Lord I've Been Changed / Tell It To Me / First Kiss - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards [353/354/355]

Jeffrey’s with Martin and Sam for a second Orphaned week, delighting in gospel music, songs of absentee fathers, and approximately 500 Bing Bangs. Waits sidesteps his irony to celebrate religion (or at least its musical traditions), we get down and dirty with a country music legend, and Jeffrey… falls in love!

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Lord I've Been Changed, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006)

Lord I've Been Changed, from Freedom Highway, dir. Phillip King (2001)

Know I've Been Changed, Wicked Grin, John Hammond / Tom Waits (2001)

Know I've Been Changed, Great Day, Staples Singers (1975)

Tell It To Me, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006)

Louise, Friends of Mine, Ramblin' Jack Elliott / Tom Waits (1998)

Lucille (aka 'a country song in 3/4 time'), Kenny Rogers, Kenny Rogers (1976)

The Cowboy Waltz (aka 'another country song in 3/4 time'), Asch Recordings vol 4, Woodie Guthrie (1999/?)

First Kiss, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006)

Thousand Bing Bangs, Devout Catalyst, Ken Nordine / Tom Waits (1991)

A Thousand Bingbangs, A Transparent Mask, Ken Nordine (2011)

The Movie, Devout Catalyst, Ken Nordine / Tom Waits (1991)

Circus, single, Ken Nordine / Tom Waits (2019)

Funky Moped, live on TOTP, Jasper Carrot (1975)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Ain't Goin' Down To The Well / World Keeps Turning / Two Sisters - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards [350/351/352]

We welcome Nightvale’s own Jeffrey Cranor back to Song by Song, joining Martin and Sam to explore a Lead Belly cover, sentimental material from the film Pollock, and a murderous song of sibling rivalry. We talk about mutability and adaptation in the blues tradition, supernatural extensions in folk ballads, and Martin experiences a moment of emotional crisis.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Ain't Goin' Down To The Well, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006)

Ain't Going Down To The Well, from Freedom Highway, dir. Phillip King (2001)

World Keeps Turning, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006)

Pollock trailer, dir. Ed Harris (2000)

Two Sisters, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006)

Bow And Balance / Two Sisters, Old Town School of Folk Music, Horton Barker (1962)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Jitterbug Boy - Small Change [038]

For our last episode with the delightful Jeffrey Cranor, Song by Song takes on the truth-or-lie stories of this third track on Small Change, talking about the Jitterbug Boy lying his way through the night. The truth of a person as well as the truth of a performance emerges from the discussion, touching on Jeffrey's own experiences with performance, as well as the experiences of one of the surprising heroes of 20th Century America.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Jitterbug Boy, Small Change, Tom Waits (1976)

A Talk With George, JoCo Looks Back, Jonathan Coulton (2008)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Step Right Up - Small Change [037]

Driving up the tempo and pulling back on the production, this second track from Small Change both imitates and satirises the tone of salesman patter. Alongside discussion of advertising and art in general, Song by Song delves into Waits's relationship with commercialism, both in terms of his music as well as his vocal identity, and features the most sympathetic description of a dog this side of Frank's Wild Years.

Further reading on Waits's attitude to commercials and advertising can be found here.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Step Right Up, Small Change, Tom Waits (1976)

Butcher’s Blend Purina Advert, Tom Waits (1981)

All Things Considered, Joel Rose, NPR, May 6 2005

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen) - Small Change [036]

Sam and Martin returns for a victorious fourth season, joined by their latest guest host Jeffrey Cranor of Welcome to Night Vale. As Waits embarks on what we consider his most successful and exciting album to date, expanding his range and tone and truly cementing his voice both sonically and lyrically, we mirror the content of the album by doing... exactly the same as we've done for the last three seasons. Stability and continuity, the most Waitsian of values. Welcome back to Song by Song!

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Tom Traubert’s Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen), Small Change, Tom Waits (1976)

Fyn Er Fin, Fyn Er Fin, Lasse & Mathilde (1995)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.