Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission) - Nighthawks At The Diner [032]

Song by Song welcomes our latest guest-host Andrea Solomon as we head into the closing episodes of our third season. On the table today: more conversations over Waits's humour (as compared to his contemporaries); the musical accomplishments of his band and the value that adds to the lyrical content; and what a square Martin is.

The call is out for thoughts and opinions on our next series, Small Change - get in touch with your thoughts, opinions and outrages on this or any other upcoming albums, and have your say on Song by Song.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission), Nighthawks At The Diner, Tom Waits (1975)

Nanook Rubs It, Apostrophe('), Frank Zappa (1974)

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Putnam County - Nighthawks At The Diner [031]

Where is Putnam County? Is it a state of mind? Small-town anywhere? Or really a place that lives in all our hearts? Nope, it's in Tennessee, sorry, should have said that earlier. Song by Song bids farewell to Catherine Hirst as we take one last road-trip together down the two-lane before realising the battery's gone flat in the… the pick-up truck of our… er… podcast feed aggregator… anyone got some jumper-cables for this analogy?

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Putnam County, Nighthawks At The Diner, Tom Waits (1975)

John Wayne Gacy, Jr., Illinois, Sufjan Stevens (2005)

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Warm Beer And Cold Women - Nighthawks At The Diner [030]

What can you cover in a 14 minute podcast? Punk-Rock/Country vs. Jazz? The social implications of applause in live performances? Drinking culture as a mirror for the decline of American society? Sure, why not! Throw in a comparison of ages by your hosts and discussion of the kind of cigarettes Martin smokes… it’s another packed episode of Song by Song!

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Warm Beer And Cold Women, Nighthawks At The Diner, Tom Waits (1975)

Theme from “Cheers”, The Monitor, Titus Andronicus (2010)

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Nighthawk Postcards (from Easystreet) - Nighthawks At The Diner [029]

This week Song by Song takes a stern look at the underpinnings of the drunken vagrant Tom Waits character, using the expertise of our guest host Catherine to explore what some of the poetic imagery of this stream-of-consciousness travelogue of a track actually represents, both in terms of Waits himself as well as the world he occupies.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Nighthawk Postcards (From Easystreet), Nighthawks At The Diner, Tom Waits (1975)

Nighthawk Postcards (From Easystreet), PBS Soundstage recording, Tom Waits (1975)

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Better Off Without A Wife - Nighthawks At The Diner [028]

Sam and Martin are joined by their latest guest-host Catherine Hirst, who finally confronts the fact that their perspective on 1970s America may be slightly… incomplete? Surely not?!? Working their way through both the lyrical implications as well as the musical storytelling in this weeks tracks leads to a casual discussion of sex and religion, topics guaranteed to generate zero controversy.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Better Off Without A Wife, Nighthawks At The Diner, Tom Waits (1975)

Icicle, Under the Pink, Tori Amos (1994)

… and for angling context, Fishing With John (episode 2) - Jamaica with Tom Waits

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Eggs And Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson) - Nighthawks At The Diner [027]

Nighthawks gets in a car, with a girl, and heads to the diner as Song by Song continues into season three. Does Waits rely on pretentious intellectual language? Is the man at the diner immersed in society or separated from it? Did Susan Michelson have some kind of tray table to balance those eggs and sausages? All these questions and more are posed... if not necessarily answered.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Eggs And Sausage (In A Cadillac with Susan Michelson), Nighthawks At The Diner, Tom Waits (1975)

Tom’s Diner, Solitude Standing, Suzanne Vega (1987)

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On A Foggy Night - Nighthawks At The Diner [026]

We move from a weather update into traffic news, as Song by Song charts a late night drive by Tom Waits, vice-gripped but nonetheless askew as Nighthawks heads onwards. With Martin playing guitar and Sam impersonating iconic vocal styles of bygone eras, credentials are on the line as we head out through a Foggy Night and Day.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
On A Foggy Night, Nighthawks At The Diner, Tom Waits (1975)

A Foggy Day, Ella and Louis, Ella Fitzgerald/Louis Armstrong (1956)

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Emotional Weather Report - Nighthawks At The Diner [025]

Sit back, pour yourself a drink, maybe put a little smooth music on the stereo and put your arm around Song by Song, as Martin and Sam embark on an improvisational adventure through the metropolitan sprawl of Nighthawks At The Diner, Tom Waits's third studio(ish) album. There's a definite divide in attitude as we settle into this first track, with variable high feelings and low-pressure thoughts throughout the discussion. So umbrellas up and ears open for Season three. How's your drink, can I freshen that up for you...?

