Sep 25, 2015
In this final instrumental track on Closing Time, Sam and Martin sum up their feelings about the album as well as the interesting discoveries they’ve made in beginning the Song by Song project. They discuss arrangements, collaborators, lack of biography and sleeping in the back of a Buick. It’s a Buick Sam, a...
Sep 24, 2015
As we head into the final tracks of Closing Time, Martin and Sam explore the sentimental side of Waits’s writing and the presence of unusual types of love in his lyrics.
Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits track in chronological...
Sep 23, 2015
Sam and Martin debate Waits’s influences as a singer and performer and his relationship to Frank Sinatra, and the ways they break expectations of songs and draw audiences in. Marble eggs also feature somehow.
Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom...
Sep 22, 2015
Things kick up a gear as Martin and Sam discuss the energetic outlier of Closing Time’s second half. Discussion includes explicit lyrics, comic-book ice-cream sellers and the swing era of the Big Band.
Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two musicians listening to and discussing every single Tom Waits...
Sep 21, 2015
Sparse and open orchestration, dissonant ringing and obscure meaning all feature in the discussion of what Sam considers the most interesting song of the album, with debate over vocal authenticity vs technical ability and musical theatre performance.
Song by Song is Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay; two...