Songs from Woyzeck - Blood Money [315]

Rounding off our 20th season, Martin and Sam focus in on a few of the songs that appeared in Woyzeck but didn't make it to the album release, and then look back on Blood Money as the third Waits/Wilson-based collaboration (with a brief tangent onto superhero comics).

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Just The Way We Are Boys, unreleased Woyzeck song, Tom Waits (2000)

It's Over, Liberty Heights OST, Tom Waits (1999)

It's Over, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006)

Scene featuring 'It's Over' from Liberty Heights (dir. Levinson), via YouTube (1999)

Shiny Things, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006)

Diamond In Your Mind (bonus track), Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards Vinyl, Tom Waits (2006)

Diamond In Your Mind, A Concert for Peace and Reconciliation, Tom Waits/The Kronos Quartet (2007)

Children's Story, Orphans: Brawlers Bawlers & Bastards, Tom Waits (2006)

Woyzeck promo film, unknown origin, via YouTube (2000)

Full text for Woyzeck, as printed in the Woyzeck 2002 program, via The Tom Waits Library (2002)
Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find - Blood Money [314]

The final song from Blood Money sees Martin and Sam come together to discuss optimism and bleakness, some of the repeating themes of the album and the play, and a possible lineage for this track reaching back through the 20th century.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Blood Money, Tom Waits (2002)

A Good Man Is Hard To Find, single, Marion Harris/Eddie Green (1919)

Text of 'A Good Man Is Hard To Find' by Flannery O'Connor, via The Web Archive (1953)
Flannery O'Connor Reads 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find' at Vanderbilt University, via YouTube (1959)

A Good Man Is Hard To Find, Seven Swans, Sufjan Stevens (2004)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Calliope - Blood Money [313]

Pete Fraser is back with Martin and Sam, breaking down this unusual chunk of instrumental music from Waits's back yard. We discuss the use and origin of this track, and have an extended conversation on the work of saxophonist Colin Stetson, as Blood Money heads into its final turns.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Calliope, Blood Money, Tom Waits (2002)

Won't Be A Thing To Become, Never Where the Way She Was, Colin Stetson/Sarah Neufeld (2015)

Oh! Mr Song Writer, I Will Cure You, Vic Reeves feat. Evan Parker (1991)

A dream of water, New History Of Warfare vol 2: Judges, Colin Stetson via YouTube (2011/2021)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Woe - Blood Money [312]

We consider the three roles of this song - in the play, on the album, and as a piece of music in isolation - as Pete, Martin & Sam dig into the value of variation in music, the wash of emotion in Woe, and the restrained delivery of Kitty White.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Woe, Blood Money, Tom Waits (2002)

Plain Gold Ring, single, Kitty White (1956)

Plain Gold Ring, Little Girl Blue, Nina Simone (1958)

Plain Gold Ring, Live Seeds, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1993)

Plain Gold Ring, Vows, Kimbra (2011)

Plain Gold Ring, If You Knew Her, Zara McFarlane (2013)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

The Part You Throw Away - Blood Money [311]

We welcome saxophonist and composer Pete Fraser to the show, joining Sam and Martin to listen to the Tom Waits version of a song written for Ute Lemper. We discuss the performative and presentational aspects of the track, Waits as an artist, and our lives in general. 

The Part You Throw Away, Blood Money, Tom Waits (2002)

The Part You Throw Away, Punishing Kiss, Ute Lemper (2000)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Starving in the Belly of a Whale - Blood Money [310]

Album fatigue begins to set in this week, with mixed feelings from Sam and Martin about the third or fourth song from Blood Money dealing with the despair humanity is endlessly surrounded by. There’s some technical sonic analysis, as well as some thought about 90s images of whale-based music. 

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Starving in the Belly of a Whale, Blood Money, Tom Waits (2002)

Gepetto, Star, Belly (1993)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Lullaby - Blood Money [309]

There’s some disappointment in Waits’s bedtime song this week, as Martin & Sam consider the purpose of the lullaby in Woyzeck and beyond, and think about the perspectives we bring to the specificities of a song. 