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Emotional Weather Report, Nighthawks At The Diner, Tom Waits (1975)

Young Americans, Young Americans, David Bowie (1975)

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State of the Union - Season 2

Two albums down, someothersizablenumber left to go!  So where are we on Song by Song? How's it going? What's the 411?

Well, from our point of view things are pretty positive. We've listened to two albums which, while we never thought badly of them, weren't our particular favourites, and come to appreciate them in a different way. For me, that's the most interesting things about the whole project - it's easy to fall into habits, but there are fascinating and obscure gems mixed in with the more famous tracks. I've heard Depot, Depot and Lonely many times, but clearly never listened to them properly (or maybe "fully" is a better term) until we talked about them here.

I'm certain that there are die-hard fans of Closing Time and Heart of Saturday Night who find the whole idea of re-appraising them slightly farcical, and I totally sympathise with that. I anticipate difficulties for myself with Nighthawks - I've listened to it so often over the years that finding new things to say seems almost... bizarre? But with luck the chronological approach will reveal journeys, shifts and progressions that we all may find interesting.

And that's where you folks come in - we've led the discussion up until now, but the input of our guest hosts has really given the show much more breadth, and we'd love to broaden even further by including your thoughts more actively in the recordings. So consider this...

an invitation!

Our email, twitter and the comments on this very blog can, could and should be used to flag up questions, theories and observations about tracks from Nighthawks; weird notes and phrases that have made you question what the song is actually about, the noise that makes you wonder if someone was kicking a cat outside the studio, or the buried meaning that you think everyone else is missing. There's so many associations we tie up with music, especially things we listen to over and over again, and if you've found anything we've talked about interesting, I'm certain that there are perspectives you have which we will find equally engaging.

While me and Martin don't record that frequently, we've talked a lot about how much fun we've been having on this project, and how much we're looking forward to ploughing on with it, into Nighthawks and beyond. I leave you with an odd little discovery - the YouTube playlist of a PBS broadcast from 1975, the year Nighthawks was released, featuring old favourites filmed in... some unusual ways.

Thanks for listening, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Sam

Blue Skies - The Heart of Saturday Night [024]

Even though we finished the album last week, there's one more episode and one more song for season two here at Song by Song, as Martin, Sam and Isy discuss a single from (but not from?) The Heart of Saturday Night in Blue Skies. Isy's love of messy houses, Sam's pronunciation of "Johnsons", and Martin's smooth marble egg theory all make an appearance, as we hit our second milestone in the Song by Song project. Two down, only ohmygodhowmany to go...

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Blue Skies (Single from The Heart of Saturday Night Sessions), Tom Waits (1974)

Blue Skies, The Early Years Vol. 2, Tom Waits (1971/1993)

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The Ghosts of Saturday Night - The Heart of Saturday Night [023]

The final track of Tom Waits's second album finds us peering through the window of a diner, watching the world passing by. Isy Suttie continues her stint as guest host, describing some of her early experiences playing music in Matlock, through to her current listening habits; Martin expresses his difficulties with Best Of albums and Heart of Saturday Night as a concept album; and Sam generates a conspiracy-theory-esqe thesis about this final track's links to previous songs. But is this the end of season two? Or is there one last twist in the tale?

[Disclaimer: This episode was recorded before the death of the peerless David Bowie]

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
The Ghosts Of Saturday Night (After Hours At Napoleone's Pizza House), The Heart of Saturday Night, Tom Waits (1974)

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Drunk On The Moon - The Heart of Saturday Night [022]

Returning from the Christmas break (which we slightly caught ourselves off-guard with, hope nobody was confused by a lack of episode for the last few weeks), we push on towards the close of this second season of Song by Song. Isy Suttie returns to debate, amongst other things, the relationship between audience and performer in live and recorded settings, and the ways that this can be shifted and altered. We also discuss Frank Zappa, Waits's difficulties opening for him on tour, and even find time to talk about Drunk On The Moon itself... all in less than 15 minutes!

