Song by Song is a podcast celebrating the music of Tom Waits, hosted by podcaster-musician Martin Zaltz Austwick and actor-musician Sam Pay. Sam and Martin set themselves the goal of listening to Tom Waits’s back catalogue from beginning to end, and devoting an episode to discussing each track. Song by Song is in no way officially linked to Tom Waits, or endorsed by Tom Waits, or associates. All excerpts are used for criticism purposes - please purchase your own copies of the music at your favourite shop, app, or platform to get the full experience and support musicians' work.
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Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 6 days 3 hours 32 minutes
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episode 9: Russian Dance, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [213]
It's St. Petersburg or bust this week for Charlie, Martin & Sam, as Waits pulls out a shortcut to the traditional music of Russia (Soviet, Tzarist or otherwise) for this odd interstital moment in both the album and the play. I usually write...
episode 8: That's The Way/The Briar and The Rose, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [211-212]
Charlie Harding returns for this two-for-one special, listening to this twinned and linked pair of songs by Burroughs and Waits. With more talk of the endless foreshadowing as well as some comparisons to Shakespearian themes in pop music, Sam, Martin...
episode 7: Flash Pan Hunter (Intro), The Black Rider, Tom Waits [210]
Charlie Harding of Switched On Pop joins Sam and Martin for some discussion around this little instrumental interlude on The Black Rider. We begin with a brief exploration of leitmotif as related to lightsabers, and then move through Waits's more...
episode 6: 'Tain't No Sin, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [209]
We’re sort of missing Waits this week, as William Burroughs covers this Edgars/Donaldson song from his childhood. Simon and David return for more discussion with Martin and Sam around authenticity (of voice, of writing, or of instrumental sound),...
episode 5: Black Box Theme, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [208]
More mental gymnastics from David, Simon, Sam & Martin, as Song by Song grapples with not only defining the Black Box as a song, as well as a theatrical conceit. There’s some in-depth discussion of unusual instruments and their use in musical...
episode 4: Just the Right Bullets, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [207]
Playwright Simon Stephens and Composer David Shrubsole join Martin and Sam to talk about the influence of Kurt Weill, the nature of musical theatre and the origins of the story at the heart of The Black Rider. Looking at Porgy and Bess and the...
episode 3: November, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [206]
As we try to unpick some of the interplay between the album The Black Rider and the play of the same name, Jeu Jeu la Foille, Martin & Sam reflect (pun intended) on the fatalistic imagery in the song, the foreshadowing of endings and beginnings,...
episode 2: The Black Rider, The Black Rider, Tom Waits [205]
Guest host Jeu Jeu La Foille returns for a second week looking at the opening tracks from The Black Rider, discussing with Martin and Sam the presence and absence of Wilhelm and Käthchen in the play and the music, the mirror the play provides to...
episode 1: Lucky Day (Overture), The Black Rider, Tom Waits [204]
Song by Song returns for its 15th season, digging into one of the densest and most involved albums in the whole project, The Black Rider. Guest host Jeu Jeu La Foille joins Sam and Martin to add her experience in use of Waits in theatrical performance...
The Black Rider (Introduction), Tom Waits [203a]
We're just a week away from season 15, but The Black Rider needs a little contextual work from both us the podcast and you the listeners. Check the website for links to some of the material we'll be using to discuss the album as well as the play,...