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Lullaby, Blood Money, Tom Waits (2002)

Rockabye, 100 Not Out, Kit & The Widow (2011)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Knife Chase - Blood Money [308]

Theatrical music to underscore incidental events, or aggressive reenforcement of violent imagery? Martin & Sam find themselves poised between interpretations for this instrumental, along with their thoughts on other cutlery-based songs. 

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Knife Chase (instrumental), Blood Money, Tom Waits (2002)

Spoonful, single, Howlin' Wolf (1960)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Another Man's Vine - Blood Money [307]

Repetitions of phrase and imagery dominate this song of lust, violence and betrayal, as Miss Yankey completes her journey with Martin & Sam through Blood Money. We discover more abandonment and bitterness, as well as considering images of infidelity from various different perspectives. 

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Another Man's Vine, Blood Money, Tom Waits (2002)

The Other Woman, Ultraviolence, Lana Del Ray (2014)

The Other Woman, Wonderful Sarah, Sarah Vaughan (1957)

The Other Woman, Nina Simone at Town Hall, Nina Simone (1959)

The Other Woman (studio outtake), Grace (Legacy Edition), Jeff Buckley (1994)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

God's Away on Business - Blood Money [306]

It's still lyrics-first, sound-second, with Miss Yankey sharing her approach to music analysis with Sam & Martin. Waits gets straight back into the religious material with this 'masterpiece of bitterness', bridging spiritual, earthly, and cookie concerns.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
God's Away on Business, Blood Money, Tom Waits (2002)

God Bless The Child, single, Billie Holiday (1941)

Tom Waits/Cookie Monster mashup - God's Away On Business, cookiewaits, via YouTube (2011)

Everybody Knows, I'm Your Man, Leonard Cohen (1988)

No Children, Tallahassee, The Mountain Goats (2003)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

All the World Is Green - Blood Money [305]

Performance poet and writer Miss Yankey joins Martin and Sam to take a literary approach to Waits's lyrics in this song of love, lifeguarding and colour theory.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
All the World Is Green, Blood Money, Tom Waits (2002)

Eden, Last Year Was Weird vol 3, Tkay Maidza (2021)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Coney Island Baby - Blood Money [304]

As Waits returns to sentimentality and Americana, Babs and Fran are less struck by the qualities of the song and more curious as to the reality of the woman he's singing about. There's discussion of music vs lyrics in the appreciation of the Manic Street Preachers, whether Waits is Over/Underrated, and how classic Jim Henson characters might interpret his work.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Coney Island Baby, Blood Money, Tom Waits (2002)

Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier, Everything Must Go, Manic Street Preachers (1996)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Everything Goes to Hell - Blood Money [303]

Back with Martin & Sam, Bárbara and Fran find a little more danceability this week, albeit in a more cliched image of doomed relationships and gender roles. With some consideration of cabaret numbers and cowboys, we take a look at how Waits shapes the tone of the album, and whether everyone needs a nap.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Everything Goes to Hell, Blood Money, Tom Waits (2002)

I'm Tired, Blazing Saddles Soundtrack, Madeline Kahn (1974)


Straight To The Top (Rhumba), Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me), Whitney, Whitney Huston (1987)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Misery Is the River of the World - Blood Money [302]

Fran James and Bárbara Mendes-Jorge of the Over/Underrated podcast join Sam & Martin to kick off season 20 with a song about the saddest body of water you can imagine (feedback pending). We compare to other wet songs from musical theatre, discuss vocal quality and tone, and touch on the difference between enjoyment and analysis.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Misery Is the River of the World, Blood Money, Tom Waits (2002)

Old Man River, Showboat, Paul Robeson/Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II (1936)

Ol' Man River, single, Ray Charles/Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II (1963)

Ol' Man River, The Concert Sinatra, Frank Sinatra/Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II (1963)

Ol' Man River, Cilla, Cilla Black/Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II (1965)

Ol' Man River, Should Sister, Aretha Franklin/Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II (1966)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Woyzeck background - Blood Money [301a]

Returning to deliver our GCSE Drama lecture for the season, Callum Hughes chats with Martin and Sam about the theatrical history of Woyzeck, some of the themes present in the play, and gives us a jumping off point for the Waits album to come.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Misery Is the River of the World, Blood Money, Tom Waits (2002)

Woyzeck to go (Buechner in 9 minutes), Sommer's World Literature to go, via Youtube (2017)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.