Guest host Catherine Hirst joins Song by Song, and straight away gives us new perspective on the yearning qualities of Waits’s peon to solitude. Whether the song is an honest rejection of marriage or just a cover for a sublimated desire to be told not to go fishing, we discuss the broader implications of mutual love vs. self-love and the fact that Sam isn’t typical of 1975 Americana - shocks all around!
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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