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.

Gospel Train, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [218] Nov 06, 2019

Show notes

Penny Foxley returns to give Martin & Sam some more context and detail for the Black Rider play from 2004. The cacophony of the music (and the evolution of that music), Marianne Faithfull's tailcoat, and the raw energy of early-2000s girlband pop all feature in today's discussion... sometimes slightly tangentially?

website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Gospel Train, The Black Rider, Tom Waits (1993) Overload, One Touch, Sugababes (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.

Crossroads, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [217] Oct 30, 2019

Show notes

Another Waits-does-Burroughs track this week, as we're joined by stage manager and Black Rider alumnus Penny Foxley for some discussion of her first-hand experience working on the play. We talk through Robert Wilson's micromanagement of actors' gestures, the fun of doing the show compared to its bleak content, and the presence of the crossroads myth in the 1930s blues of Robert Johnson.

website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Crossroads, The Black Rider, Tom Waits (1993) Cross Road Blues, King of the Delta Blues Singers, Robert Johnson (1937)

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.

Flash Pan Hunter, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [216] Oct 23, 2019

Show notes

Waits returns to more directly narrative material through the lyrics of William Burroughs, as Jenny, Sam and Martin talk about vocal quality, musical dissonance, and the extraordinary musical stylings of Björk.

website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Flash Pan Hunter, The Black Rider, Tom Waits (1993) Hunter, Homogenic, Björk (1997)

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'll Shoot The Moon, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [215] Oct 16, 2019

Show notes

A second week with Jenny Conley-Drizos sees her talking with Sam and Martin about restraint, morbidity and violence in this crooner ballad. With some of Sam's "Overworked Lyric Unpicking" (patent pending) and Martin's Smooth Marble Egg theory of music, we have one of the most stereotypical episodes of Song by Song yet... sorry folks, we're 100% on-brand this week.

website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: I'll Shoot The Moon, The Black Rider, Tom Waits (1993) I'll Be Seeing You, Dreamy, Sarah Vaughan (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. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

Gospel Train / Orchestra, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [214] Oct 09, 2019

Show notes

The mental gymnastics are in full force for this odd atonal instrumental, as Martin and Sam are joined by Jenny Conley-Drizos of the Decemberists to discuss the orchestral creation of "the essence of train", Scott Johnson's intense 80s editing strategies, and to list some instruments Sam has owned but never bothered to practice.

website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Gospel Train/Orchestra, The Black Rider, Tom Waits (1993) John Somebody Part 1, John Somebody, Scott Johnson (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.

Russian Dance, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [213] Oct 02, 2019

Show notes

It's St. Petersburg or bust this week for Charlie, Martin & Sam, as Waits pulls out a shortcut to the traditional music of Russia (Soviet, Tzarist or otherwise) for this odd interstital moment in both the album and the play. I usually write something which vaguely describes the episode here, but really you should just stop reading, go to the website and watch every single Little Big video right now. k thx bye.

website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Russian Dance, The Black Rider, Tom Waits (1993) Skibidi, Antipositive pt. 2, Little Big (2018)

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.

That's The Way/The Briar and The Rose, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [211-212] Sep 25, 2019

Show notes

Charlie Harding returns for this two-for-one special, listening to this twinned and linked pair of songs by Burroughs and Waits. With more talk of the endless foreshadowing as well as some comparisons to Shakespearian themes in pop music, Sam, Martin & Charlie think about the extra text for That's The Way, the validity of biographical shout-outs, and the symbolism of neon shotguns.

website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: That's The Way, The Black Rider, Tom Waits (1993) The Briar & The Rose, 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.

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