Hullo folks.
We're gearing up for season seven of Song by Song, so why not join us for a little pre-discussion listen to the album with us over on Mixlr?
Martin and Sam won't interjecting as usual due to scheduling difficulties, but we'll both be in the chatroom, sharing thoughts and opinions, taking suggestions and discussing what excites (or disturbs) us all about this upcoming album.
We'll be there from 8.30pm (that's 12.30pm PST and 3.30pm EST), so come take a listen.
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.
Once more, with feeling… as a final coda to our sixth season, we switch focus from Waits directly and instead look at his then-partner Rickie Lee Jones. Kit departs from us with some observations of not only the music of Waits and Jones, but also some of the social implications of writing emotional and emotive material about another "public figure", while Sam talks about… minor thirds, or sevenths, or something? And Martin nails down our inaccuracies.
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Rainbow Sleeves, Girl At Her Volcano, Rickie Lee Jones [w. Tom Waits] (1978/1983)
A Lucky Guy, Pirates, Rickie Lee Jones (1981)
Rainbow Sleeves, deleted scene from "Divine Madness", Bette Midler (1980)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.
We're done with Blue Valentine, but season six continues for another couple of weeks as Kit, Martin and Sam take another trip to the movies with this track from the Paradise Alley soundtrack. Comparisons this week between this track and others from Waits's recent history, as well as the reinterpretation of a man singing as a woman vs a woman's own perspective. And one more episode to come before we move on…
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Annie’s Back In Town, Paradise Alley OST, Tom Waits (1978)
Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis, New Coat Of Paint, Neko Case/Tom Waits (2000)
and for extras: Kentucky Avenue (play this alongside the youtube "Annie's Back In Town" for musical comparison)
(Meet Me In) Paradise Alley, Paradise Alley OST, Tom Waits (1978)
Paradise Alley, dir. Sylvester Stallone (1978)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.
The plural track of the singular album brings our tour through Waits's sixth album to a close, as Martin, Sam and Kit discuss one of their favourite songs from Blue Valentine. With some discussion over traditional images of lovers, the power dynamic between the singer and the object of their song (and affection), and some theories about the album as a whole, we come to the end of… wait a minute, we're doing what next week?!?
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Blue Valentines, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978)
My Funny Valentine, Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Rodgers and Hart Songbook, Ella Fitzgerald (1956)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.
As Blue Valentine heads towards its close, Kit Lovelace joins Martin and Sam to discuss some of the violent imagery buried in the dense storytelling of Waits. With the oppositions in the lyrics (as well as the title) and comparison between Waits and They Might Be Giants (anyone want to start a partner podcast? Anyone?!?), Song by Song once again discusses the big issues facing society: this week, ants vs picnics.
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
A Sweet Little Bullet from a Pretty Blue Gun, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978)
Sapphire Bullets Of Pure Love, Flood, They Might Be Giants (1990)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.
As Jen and Dave make their final appearance for this season of Song by Song, the album turns to a very different style and tone of writing as Waits looks back on the details and memories from his own life to tell a story of childhood dreams. With comparisons to the work and life of Ian Dury, and the benefits and drawbacks of specific concrete imagery in lyric writing, we continue our journey through Blue Valentine.
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Kentucky Avenue, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978)
Reasons To Be Cheerful (Part 3), Single/Jukebox Dury, Ian Dury & The Blockheads (1979/1981)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.
This week on Song by Song we (finally) examine the influence of Tom Waits on the musical writing of Joss Whedon, as well as a perhaps inevitable comparison with The King of Rock and Roll. As Martin, Jen, Dave and Sam discuss more of the density and ambiguity of Waits's lyric writing, the question of how to represent danger and evil in songwriting arises, along with the extent of Elvis's influence on... everything?
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Whistling’ Past the Graveyard, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978)
Trouble, King Creole, Elvis Presley (1958)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.
With scant regard for conventions of highway safety, Tom Waits insists on heading into oncoming traffic in this sixth track from Blue Valentine. Jen and Dave return to discuss the application of Russian Formalist theories of literature to the songwriting, the singing techniques of Waits as compared with Nancy Sinatra, and the extremity of the character he's able to adopt.
