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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:

No One Can Forgive Me / Mathie Grove / Silent Night, Orphans, Tom Waits [392/393/394] Mar 15, 2023

Show notes

A final set of bonus tracks brings us to the end of season 22, with Christa, Martin and Sam enjoying a demo-style blues number, an extended bit of acapella storytelling, and Waits's duet with a children's choir. We conclude with some exaggerated masculinity, the Elizabethan-equivalent of Reservoir Dogs, and a bit of Christmas charidee.

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

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: No One Can Forgive Me, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Mathie Grove, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Silent Night, S.O.S United, SOS Children's Villages & Tom Waits (1989) Matty Groves, Liege And Lief, Fairport Convention (1969)

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.

Pray / Young At Heart / Missing My Son, Orphans, Tom Waits [389/390/391] Mar 08, 2023

Show notes

Musician and writer Christa Couture joins Martin and Sam for the final few Orphans, including a Book of Knots collaboration, the tale of an unpaid grocery bill, and a bit of ol' Blue Eyes. Our penultimate episode for the season includes a celebration of youth, silly storytelling, and a surprise vocal cameo by the one and only Kathleen.

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

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Pray, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Young At Heart, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Missing My Son, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Good Bayou, The Living Record, Christa Couture (2012)

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.

Cannon Song / Jayne's Blue Wish / Dog Treat, Orphans, Tom Waits [386/387/388] Mar 01, 2023

Show notes

Heading into the final tracks from Orphans, Tim, Martin and Sam discuss the ruinous junkyard dog that is Waits's music, with another track from Brecht/Weill's Threepenny Opera, some nursery rhyme cribs, and a bit of spontaneous(?) comedy. Waits delivers some aggressive anti-war sentiment, a song slightly lacking in specificity, and then finishes with a load of absolute bull.

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

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Cannon Song, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Jayne's Blue Wish, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Dog Treat, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Cannon Song, Lost In The Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill, Kurt Weill / Bertolt Brecht / The Fowler Brothers / Stan Ridgway / trans. by Ralph Manheim and John Willett (1985)

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.

Diamond In Your Mind / Danny Says / On The Road, Orphans, Tom Waits [383/384/385] Feb 22, 2023

Show notes

We welcome writer and podcaster Tim Clare to Song by Song, for more Orphaned songs about the significance of imaginary diamonds, sound-check deadlines, and a collaboration with Primus. We discuss reinterpretations of The Ramones, another version of Kerouac's song On The Road, and a very valuable belt.

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

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Diamond In Your Mind, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Danny Says, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) On The Road, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Home I'll Never Be, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006)

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.

Crazy 'Bout My Baby / Down There By The Train / King Kong, Orphans, Tom Waits [380/381/382] Feb 15, 2023

Show notes

Having dealt with all the Brawlers, Sam and Martin dig into the bonus disc of Orphans with a Fats Waller cover, music first performed by Johnny Cash, and a synopsis of King Kong. We discuss Waits's capability as a pianist, his treatment of history's villains, and consider his cover of an iconic outsider-artist musician.

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

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Crazy 'Bout My Baby, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Down There By The Train, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) King Kong, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) King Kong, Yip Jump Music, Daniel Johnston (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.

Rains on Me / Take Care Of All Of My Children / Spidey's Wild Ride, Orphans, Tom Waits [377/378/379] Feb 08, 2023

Show notes

Some soothing, some heartbreak, and some extreme weather for Miss Yankey, as she examines another set of Orphans with Sam and Martin. Waits looks back on his Troubador years with tenderness, calls for care of the children of Seattle, and delivers a questionable hip-hop tribute.

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

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Rains On Me, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Take Care Of All My Children, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Spidey's Wild Ride, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Rat's Theme, Tom Waits, from Streetwise, dir. Martin Bell (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.

Buzz Fledderjohn / The Fall Of Troy / The Pontiac, Orphans, Tom Waits [374/375/376] Feb 01, 2023

Show notes

Miss Yankey rejoins Martin and Sam, bringing her perspective on the writing and performance of this week's selection of neighbourhood memories, childhood crimes and old cars. We peer over Waits's fence at forbidden gardens, pair greek myth with tragic violence, and visit with Kathleen's dad.

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

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Buzz Fledderjohn, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) The Fall Of Troy, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) The Pontiac, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006)

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.

Sea of Love / Goodnight Irene / Altar Boy, Orphans, Tom Waits [371/372/373] Jan 25, 2023

Show notes

Jo, Martin and Sam return to the ocean, the church, and another Leadbelly cover to consider Waits's reinterpretation of various older songs. The swirling Sea of Love, the unnecessary pub singalong, and behind-the-altar confessionals all get a new twist, to varied effect.

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

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Sea Of Love, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Goodnight Irene, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Altar Boy, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) What Became Of Old Father Craft, The Alice Demos, Tom Waits (1992 - unreleased)

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.

Walk Away / If I Have To Go / Poor Little Lamb, Orphans, Tom Waits [368/369/370] Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

Walking back to the show only to walk away again, Jo Neary takes on another trio of Orphans with Martin and Sam. Beginning with the 90s religious material, heading back to theatre of the 80s, and then the street poetry of William Kennedy's childhood, we also consider how Waits's writing functions as a dusting soundtrack.

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

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Walk Away, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) If I Have To Go, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Poor Little Lamb, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006) Clip from Ironweed, dir. Hector Babenco (1987)

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 #6 Jan 04, 2023

Show notes

As we enter 2023, Sam and Martin take a quick rummage through the emails, tweets and carrier pigeon letters the listeners have sent in over the last year, getting your take on lyrical and musical elements we may have missed, as well as a bunch of other thoughts and considerations.

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

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Bad As Me, Spirit In The Room, Tom Jones (2012)

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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