Gun Street Girl - Rain Dogs [119]

Waits wanders back into the world of the criminal with this cautionary tale of life on the run. And who better to talk about what is Criminal than our guests from a fortnight ago Phoebe and Lauren. Avoiding any more discussion of freeform jazz concertos, Song by Song discusses some of the history of the Murder Ballad, the educational/control value of these stories, as well as continuing to catalogue which of Tom Waits songs you can dance to. (Spoiler: the "can't" list is a lot longer than the "can"…) 

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Gun Street Girl, Rain Dogs, Tom Waits (1985)

Stack O’Lee, American Epic: Mississippi John Hurt, Mississippi John Hurt (1928/2017)

Stagger Lee, Murder Ballads, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1996)

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Town With No Cheer - Swordfishtrombones [097]

This week sees us head across to Australasia/Oceanica to discuss outsider and insider perspectives of small-town Australia. Jo Neary is back to talk about gigs she's attended, paintings of photos she's seen and the outfits of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. Meanwhile, Martin's continues his sub-project to infuriate all of our listeners this week by (gently) suggesting that Nick Cave is overrated. Fury all around this week on Song by Song!

Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Town With No Cheer, Swordfishtrombones, Tom Waits (1983)

There Is A Town, Nocturama, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (2003)

A Pub With No Beer, Single, Slim Dusty (1979/2007)

Tom Waits on David Letterman, The Late Show (2013)

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