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Wrong Side of the Road, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978)
These Boots Are Made For Walkin’, Boots, Nancy Sinatra (1966)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.
Sam and Martin are joined by our latest guest hosts Dave Pickering and Jen Adamthwaite for more debates around the authenticity and appropriation of musical styles, as well as the difficulty of speaking for and about people from different backgrounds.
Nb: the Tracy Chapman track we discuss is "Behind The Wall" from the album Tracy Chapman.
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
$29.00, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978)
Shot Gun Blues, Briefcase Full Of Blues, The Blues Brothers/Donnie Walsh (1978)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.
For the final week of Elizabeth and Caspar's hosting of Song by Song, we hear Tom Waits describe the blood-soaked story of Romeo's death as well as Johnny Cash's version of a cowboy's funeral march through the Streets of Laredo. As Blue Valentine reaches its mid-point, echoes and resonances start to make themselves known through the album, and the variety of musical styles becomes more and more evident. So... y'know, that's what we talk about.
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Romeo Is Bleeding, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978)
The Streets Of Laredo, American IV: The Man Comes Around, Johnny Cash (2002)
St. James Hospital, Traditional, Benjamin Luxon (via YouTube)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.
This week in Song by Song, Martin, Sam, Elizabeth and Caspar take another trip down memory lane, hearing the life and times of a lady from Minneapolis laid out, difficulties and all. While there may be some debate over the efficacy of the twist at the end of the story, the discussion ranges from the elegance of the music, the need for structure in songwriting and the value of language as communication compared to texture.
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear this track.
And the conversation started so well... this week on Song by Song, Martin, Sam, Caspar and Elizabeth begin by debating the new musical arrangement that arrives in Red Shoes By The Drugstore, the second track from Blue Valentine, before swiftly getting derailed by rants about David Bowie, the loss of religion, Harrison Ford's sexiest screen performances (in or out of a bathroom) and Elizabeth's sax addiction. I think we broke the format on this one guys...
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Red Shoes by the Drugstore, Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978)
Love Theme - from Blade Runner, Blade Runner, Vangelis (1982/1994)
Let’s Dance, Let’s Dance, David Bowie (1983)
The Ballet of the Red Shoes, from The Red Shoes (Powell and Pressburger, 1948)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.
We're back! Sam and Martin return for another album from the Tom Waits back-catalogue, this season listening to and discussing his sixth release Blue Valentine. Joining us for the first tracks are Elizabeth Sankey and Caspar Salmon from the Highbrow Lowbrow podcast, discussing the many different levels of the song Somewhere (from West Side Story), the performance styles of both Waits and the original productions, and... potatoes. Another classic metaphor for music, only available from Song by Song.
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Somewhere (from West Side Story), Blue Valentine, Tom Waits (1978)
Somewhere, West Side Story Motion Picture Soundtrack, Jim Bryant & Marni Nixon [w. Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim] (1961)
Somewhere (Ballet), West Side Story (Original Broadway Production), Max Goberman & West Side Story Ensemble [w. Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim] (1957)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.
Welcome back to Song by Song - we've had to take another couple of weeks between seasons to get some episodes in the can before Sam heads up to sunny Scotland for panto season (playing "Bewhiskered Victorian Gentleman #3" in Scrooge! at Pitlochry Festival Theatre; a mere 7 hours by train from London! Come one, come all...). But in the meantime, feast your ears on our upcoming guests. Season six on Blue Valentine will commence 16 November 2016. We'll see you there...
No episode this week, while we get our romance warmed up for Blue Valentine... or cooled down... whichever floats your boat. But in the meantime we thought it was worth having a look back at season five.
Having gone into the album with mixed feelings and various ideas about its inspiration, I think it's fair to say that we emerged with some attitudes changed. While neither of us became the greatest fans of Foreign Affairs, it's clear that Waits has begun experimenting with form and style earlier than we initially thought. Tracks like Muriel and I Never Talk To Strangers are strong examples of his style thus far, but Potter's Field and Burma-Shave (and even Cinny's Waltz to a degree) show the beginnings of a development which, as fans of his 80s work know, will bear very interesting fruit in the coming albums.