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Drunk On The Moon, The Heart of Saturday Night, Tom Waits (1974)

Friday The 13th, Thelonius Monk & Sonny Rollins, Monk/Rollins (1954)

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Depot, Depot - The Heart of Saturday Night [021]

Isy Suttie joins Sam and Martin for these final tracks from The Heart of Saturday Night, stuck at the end of the line but not short on topics for discussion. Comparing Nina Simone's metaphorical End of the Line from Pastel Blues to Waits's literal Depot, and envying someone's chances to see Waits live, we enter the home straight on the second season of Song by Song.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Depot, Depot, The Heart of Saturday Night, Tom Waits (1974)

End of the Line, Pastel Blues, Nina Simone (1965)

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Please Call Me, Baby - The Heart of Saturday Night [020]

In terms of affection and pet names, the "Baby" of this track creates some strong feelings in all three of us, as we reach the end of Alice's time with Song by Song. Discussion ranges widely, from Christopher Walken to drinking problems. What's clear by the end of this week's episode is this - someone needs to get the next round in!

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Please Call Me, Baby, The Heart of Saturday Night, Tom Waits (1974)

Baby It's Cold Outside, Jimmy Pardo and Scott Aukerman via Youtube (2012)

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Fumblin' With The Blues - The Heart of Saturday Night [019]

Some bleak facts presented this week on the show, but regardless Martin, Sam and Alice continue their journey through the second half of The Heart of Saturday Night, discussing issues of authenticity and honesty in Waits's voice, as well as touching on one of his greatest influences.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Fumblin With The Blues, The Heart of Saturday Night, Tom Waits (1974)

St Louis Blues, Live At The 1958 Monterey Jazz Festival, Louis Armstrong (1958/2007)

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The Heart of Saturday Night - The Heart of Saturday Night [018]

We made it! Finally arriving at the much-promised Heart of Saturday Night, Martin, Sam and Alice discover that, while there's still a dark edge to his music, there are Tom Waits songs that you can play at a party (or at least while getting ready to go to one). With the first half of the album concluded, we can all comb our hair, put on a dress or a tie and head into what presumably must be the other internal organs of Sunday morning...

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
The Heart of Saturday Night, The Heart of Saturday Night, Tom Waits (1974)

The Heart of Saturday Night, On The Scene '73 KPFK Folk Scene Broadcast, Tom Waits (1973)

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Diamonds On My Windshield - The Heart of Saturday Night [017]

Martin and Sam greet new guest host Alice Sanders to discuss the first of Tom Waits's beat poems, following the meandering imagery of an unsettled man drifting along California's roads. Song structure and creating intimacy and a sense of time all get mentioned... and Sam totally forgets that Diamonds isn't on Nighthawks, it's on Dime Store Novels. Idiot.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Diamonds on my Windshield, The Heart of Saturday Night, Tom Waits (1974)

October in the Railroad Earth, Poetry For The Beat Generation, Jack Kerouac and Steve Allen (1959)

And for contrast, Diamonds on my Windshield, Dime Store Novels vol. 1, Tom Waits (1974)

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Shiver Me Timbers - The Heart of Saturday Night [016]

Song by Song hits the high seas... or maybe just a dark metaphor as Anna Turrell makes bids us farewell for this fourth track from The Heart of Saturday Night. Is it a dark sea-shanty? A ballad of fatalistic doom? Or just a nice song about the seaside? Mark your choice on a postcard and send it along to Song by Song, c/o The Internet.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Shiver Me Timbers, The Heart of Saturday Night, Tom Waits (1974)

Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas, Read by Richard Burton (1954)

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Semi Suite - The Heart of Saturday Night [015]

Song by Song hits the road as Tom Waits chronicles the trials of a man driving the American freeways... and the women he leaves in his wake. A condemnation, a romanticism, intimate or dismissive? Anna Turrell returns for this third track, still searching for Saturday Night's Heart. 

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Semi Suite, The Heart of Saturday Night, Tom Waits (1974)

Working for the Man, More of Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits, Roy Orbison (1964)

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San Diego Serenade - The Heart of Saturday Night [014]

Season two continues! We press on into The Heart of Saturday Night, joined for another episode by Anna Turrell, and there's a certain amount of disagreement over the value of this track, in terms of content, style and arrangement. The universality of the love song, the formulaic nature of lyrics and the unavoidable truth that this is all just Space and Time man - they're all raised, discussed and ultimately forgotten.

As always, comment and input are gratefully received, either through twitter, email, soundcloud or as a comment right here on the blog - especially relating to tracks 5-8 (Diamonds On My Windshield; The Heart of Saturday Night; Fumblin' With The Blues; Please Call Me, Baby) - we're recording this weekend, tell us what we should be listening out for.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
San Diego Serenade, The Heart of Saturday Night, Tom Waits (1974)

November Rain, Use Your Illusion I, Guns and Roses (1991)

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