Mailbag Episode #2

Happy New Year! 2019 brings Song by Song back to take another look through the listener mail we've received over the last year or so. Check out the show notes below for more links and details of the songs discussed.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Just Another Sucker On The Vine, Swordfishtrombones, Tom Waits (1983)

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Pieces of a Man, Gil Scott-Heron (1971)

Don't Get Around Much Anymore, The Duke: The Columbia Years, Duke Ellington (1927-1962?)

Click here for the text of the play Frank's Wild Years, courtesy of The Tom Waits Library
Beulah Land, Complete Studio Recordings, Mississippi John Hurt (2000)

Beulah Land, Avalon Blues: A Tribute to Mississippi John Hurt, Gillian Welch (2001)

Click here for the ABC network 'Take 5' interview with Tom Waits promoting Bad As Me.
Bella Ciao, Songs of Resistance 1942-2018, Marc Ribot/Tom Waits (2018)

On The Nickel, via YouTube, Puddles Pity Party (2017)

Hang On St. Christopher (demo) via YouTube

Temptation (demo) via YouTube

Please Wake Me Up (demo) via YouTube

More Than Rain (demo) via YouTube

Train Song (demo) via YouTube

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Innocent When You Dream - Big Time (film) [170]

Jeremy Warmsley returns for everyone's favourite, Tom Waits In A Bath. With discussion of the fusion of embodied and distanced performance, the post-modern nature of telling a story about stolen memories, and the slightly repetitious nature of the verses, we pick over our final track from Big Time.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Innocent When You Dream, Big Time (film), Tom Waits (1988)

Innocent When You Dream (Barroom), Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

Innocent When You Dream (78), Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

More Than Rain - Big Time (film) [169]

Lily Sloane returns to give a more nuanced and informed assessment of Waits's repression of feelings, as we revisit the heartbreak, loss and loneliness of this song. With some discussion of his singing technique as well as the lyrical changes, we head towards the final tracks of this extended season of Song by Song.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
More Than Rain, Big Time (film), Tom Waits (1988)

More Than Rain, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

I'll Take New York - Big Time (film) [168]

Gabriel Ebulue of The Three Track Podcast is back for more explorations into the crazed narrative of this film, as Waits's breakdown is mirrored by the breakdown of the world of the film.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
I'll Take New York, Big Time (film), Tom Waits (1988)
Unfortunately, we cannot find video of the Big Time Film version of this song, but starting at 4:47 this video includes audio of a very similar live version, but without Auld Lang Syne.

I'll Take New York, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Straight To The Top - Big Time (film) [166]

Martin and Sam welcome back Gabriel Ebulue of The Three Track podcast to take another look at the horrific wedding-singer persona expressed in the live Vegas version of Straight To The Top. With cameos from other figures from the Tom Waits Players and theories about the cut-and-paste writing style in these songs, we take a fourth (and final) look at this tune.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Straight To The Top, Big Time (film), Tom Waits (1988)
Unfortunately, we cannot find video of the Big Time Film version of this song, but the first 4.40 of this video includes audio of a very similar live version, albeit without the voice-detuning.

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

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Hang On St. Christopher - Big Time (film) [164]

Back on the road with Tom Waits, Martin and Sam struggle with the sound effects breaking into the music, embrace the driving bass line in this live version and note how awful it is celebrating a birthday around actors.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Hang On St. Christopher, Big Time (film), Tom Waits (1988)

Hang On St. Christopher, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Telephone Call From Istanbul - Big Time [158]

Having already cited it as a strong reinterpretation several times throughout this season, Martin and Sam celebrate this party version of Waits’s weird telephone call.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Telephone Call From Istanbul, Big Time, Tom Waits (1988)

Telephone Call From Istanbul, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

Chantilly Lace, Chantilly Lace, The Big Bopper (1958)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Train Song - Big Time [155]

Sam once again starts off an episode with an extended theory about the dramatic structure that lives between this song and the dumb story about conception-by-musket… if you'd like to skip this, please begin the episode at the two-minute mark. Meanwhile, Martin pulls things back to more mainstream discussion about Tom's weird flat hands. P.s the song is beautiful.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Train Song, Big Time, Tom Waits (1988)

Train Song, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Way Down In The Hole - Big Time [150]

Episode 150! We made it! … if by "it", you mean a round number of episodes, and if by "we" you mean Sam, Martin and returning guest Lily Sloane. In this landmark episode we go back to talk about Way Down In The Hole for the 7th (8th?) and final time, discussing again question of the appropriation of black culture, the use of money in the language of Waits's preacher character, and Lily's random Tom Waits sightings.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Way Down In The Hole, Big Time, Tom Waits (1988)

Way Down In The Hole, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

Way Down In The Hole, Spirit Of The Century, Blind Boys Of Alabama (2002)

Way Down In The Hole, "...and all the pieces matter..." - The Music of The Wire, The Neville Brothers (2008)

Way Down In The Hole, "...and all the pieces matter..." - The Music of The Wire, DoMaJe (2008)

Way Down In The Hole, Washington Square Serenade, Steve Earle (2007)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Yesterday Is Here - Big Time [149]