Our attempts to follow through on Bones Howe's assertion that Foreign Affairs was a film noir tribute album were... perhaps less than successful. While we enjoyed the diversion from the standard interval tracks into the work of Nicholas Ray and Sam Fuller, our pitch that a broad ideology spans all nine tracks didn't quite come together. The film parallels do stand up for certain tracks, and his interest in film both as an inspiration as well as a performance medium will continue through his career. But the grand narrative for this album... not so much.
One thing that we did enjoy this season was expanding our scope to include more than one guest at a time - Simon Renshaw and Sam Clements contributed immeasurably, and going into Blue Valentine we plan to have more duos as guests (y'gettit? Couples are like Valentines?)
But more than anything, I think we're starting to get to some of the reasons we wanted to do this podcast in general. Great as the 70s albums are, showing an artist emerging almost fully-formed, confident and capable, they can't illustrate the breadth and scope of his abilities as an artist. Only now, as we move towards his first creative shift, are we starting to see the beginnings of Waits's true genius, his talent for reinvention and reinterpretation, and the synthesis of his various interests.
So thanks to you all for jumping on the podcast with us, and for staying with it this far. We're both fully committed to seeing the project through, and we hope you'll stick with us. As always, any thoughts on upcoming tracks, let us know at all the usual places.
Sam & Martin
Coming to the end of another season, Martin, Simon and the Sams discuss the resolution (or lack thereof) in the "concept" of this film-inspired album, as well as some of the charm and experimentation in the individual tracks on Foreign Affairs. With a certain amount of struggle to keep our shit together at the end of this very long, very hot recording session, the conversation breaks down for a while, but there's still some worthwhile… oh, forget it, we totally fall apart at the end here. Sorry folks, sorry. See you next season…
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Foreign Affair, Foreign Affairs, Tom Waits (1977)
Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home), That Stubborn Kinda' Fella, Marvin Gaye (1963)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.
As Foreign Affairs edges towards its conclusion, Sam and Simon rejoin Sam and Martin for a quick haircut and an upbeat tune, as well as some confrontational discussion about the energy, technicality and commitment of four-part harmony as compared to the music of Tom Waits (who else?). With a bunch of diversions into the films of Alex Proyas, the music of “Weird Al” Yankovic and the beauty of glassblowing (it was very hot, so so hot, we got very distracted and hot, sorry), we deliver an enthusiastic (if slightly distracted) penultimate episode for season 5 of Song by Song.
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Barber Shop, Foreign Affairs, Tom Waits (1977)
That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day), That Lucky Old Sun, Crossroads/Beasley Smith & Haven Gillespie (2010/1949)
… or to watch them sing it live..
… and for silly fun…
Word Crimes, Mandatory Fun, “Weird Al” Yankovic (2014)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.
Sam and Simon return to Song by Song for more film-inspired musical discussion as Tom Waits sings of doomed love on the dusty roads of America, heading to (or trapped in) a little town called Burma Shave. The physical appeal of Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell, the early successes and failures of Nicholas Ray's debut film They Live By Night and the roadside rhyming stylings of the Burma Shave adverts all feature in this week's episode.
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Burma-Shave, Foreign Affairs, Tom Waits (1977)
They Live By Night (film), directed by Nicholas Ray (1948)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.
Out on the edge of Potter’s Field, Martin and Sam congregate with their latest guests to discuss film, music, storytelling and Communism. Sam Clements and Simon Henshaw of the Picturehouse Podcast weigh in on this track and the film that inspired it, Pickup On South Street. The musical stylings of film noir, the clarity (or lack thereof) of Waits’s storytelling and the dramatic performance of Thelma Ritter all feature as part of the discussion this week on Song by Song.
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Potter’s Field, Foreign Affairs, Tom Waits (1977)
Pickup On South Street (film), directed by Samuel Fuller (1953)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.