For those who prefer to binge-listen to their content, a final summing-up of our latest season of Song by Song on Tom Waits. With Caspar Salmon, Elizabeth Sankey, Jen Adamthwaite, Dave Pickering and Kit Lovelace in tow, Sam and Martin have ploughed their way through not just the 10 tracks from Blue Valentine, but also two contemporaneous(ish) Waits songs: Annie's Back In Town & Rainbow Sleeves.
We're at a turning point, arguably the first or second of Waits's career, but over the last couple of albums we've seen the writing on the wall. Waits is beginning to experiment more boldly with style, arrangement and theme, as well as in his own vocal performance. Many fans will anticipate the beginning of the 80s with Heartattack and Vine as being a major shift in his style and outlook, and we're looking forward to considering this in the coming episodes.
So, for those who want to prepare fully, find below a full playlist of all of our season six episodes, as well as Spotify and YouTube links to all the songs we're discussing. And, if you've missed out on any episodes or tracks from previous series, everything is ready and waiting to play at the bottom of the Closing Time, The Heart of Saturday Night, Nighthawks at the Diner, Small Change and Foreign Affairs pages at songbysongpodcast.com
Thanks for listening, we'll see you very soon for season seven.
St. James Hospital, Traditional, Benjamin Luxon (via YouTube)
Annie’s Back In Town, Paradise Alley OST, Tom Waits (1978)
(Meet Me In) Paradise Alley, Paradise Alley OST, Tom Waits (1978)
Paradise Alley, dir. Sylvester Stallone (1978)