Pay Me - Bad As Me [419]

With a brief digression into Beyoncé’s oeuvre, Kerry-Jo, Martin and Sam discuss some of the oddities in the writing of Pay Me, and what story Waits is trying to tell. We consider stories of theatrical life, where to find the end of the world, and specificities in the writing of Stephen Sondheim.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Pay Me, Bad As Me, Tom Waits (2011)

Jack Langrishe arrives in Deadwood, clip from Deadwood s3e3, w. Regina Corrado & Ted Mann, dir. Gregg Feinberg (2006)

Send In The Clowns, Good Bad but Beautiful, Shirley Bassey / Stephen Sondheim (1975)

Send In The Clowns, The Broadway Album, Barbara Streisand / Stephen Sondheim (1985)

Send In The Clowns, A Little Night Music (Original Broadway Cast Recording), Glynis John / Stephen Sondheim (1973)

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Face To The Highway - Bad As Me [418]

Back with Sam and Martin, Kerry-Jo has some opinions about the honesty of Waits’s reasons for departure, as well as the comprehensibility of his Sweetums voice. We discuss the inevitability and/or duality of his departure, styles of poetic writing in both tracks, and the various ways that we get “stuck” in situations and relationships. 

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Face To The Highway, Bad As Me, Tom Waits (2011)

Carrion, Tidal, Fiona Apple (1996)

Goddess on a Hiway, Deserter's Songs, Mercury Rev (1998)

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Get Lost - Bad As Me [417]

We welcome Kerry-Jo Reilly to the show, joining Martin and Sam for songs of travel, departure and longing by Tom Waits, Larry Taylor, and their various associates. There’s discussion of the value of 60s/70s blues-rock, Waits’s various relationships over the years, and his attitude towards The King.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Get Lost, Bad As Me, Tom Waits (2011)

Summertime / Burma Shave (including 'The Day That Elvis Presley Died' intro), live recording, Tom Waits / Herb Hardest (1984?)

Jim never has a second cup of coffee at home, from Airplane, dir. Jim Abrahams / David Zucker / Jerry Zucker (1980)

On The Road Again, Boogie With Canned Heat, Canned Heat (1968)

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Minneapolis Institute of Art listing for 'Tom Waits and Madonna', Ramon J. Muxter (1982)