Live and in-person, Martin and Sam welcome back Helen Sadler to discuss the general feel of live albums vs studio equivalents, and the presentation of music to different audiences simultaneously.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Yesterday Is Here, Big Time, Tom Waits (1988)

Yesterday Is Here, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Straight To The Top - Big Time [148]

Looking back to the Rhumba version of this track from Franks Wild Years, Sam and Martin feel their way through an excellent version of a song that has little appeal for either of them. We also discuss some of the physicality of Waits's live performance, and how that informs the performance.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Straight To The Top, Big Time, Tom Waits (1988)

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

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Cold Cold Ground - Big Time [147]

Lacking a guest this episode, Martin and Sam debate similarities and differences between the live and studio versions, including some of the musical effects of changing counts, back-singing of phrases, and how these techniques help reinterpret songs.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Cold Cold Ground, Big Time, Tom Waits (1988)

Cold Cold Ground, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Innocent When You Dream (78) - Franks Wild Years [143]

After seventeen tracks, we reach the end of Franks Wild Years with this scratchy demo-style version of Innocent When You Dream. We discuss the album as a whole, some of the recording techniques used here, as well as the narrative of the show in relation to the drama of American identity as well as his own life. And Sam gets a bit emotional about 1980s Scottish cinema.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Innocent When You Dream (78), Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

(and to make Sam cry again…)
Final scene of Local Hero, w/dir. Bill Forsythe (1983)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Train Song - Franks Wild Years [142]

Sam and Martin return for the penultimate track of Franks Wild Years, to debate the refining of the Tom-Waits-Saying-Goodbye-And-Catching-A-Train song. We talk about the sense of conclusion to Frank's story (or stories), the departure and the collapse of the dream he's seeking throughout this album, and Waits reaching again for older traditions of songwriting.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Train Song, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

The Cold Icy Floor, Archive Recording, The Bogtrotter Band (1937)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Cold Cold Ground - Franks Wild Years [141]

Waits begins to step away from Frank and the relationship of the songs to the play, as Martin and Sam discuss the tense nature of the music on this album, the simplicity of this song compared to the arrangement of others on Franks Wild Years, and the political and social charge that land (and what lurks beneath) can have.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Cold Cold Ground, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

Down Under, Mining, Rivona, Dear Reader (2013)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Telephone Call From Istanbul - Franks Wild Years [140]

Heading into the closing tracks of Franks Wild Years, Sam and Martin debate the change of locations in Waits's songwriting from this era, scrunchy chords in relation to atonality, and the relationship of intention & accident in art. Also, a small dog finding the World Cup.

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Telephone Call From Istanbul, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

Istanbul (Not Constantinople), 16 Most Requested Songs, The Four Lads (1953)

Istanbul (Not Constantinople), Flood, They Might Be Giants (1991)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

I’ll Take New York - Franks Wild Years [139]

Gabriel Ebulue returns for a second portion of Tom Waits doing his crazy lounge singer schtick. This week’s discussion includes atonal organ arrangements, the trajectory of depression in pop songs, and the lonely death of Frank O’Brien. 

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
I’ll Take New York, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

Here, Working For The Man, Tindersticks (2004)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Straight To The Top (Vegas) - Franks Wild Years [138]

Song by Song welcomes fellow music enthusiast Gabriel Ebulue from The Three Track Podcast to discuss the second version of this track, as it relates to Sinatra, Jaques Brel, and your crazy uncle at a wedding. 

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Straight To The Top (Vegas), Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

Jacky, Tenement Symphony, Marc Almond (1991)

La chanson de Jacky, Ces Gens-Là, Jacques Brel (1966)

La chanson de Jacky, Book Of Souls: Folio A, Secret Chiefs 3/The Traditionalists/Mike Patton (2013)

Tainted Love (Single), Gloria Jones (1965)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Wire Stripped Special on Way Down In The Hole - Franks Wild Years [137 - rebroadcast]

We re-present (this time in the correct context) our special episode with Kobi Omenaka, discussing the use of Way Down In The Hole in the opening credits of the TV show The Wire. Kobi and his co-host Dave Corkery have launched their new show The Wire Stripped, so conversation ranges from the musical styles and influences of the covers into the content of the seasons themselves, and how the credits music informs and echoes that content.
 

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Way Down In The Hole, Frank's Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

Way Down In The Hole, Spirit Of The Century, Blind Boys Of Alabama (2002)

Way Down In The Hole, "...and all the pieces matter..." - The Music of The Wire, The Neville Brothers (2008)

Way Down In The Hole, "...and all the pieces matter..." - The Music of The Wire, DoMaJe (2008)

Way Down In The Hole, Washington Square Serenade, Steve Earle (2007)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.

Way Down In The Hole - Franks Wild Years [136]

Lily Sloane returns for one more Franks Wild Years track, debating Waits’s attitude towards religion, how the track relates to the rest of the album, and the presence of joy in music. 

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Way Down In The Hole, Franks Wild Years, Tom Waits (1987)

Oh Happy Day, The Best of the Edwin Hawkins Singers, The Edwin Hawkins Singers (1967/2001)

Log into the Spotify web player to hear these tracks.