Song by Song

Latest Episodes:

More Than Rain, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits [135] Jun 06, 2018

Show notes

Existential crises galore, or just a really bad hangover, as Lily, Sam and Martin attempt to catch the bouquet of Waits's mournful gallic ditty. Accordion tuning, a keyboard called Leslie and a slightly unfair comparison to one of the great Jazz numbers of the 20th Century all feature this week on Song by Song.

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: More Than Rain, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987) Alabama, Live At Birdland, John Coltrane (1964)

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.

Frank's Theme, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits [134] May 30, 2018

Show notes

Martin and Sam are joined by Lily Sloane of A Therapist Walks Into A Bar to discuss this side of the album's final track (as well as the first song from the play), and the images of dreams, hope, despair and fantasy that it evokes. Plus turnip-sales.

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: Franks Theme, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987) Life In A Scotch Sittingroom #2 Episode 11, Jammy Smears, Ivor Cutler (1976)

Please Wake Me Up, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits [133] May 23, 2018

Show notes

More dream talk with Helen, Sam and Martin, as Waits constructs an unsettled and dislocated musical world to capture the sense of space between waking and sleeping. We also discuss the impact of sound (and film) on big systems vs headphones, as well as terrifying clown music and the vocal brilliance of Mike Patton.

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: Please Wake Me Up, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987) Carousel, Mr. Bungle, Mr. Bungle (1991)

Yesterday Is Here, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits [132] May 16, 2018

Show notes

Still picking apart the worlds of the album and the play, Helen, Sam and Martin delve into the tone created by Waits, as well as Paul McCartney, in their songs yearning for the past.

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: Yesterday Is Here, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987) Yesterday, Help, The Beatles (1965)

I'll Be Gone, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits [131] May 09, 2018

Show notes

Helen Sadler of the Flixwatcher podcast joins Martin and Sam to listen to Tom Waits's cock...rel. Some brief discussion of Waits as an actor, further debate around the danceability of Tom Waits songs and a celebration of the work of Kate Bush quickly devolves into Martin making bird noises. Sorry folks, business as usual ...

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'll Be Gone, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987) An Endless Sky Of Honey, Aerial, Kate Bush (2005)

Innocent When You Dream, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits [130] May 02, 2018

Show notes

Song by Song is back for one more episode with Jeremy Warmsley, as he, Sam and Martin take a look at one of Waits's classic songs from this album, the way his storytelling style relates to truth and lies/dreams, as well as some more esoteric music from Ralph Carney & co.

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: Innocent When You Dream (Barroom), Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987) New York's Finest Dining Experience, Contents Dislodged During Shipment, Tin Huey (1979)

Temptation, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits [129] Apr 25, 2018

Show notes

Hitting his groove (as well as the sideboard), Waits lifts into his falsetto for this warning against the evils of... alcohol? Women? Lack of faith? All three? Jeremy Warmsley returns for more discussion of music videos, sex, and identity in the 1980s.

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: Temptation, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987) If I Was Your Girlfriend, Sign 'O' The Times, Prince (1987)

Blow Wind Blow, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits [128] Apr 18, 2018

Show notes

Jeremy Warmsley joins Sam and Martin to bloviate on Blow Wind Blow, a track which does not seem to connect easily with any of them. Picking the narrative apart, discussing some of the strengths (or frustrations) of the arrangement, and the importance of weather to Waits's writing all feature on this week's Song by Song.

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: Blow Wind Blow, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987) I Want Wind to Blow, The Glow Pt. 2, The Microphones (2001)

Straight To The Top (Rhumba), Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits [127] Apr 11, 2018

Show notes

Straight to one-down-from-the-top (track-listing-wise), Martin and Sam continue with more tortuous car similes, the divide between genuine celebration and the desperation for the same, and special guest-input from Google Translate.

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: Straight To The Top (Rhumba), Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987) Rumba Azul, Rumba International!, Lecuona Cuban Boys (1935/2015)

Hang On St Christopher, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits [126] Apr 04, 2018

Show notes

Welcome back to Song by Song for this, our eleventh season, taking on the 1987 album Franks Wild Years. Sam and Martin begin again with some (brief) discussion of its theatrical context, as well as the strange mechanised wanderlust of this track as compared to previous Waits songs and the early-20th Century work of Woodie Guthrie.

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: Hang On St. Christopher, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987) Hard Travelin', The Asch Recordings vol. 3, Woodie Guthrie (1940s/1999)

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