Song by Song

Latest Episodes:

I Don't Wanna Grow Up, Bone Machine, Tom Waits [201] Jul 03, 2019

Show notes

Scary, Martin & Sam return to Bone Machine for this Tom-Waits-Does-The-Ramones song about the frustrations of youth towards age. We take a look at ideas of inspiration, the evolution of punk in general and the Ramones specifically, and the value of our own childhood ambitions.

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: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: I Don't Wanna Grow Up, Bone Machine, Tom Waits (1992) I Wanna Be Sedated, Road To Ruin, The Ramones (1978)

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.

Whistle Down the Wind (for Tom Jans), Bone Machine, Tom Waits [200] Jun 26, 2019

Show notes

We're at another anniversary, as guest host Scary Boots joins Sam & Martin for our bicentennial episode (muttermutter-onefromtheheart-mutter-nightonearth-muttermutter-whataboutthefilms-muttermutter) taking a look at this mournful ballad to locale and lost opportunity. Listening to the work of Tom Jans and thinking about what the dedication of a song means, we get a bit reflective about our own responses to music as an audience and a podcast.

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: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Whistle Down the Wind, Bone Machine, Tom Waits (1992) The Eyes Of An Only Child, The Eyes Of An Only Child, Tom Jans (1975)

Black Wings, Bone Machine, Tom Waits [199] Jun 19, 2019

Show notes

Creepy supernatural vibes dominate the track this week, as Mary, Martin & Sam discuss the terrifying figure who stalks through this track, as well as Waits's own intimidating vocal performance. We discuss the presence (and restraint) of Joe Gore, the mystery of Dr John, and the League of Extraordinary Musical Gentlemen that we'll be pitching to Alan Moore very soon.

(Please note that this episode was recorded before the passing of Dr. John.)

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: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Black Wings, Bone Machine, Tom Waits (1992) Send His Love To Me, To Bring You My Love, PJ Harvey (1995)

Murder in the Red Barn, Bone Machine, Tom Waits [198] Jun 12, 2019

Show notes

Waits jumps on the salacious rumour-mill with this topical true-crime tale from... 1800s Suffolk. Maybe. Mary Epworth returns for a second week of conversation with Sam and Martin, discussing the truth and fiction around the real-life events that took place in the red barn, how Waits does or doesn't engage with this story, and issues surrounding vocal engagement and strain.

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: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Murder in the Red Barn, Bone Machine, Tom Waits (1992) Murder of Maria Marten, No Roses, Shirley Collins & The Albion Country Band (1971)

Goin' Out West, Bone Machine, Tom Waits [197] Jun 05, 2019

Show notes

Martin & Sam welcome Mary Epworth to the show, as Waits expresses his dream of heading (back?) to the coast to make it in the movies. With images of Hollywood by Waits in the wake of his experiences with Coppolla, as well as other west-coast imagery in our interval, Song by Song continues its journey through Bone Machine and beyond.

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: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Goin' Out West, Bone Machine, Tom Waits (1992) California Dreamin', If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears, The Mamas & The Papas (1966)

In The Colosseum, Bone Machine, Tom Waits [196] May 29, 2019

Show notes

For this bread-and-circus-iest (breadiest and circusiest?) of tracks, guest host Jenny Owen Youngs comes out strong for Waits and his political diatribe... while Sam and Martin are more equivocal.

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: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: In the Colosseum, Bone Machine, Tom Waits (1992) Pretend We're Dead, Bricks Are Heavy, L7 (1992)

A Little Rain, Bone Machine, Tom Waits [195] May 22, 2019

Show notes

Amateur meteorologist and part-time Muppet Tom Waits takes another stab at bleak reportage in this song about loss and the threat to childhood. Jenny Owen Youngs returns for another discussion around Randy Newman, Django Reinhardt and our old friend the Smooth Marble Egg.

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: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: A Little Rain, Bone Machine, Tom Waits (1992) I Think It's Going To Rain Today, Randy Newman, Randy Newman (1968)

Jesus Gonna Be Here, Bone Machine, Tom Waits [194] May 15, 2019

Show notes

Our guest-host Jenny Owen Youngs (of the Buffering The Vampire Slayer podcast) joins us as Waits goes full-spiritual for this street-corner preacher scream. We chat about ironic or revolutionary attitudes to religion in LA and Scotland, some of our own religious experiences in music, and the role of coughing in exorcisms.

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: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Jesus Gonna Be Here, Bone Machine, Tom Waits (1992) Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam, Enter The Vaselines, The Vaselines (1987/2009)

The Ocean Doesn't Want Me Today, Bone Machine, Tom Waits [193] May 08, 2019

Show notes

For our third track with Eliza and Greg, we delve into a bleaker and more introspective world in Waits's atmospheric poem contemplating seaside suicide. Returning to his attitude to alcohol and growing up, we also take a look at a longer theatrical piece for comparison, via the work of Samuel Beckett.

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: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: The Ocean Doesn't Want Me, Bone Machine, Tom Waits (1992) A Piece Of Monologue, Sound For Spaces, Scanner/Robin Rimbaud/Samuel Beckett (1979/1998)

Who Are You?, Bone Machine, Tom Waits [192] May 01, 2019

Show notes

Greg and Eliza return to question Martin and Sam's identity in this fifth track from Bone Machine, as Waits challenges an old lover, or maybe interrogates the music industry, or both? We make comparisons with a more even-handed musical picture of a breakup, and discuss how the song represents Waits and/or Brennan's ideas of relationships.

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: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Who Are You, Bone Machine, Tom Waits (1992) Somebody That I Used To Know, Making Mirrors, Gotye feat. Kimbra (2011)

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