Helen Rosner returns after a week away for one more episode with Song by Song. She brings her culinary expertise to the party, explaining for Martin & Sam (and the audience) some of the gastronomic details Waits is bringing in this Bone-Machine-era rework. We discuss the musical and geographical locators in the song, and contrast this American perspective on the Philippines with a 1990s opposite.
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Filipino Box Spring Hog, Mule Variations, Tom Waits (1999)
Not All The World Is America, Smokey Mountain, Smokey Mountain (1990)
Filipino Box Spring Hog, Born To Choose/Bone Machine outtake, Tom Waits (c. 1992)
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